Editing Tithe (section)

====England and Wales====
[[File:A carved record of the judgement in a tithe dispute, in a darkened corner of Clodock Church - geograph.org.uk - 1691566.jpg|thumb|Carved record of the judgement in a tithe dispute, in [[Clodock]] Church, Wales]]
The right to receive tithes was granted to the English churches by [[Ethelwulf of Wessex|King Ethelwulf]] in 855. The [[Saladin tithe]] was a royal tax, but assessed using ecclesiastical boundaries, in 1188. The legal validity of the tithe system was affirmed under the [[Statute of Westminster 1285|Statute of Westminster of 1285]]. The [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] led to the transfer of many rights to tithe to secular landowners and [[the Crown]] – and tithes could be extinguished until 1577 under an Act of the 37th year of [[Henry VIII]]'s reign (Tithes in London Act 1545).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/details/C3252914-details|title=Middlesex: London City without the Walls: St Botolph without Aldgate, parish |work=The National Archives Collection IR 18/5462}}</ref> [[Adam Smith]] criticized the system in ''[[The Wealth of Nations]]'' (1776), arguing that a fixed rent would encourage peasants to work far more efficiently.

[[File:Besse, A Collection of Quaker Sufferings, page 254 (PXL 20210504 140241112).jpg|thumb|alt=page 254 of Besse's 'Sufferings'|The first page of chapter 28 of Besse's 'Collection of Sufferings', covering Herefordshire]]
[[File:Besse page 258 cropped (PXL 20210504 140344487~2).jpg|thumb|Paragraph on prosecutions for non-payment of tithes in Herefordshire, 1674 (from page 258 of Besse's 'Sufferings of Quakers')]]