FIRST-FRUITS AND TENTHS. At the time when the papal authority was at its height, the popes laid on the clergy the taxes
known as first-fruits and tenths. The first-fruits were the first year's income of a benefice paid by the new incumbent. They
were also known as Annates (Lat. annus a year). The tenths were 10 per cent of the income of the benefice paid in
subsequent years.
After Henry VIII had quarrelled with the pope, the first-fruits and
tenths payable by the English clergy were transferred to the crown by an act of 1534. The annual produce of these taxes then
amounted to 14,000ドル.1 It was expended on secular objects until the reign of Queen Anne, who was persuaded by
Gilbert Burnet, the celebrated bishop of Salisbury, to devote it to the augmentation of poor livings. An act of 1703 empowered
the queen to incorporate the persons whom she should appoint to be trustees of the fund, and relieved them from the restraints
imposed by the statute of mortmain, thus enabling them to receive gifts of land.
The tenths and first-fruits continue to be levied upon the ancient valuation, so that their proceeds have not increased. Since
1703 the fund has been augmented by parliamentary grants and by private liberality, but it is still known as Queen Anne's Bounty.2
