Patronage rights and an unruly priest

Patronage law, what was that?

A charter from the spring of 1283 bears witness to an earlier drastic action by Jan van Edingen, bishop of Liege, against Willem van Born, priest at Geertruidenberg. The bishop had the priest thrown into prison because of disagreements between him and the abbey of Thorn as patron of the church of Geertruidenberg. There was an authority relationship of the priest with the bishop, but also with the abbey of Thorn in connection with the abbey's exercise of the so-called patronage right. This was the right of the abbey, in this case of Thorn, as patron to make a nomination(presentation) to the bishop of Liege, until the appointment of a new parish priest. The patronage right produced income for the abbey in which the church in question was incorporated.

The authority of the bishop to appoint the parish priest was usually exercised by the archdeacon (administrator of a large ecclesiastical district) or by another high clergyman, after which the installation was taken care of as far as Thorn was concerned by the abbess, or elsewhere by the (country) deacon in his deaconery. Usually the nomination was followed. Attached to the right of patronage was the power to distribute certain tithes assigned to the parish or the parish priest. Tithes were taxes for the benefit of the priest and parish church, usually the tenth or eleventh part, of the yield of grain and sometimes young livestock (lambs, piglets, foals). Thus, the amounts of money involved were considerable. And the allocation and distribution of these tithes (see e.g. charters nos. 21 and 53) often gave rise to conflicts, as we will see below, but as such is the subject of theme 7.

Incorporation

Incorporation is mentioned in two charters of 10 October 1262, in which Abbess Hildegonde announces that the Bishop of Liege (Hendrik III of Gelre) incorporates the churches of Baarle and Gilze into the abbey of Thorn (charters nos. 17 and 18). More on that below.

With the charter of July 1266 Hendrik, bishop of Utrecht, incorporates the church of Kerk-Avezaath into the abbey of Thorn to increase the abbey's income. There was apparently cause for this because of the great poverty and heavy damage the abbey of Thorn was experiencing at that time. Hendrik decrees that the abbess, who has the patronage right of the church of Kerk-Avezaath, will appoint a priest for that church when that position becomes vacant. The canons and monastic community of Thorn will use the associated revenues for their abbey, with the proviso that the church of Kerk-Avezaath will not be short-changed. The bishop also stipulates that the parish priest is to be provided with adequate revenues, and he elaborates on this in some provisions (charter no. 24). 

Exercise of patronage rights

We find examples of the exercise of the patronage right in two charters from 1261. In the charter of 10 June, abbess Hildegonde asks master Reinier, scholar (=head of the chapter school) of Tongeren and observer of bishop Hendrik III of Liege, to see to it that the bishop approves the donation of the patronage of the churches of Gilze, Baarle and Geertruidenberg to the abbey of Thorn (charter no. 15). That approval is granted by the bishop by charter of 2 August that year (charter no. 16). In the next theme no. 7, brief attention is paid to the person of this "master Reinier". In the charters of 10 October 1262 (nos. 17 and 18), Hildegonde of Thorn makes use of her patronage right by appointing parish priests in the churches of Baarle and Gilze.

In the charter concerning the church of Baarle it is said that the prebends (=income) of the canons and monastic community of Thorn are so small that they are totally unable to support themselves with them, because the abbey was said to face heavy losses. The priest receives an "adequate benefice (=income)" and the rest of the proceeds go to the poor canons and monastic community of Thorn to supplement their prebends (charter no. 17). Three days later Bishop Hendrik III determines that Abbess Hildegonde, with the approval of the other members of the abbey of Thorn, will nominate the priest of Baarle. At the same time he determines the income of the priest (charter no. 19). In May 1270 Engelbert of Isenburg, archdeacon of Liege, approves this charter and adds, on behalf of the bishop, new provisions concerning the revenues of the church of Baarle. The abbess and convent of Thorn and Gozewijn, priest of Baarle, approve the foregoing and co-seal it (charter no. 35).

It isevident from the charter of 13 July 1287 that the appointment of a parish priest is accompanied by the determination of his income and the levying of tithes. In the charter abbess Guda of Rennenberg grants Jan of Baexem, priest of Thorn, an annual quantity of rye and oats for as long as he lives. This is done on the condition that he approves the levying of two thirds of the noval tithes (tithes of newly reclaimed land) in favour of the abbess and the convent in the churches of which they have the right of patronage (charter no. 54). The next topic shows that this condition does not  come out of the blue (no. 7). There a conflict between this priest and the abbess is described.

Problems with the lords of Breda

With the aforementioned charter of 10 October 1262 concerning the church of Gilze, Hildegonde seals the announcement that Reinier, on behalf of Bishop Hendrik together with experts, had found while visiting the abbey of Thorn that the lords of Breda had unlawfully appropriated the tithes and associated property of the church of Gilze. They had violently seized these rights and goods, which, according to the text of the charter, had belonged to the abbey of Thorn since time immemorial, for many years. After the bishop's intervention, they were returned to the abbey. In the charter the bishop confirms these rights as the property of the church of Gilze. He also confirms, with the agreement of the abbess, that she has the authority to nominate a priest in Gilze. Moreover, the bishop determines that the canons and ladies of Thorn will use the revenues for the maintenance of the abbey of Thorn, provided that this is not at the expense of the church of Gilze. Among other things, the bishop decrees that the parish priest of Gilze will be accountable for his rights to the diocese, the archdeacon and the deacons (charter no. 18). 

By a charter made in March 1300 Raas II of Gavere, lord of Liedekerke and Breda, acknowledges that the lords of Breda do not have the patronage right for the church of Etten and that the parish priest of Gilze possesses the right of presentation and collation there (charter no. 73). We can probably see this as an extension of the struggle which appears from the charter of October 1262 (no. 18) between the lords of Breda and the abbey of Thorn about the abbey's rights over Gilze. From this it can also be concluded that the parish priest of Gilze has a derived patronage right regarding the proposition of the parish priest in his function at the church of Etten, a daughter church of Gilze.

Bishop puts priest in jail!

In the introduction we already briefly mentioned a fierce dispute between Willem van Born, priest of Geertruidenberg, and the abbess and convent of Thorn. The bishop of Liege, Jan van Edingen, had earlier prosecuted parish priest Willem with the ecclesiastical ban and other punishments. Because Willem "in absent mindedness" had not obeyed those sentences for over a year, the bishop had imprisoned him in a dungeon. That had caused Willem to change his mind, overcome his anger at those punishments and come to the realisation that the harm of quarreling with the clergy was "neither pleasing to God himself nor to Christians, nor helpful to himself and the abbess (Guda of Rennenberg, FT) and convent." In the charter of 6 January 1283 (there is also a charter on the subject from March 1283) priest Willem, on the advice of some honourable men and friends, declares  that he renounces any grudge, action or complaint he had, has or might have against the abbess and convent and their people (charters nos. 48/49). Invoking his loyalty, he declares under oath that he will not allow any attack or hostility to take place against the abbess and convent because of things that had happened in the past. Thereby, Willem solemnly renounces "any bail or obligation to him and in the name of the abbess and convent, by any agreement whatsoever, and in particular the bail by Hendrik, lord of Pietersheim, and Michael, lord of Rothem, knights, for obtaining dismissal of prosecution and for everything that might at the same time be transferred to him or be of use in the future." The charter contains numerous other measures, including the payment of a fine and the vacancy of the priest's position if he were to violate the agreement. The sureties, if he again neglects his duties, will go into voluntary hostage-taking until the fine is paid in full.

By a charter of 17 March 1283 John of Flanders, then bishop of Liege, confirmed the conditions, provisions and punishments contained in the earlier charters concerning parish priest Willem of Born, but expressly reserved the right to modify, add to, reduce or clarify them if necessary until 1 October  next, the feast of St. Remigius (charter no. 50). The latter may show that even this bishop did not have complete faith in it.

Review

It is not clear from the documents what was the reason for the vehement action by the bishop(s) of Liege. But from other similar issues (see theme 7) we can deduce that it had to do with abuse of rights, including the tithes, in this case by the parish priest of Geertruidenberg. While the bishop usually exercised restraint in the exercise of patronage rights, the enforcement of related business interests could give rise to vigorous action to preserve the rights of the "patron," as we have seen here. Apparently, Willem of Born had previously had to provide guarantees for the fulfilment of obligations and the possibility of this was again provided for in the "peace treaty," which also does not indicate much confidence.

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