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This extract is from "Accounts of the Collectors of Thirds of Benefices 1561-1572", edited by G Donaldson PhD, published by the Scottish History Society, Edinburgh 1949. Stipends |
Commentary Following the Scottish Refomation in 1560 the reformers sought to assert control of the main income of the church, the teinds. These were originally a tenth of the revenue of all landholders, paid to the church and primarily forming the endowments of the parish priests. By 1560 many tiends had been diverted to the large estates of bishops and abbeys, often ending in the pockets of lay lords who had purchased the rights to them. In February 1561/2 the privy council of Scotland decided that "the requirements of the crown and the kirk amounted to, not a quarter but a third, of the church's wealth. Begining with crop and year 1561, a levy was to be made of the thirds of revenues of which rentals had been produced and also of all fruits of which rentals had not appeared; the right of the 'old possessors' to the remainder was expressly reserved..." Collectors were appointed for the thirds and it is their accounts which form the book from which this extract is taken. Out of the thirds they were to pay the stipends (salaries) of the clergy and various other charges, and so it is we learn that Patrick Creich was vicar of North Berwick, a parish in the county of East Lothian, from 1568 to 1572 and possibly later. From 1567 it was required that only qualified men could succeed to benefices and it may be that this gave Patrick Creich his opportunity as a graduate of St Andrews University (See 1554-58: Patrick Creich - Graduate of St Andrews). A previous holder of the vicarage of North Berwick was a Mr Alexander Wood who is mentioned as "vicare pensionare" in the account for 1561-2 (p 89). |