The owner of an\nadvowson could sell it like a piece of property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I shall quote\nfrom my copy of Ecclesiastical Law ,abstracted from Halsbury\u2019s Laws of England\n,edited by Viscount Simonds:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The initial\nright of a clerk to hold a church and benefice is acquired by presentation, or\nif the benefice is in the gift of the bishop of the diocese in which it is\nsituate, by collation. The right to fill a church and benefice by presentation\nor collation is called an advowson or right of patronage and the owner is\ncalled the patron.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n An advowson\nis an incorporeal hereditament and it will pass under a conveyance or demise of\nhereditaments or tenements or real estate\u2026On the death of the owner it is an\nasset for payment of his debts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So basically the right to give or sell the living of a church was seen as part of the patron\u2019s estate, and it was an asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have added below an explanation of the working of advowson, for clarity\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following is written about patronage and attitudes towards it in the 18th century from The Church in an Age of Negligence by Peter Virgin. :<\/p>\n\n\n\n Patronage in\nthe politics of the eighteenth century ,was power\u2026Patronage in normal\ncircumstances ,was expected to act as a kind of glue, whose function was to\nhold together the numerous interests and factions which shared, in so many\ninstances ,the common characteristic of begin threatened with imminent\nfragmentation .The hope was that an appointment to a post here, or a post\nthere, might be used to broaden an allegiance or to strengthen ties of family\nand friendship :but things needless to say did not always work out as planned\n.A patron\u2019s fondly cherished hopes were often dashed to the ground, as some\nprot\u00e9g\u00e9\u00e9 was encouraged by the bestowal of a little gift to seek another little\ngift from someone else. The\nimportant thing is that patronage was accepted as axiomatic: that the\nassumptions upon which it rested- that ties of financial interest should also\nbe ties of party and that the forms taken by patronage were a wholly\nappropriate exercise of influence-were not questioned.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Patronage\nwas sacrosanct among the political community, and it was equally sacrosanct\nwithin the ecclesiastical establishment . Erastianism was triumphant. The right\nof royal appointment to bishoprics was not challenged; nor ,equally, was there\nstrong opposition to lay patronage. What was natural to the state ,ran the\nargument, was natural within the church. When churchmen grumbled ,they grumbled\nabout abuses, and what was seen as betrayals of natural justice. Foremost among\nabuses was simony; and foremost among betrayal of natural justice was the\nfailure of lay patrons to pay adequate stipends to those perpetual curates\nserving the very parishes from which they drew a large portion of their\nwealth\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Though the practice of buying and selling advowsons might seem at odds with our 21st century sensibilities, it was perfectly acceptable to the majority of the clergy and laity of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AVOWSONS: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The right of\npresentation, or, more correctly, the advowson of the property was an inherited\nright that couild be legally passed on to another party. The right consisted of\nbeing allowed to propose a candidate for a living, not the right to install\none. The right to actually install was the perogative of the local bishop. This\nis important , because it does mean that a holder of the advowson couldn’t\narbitrarily hire and fire a parson . It’s also important to reember that a\nparson was hired for life, or until he chose to retire. Therfore, the vacancy\ncould only officially occur when the incumbent died. Officially, there was\nnothing to sell, and the selling of livings should not have happened. However,\ncompetition for livings was fierce, and some prospective parsons were willing\nto enter into a contract to be the next in line for an exchange of money. They literally\nbought the aprroval of the owner of the advowson…and we see that happing in\nMP. Although it wasn’t strictly illegal, it was considered rather disgraceful,\nand it’s obvious in MP that Sir Thomas would not have done it if he hadn’t\nneeded the money in a hurry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How was the\nright of next presentation valued?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When a parson\ndied or retired, the church auhtorities made an official inventory of the\nliving and assessed its value- a rather arbitrary and inexact science, but\nsimple to operate. I presume Robert is talking about standard selling practices\nin teh book; I have nothing to add to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Was there a\nregular market in next presentations, as there was in Parliamentary rotten\nboroughs?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Neither were officially approved,so I don’t know how “regular” you can claim either to be. Both livings an prospective incumbents turn up in newspaper ads for the time, however- James Austen advertised himself in a spoof one in his Oxford magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How was the\nsale and purchase of next presentations perceived by members of the upper\nclasses less mercenary than RD? Was this a respectable way to acquire patronage\non behalf of a younger son or a nephew?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was done.\nHowever, doing it before the incumbent was out and done with always seems to\nhave been a bit shady. I don’t think JA herself approved of it, and it\ncertainly was one of the complaints about the church system that got addressed\npretty rapidly after the wars with France ended- although there was\nnot real change until the 1830’s, on this, and many other matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recommended: Jane Austen and The Clergy by Irene Collins<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The owner of an advowson could sell it like a piece of property. I shall quote from my copy of Ecclesiastical Law ,abstracted from Halsbury\u2019s Laws of England ,edited by Viscount Simonds: The initial right of a clerk to hold … Continue reading