Note 994 — Chapter X · THE INCOME OF THE CLERGY.

“Quando decimam partem terrarum per omne regnum meum sanctis aecclesiis dare decrevi,” etc. No. 1053. The Saxon version, whether it were the original or only a translation, gives us the true sense of this assertion: it runs thus:—“ðá ðá he teoðode gynd eall his cynerice, ðone teoðan dǽl ealra his landa, mid his witena geþeahte, into hálgum stowum,”—‘when throughout all his realm, he tithed the tenth of all his lands into holy places, by the counsel of his witan.’ There was nothing to prevent Æðelwulf from giving a tenth or a half of all his own lands to whom he pleased.