Servitia
Servitien are a one-time fee (tax) that in the Middle Ages had to be paid by prelates when they were confirmed by the Pope . They amounted to a third of the annual income of the benefice .
development
Since the end of the 13th century, the bishops and other prelates confirmed by the Pope were obliged - although the voluntariness is formally emphasized in order to dispel suspicion of simony - to pay a fee to the Pope and the College of Cardinals on the occasion of their appointment . This commune servitium was set at a third of the annual income of the diocese or abbey , etc., provided that this income was at least 100 florins . The lowest estimate was therefore 33 1/3 fl. The assumed annual incomes of the dioceses and abbeys are certainly not based on statistical surveys, but in part on the information provided by interested parties. In any case, they show the economic assessment on the part of the curia , which at least had a comprehensive information system. However, one can assume that economic developments in the course of the 14th century only found their way onto the tax lists with delays, if at all.
Servitien are suitable as an indicator of the overall economic situation because the church's income is predominantly not the result of its own economy , but is based on taxes that are based on the income. As far as income from the allocation and leasing of real estate is included, even the generally falling real estate yield must be taken into account. The benefits were fixed and an adjustment to the negative development of the monetary value did not take place. However, acute developments are not reflected in the appraisal, but can be identified from the method of payment, especially in the case of partial payments from the amount of the fixed installments and the payment dates. On the one hand, the successors are liable for the servitude debts of their predecessors; on the other hand, the curia had the option of completely foregoing payment propter paupertatem (because of poverty) , especially for smaller amounts. Greek monks and bishops from southern Italy and Sicily were more often the beneficiaries .
practice
In the chamber files, the basic entry for the individual facilities is the annual income according to which the servitia due was calculated.
In the register of obligations of the papal treasurer , the obligation to pay and the possible rate setting for the newly appointed prelates were entered before the certificate of appointment was issued, and the subsequent payments were also noted. Sometimes original receipts have been handed down. These receipts were also recorded in the registers of the Obligationes et solutiones . The payment modalities, including the banking companies involved, can be reconstructed from the registers. In contrast, the reasons that required partial payments, postponements and the like are given less clearly.
Regional origin of the payments
Measured in terms of the payments made by the regional churches, France is by far the economically leading country in Europe. The German Empire is still in front of the British Isles, the entire Apennine Peninsula just off the Iberian Peninsula. Even in the Middle Ages Italy shows the economic imbalance between north and south as it does today. Northern Europe, the Orient and the Balkans with Greece make only minor contributions . It should be noted, however, that these payments cannot be used to draw up a balance sheet for the papal budget from the point of view of income. When payments could be expected depended on the changes in the episcopate and at the top of the monasteries. The normal case of vacancy is the resignation of the bishop through death, secondarily through being called away to another diocese, either through the electoral body responsible there, or through a direct decision of the Pope. A forecast and financial planning was therefore not possible for this income. However, there also seem to have been tendencies to accelerate the change, for which the means of translation , i.e. H. the transfer of a bishop from one diocese to another. The prerequisite for this was, however, that a position had to become vacant through permanent resignation, i.e. H. Death or dismissal. Even rarer is the voluntary renunciation of the office, the resignation , whose canonical admissibility was controversial among the contemporary canonists, especially after the negative experiences with the abdication of Pope Celestine V. On average, the income from the servitia during the Avignon period is in about a fifth of the total income. That they under Clement VI. (1342–1352) reach a quarter, can probably be associated with the epidemic catastrophes of this time.
| Annual income | Dioceses |
|---|---|
| 12,000 fl. | Rouen ; Winchester |
| 10,000 fl. | Aquileja ; Also ; Canterbury ; Cologne ; Salzburg ; York |
| 9,000 fl. | Durham ; Langres ; Narbonne |
| 8,000 fl. | Toledo |
| 7 500 fl. | Ely |
| 7 200 fl. | Liege |
| 7,000 fl. | trier |
| 6,000 fl. | Braga ; Cambrai ; Metz ; Sens |
| 5,000 fl. | Exeter ; Lincoln ; Mainz ; Nicosia ; Norwich ; Passau ; Zaragoza ; Thérouanne ; Toulouse ; Tournai ; Valencia |
The proportions of the individual areas of Europe in the 30 richest dioceses also confirm this general distribution. Of the German dioceses, four archbishops, namely Cologne , Salzburg , Trier , Mainz and the Bishop of Passau are represented in this list. All of them are in the west or south, only small amounts have survived from the east of the empire. The annual income-based estimates are not necessarily related to the political position in the empire: Cologne and Salzburg have twice the income compared to Mainz. Trier is also ahead of the Arch Chancellor for Germany , who is on par with the Bishop of Passau in terms of income. Metz and Liège are in the Lorraine-Luxembourg area of influence. Nine come from France, eight from England, four from the Iberian Peninsula, and Northern Italy and Cyprus are represented once each.
See also
literature
- Hermann Hoberg , Taxae pro communibus servitiis ex libris obligationibus from anno 1295 usque ad annum 1455 confecti , Città del Vaticano 1949 (= Studi e testi 144).
- Hermann Hoberg, The income of the Apostolic Chamber under Innocent VI. Second part: the servitia receipts from the papal cameraman . Paderborn 1972, XII, 36 *, 301 (= Görres-Gesellschaft (ed.): Vatican sources on the history of the papal court and financial administration 1316-1378 . Volume 8).
- Markus A. Denzel , Curial Payment Transactions in the 13th and 14th Centuries. Servitia and annate payments from the Bamberg diocese . Stuttgart 1991 (contributions to economic and social history, edited by R. Gömmel and J. Schneider, vol. 43).