Pedro J Chevalier E

Tithes, Alms and Offerings. Pedro J Chevalier E

The word "tithing" comes from the Latin decimus (decem, ten) and meant a tax or tax that offered two distinct aspects: one civil and one ecclesiastical. In the civilian, it was the king's right to receive 1O% of the value of all items that were the subject of trafficked goods and which, if they arrived at port, were called tithes of the sea; or dry port tithes if they entered by land, where the almojarifazgo was not established, a tribute paid for the goods leaving the kingdom, for those that entered it, or for those that were in transit from one kingdom to another in Spain. In the ecclesiastical, tithing consisted of a tribute that had to be given to the Church and used to be one-tenth of production, both agricultural and livestock. And we say that it used to be because, sometimes, tithing was not mathematically what it meant grammatically: the tenth, because when it was not tithing it was superior to it, even if this happened on rare occasions. In any case, the tax, burden, tax, contribution or whatever it wants to be called, was known as tithing and the tenoner or dezmero to which it decimated: the taxpayer.