Parish Church Consecration

Lore & Background

The lord of the manor, having incurred a very great expense in building the church and parsonage and having suffered a loss of income due to his donation of property to the glebe, quite reasonably insisted on the right to select the individual who would act as parish priest, from which office he could not be ejected by the lord until the priest's death. The bishop, without whose consecration the new church would have no religious and spiritual stature, in turn demanded the right of confirmation of the appointment. Thus from the earliest time the advowson was 'appurtenant to' the manor, that is to say it appertained to the manor and was exercisable by the lord. The advowson, being real property could be 'alienated' by sale or gift of the patron, but with special licence from the overlord as was required for the alienation of the manor itself.

In Their Own Story

Where a manor was split into moieties due to inheritance by co-heiresses, the advowson was also split. Before the 13th century, this would commonly result in the rectory (and its advowson) being split into two or more portions, with the successors of each co-heiress from then on separately nominating a parish priest as their 'portioner'. Emerging canon law, however, strongly deprecated dividing the cure of souls for a single parish in this way, and bishops ceased to allow such devices; except in the case of portionary collegiate foundations. Henceforth therefore, if a lord of a manor died without male issue but with two daughters, the manorial lands would be split into two moieties still, however, within the original undivided parish, controlled by the husbands of each daughter, and the advowson would be held by each daughter's husband jure uxoris in turn. The husband of the elder daughter would have the right to the first presentation, that is to say, the right to appoint a new priest to the first vacancy, whilst the husband of the second daughter—or more usually, given the life tenure of priests, their descendant—would hold the right to the second presentation.

Reader's Guide

In the Reformation in the 16th century, the Dissolution of the Monasteries led to the transfer of much monastic property to laymen, and with the properties passed the advowsons which the monasteries had held: thus creating a large group of lay patrons. In 1603, there were an estimated 3,849 livings in the hands of lay impropriators out of a total of 9,284. There were also many lords of manors and patrons of appurtenant livings who were recusants, that is to say who remained Roman Catholics and refused to adopt the new Protestant religion. Such patrons were disbarred from making presentations by the Presentation of Benefices Act 1605 (3 Jas. 1. c. 5), which transferred the right for the time being to the universities of Oxford or Cambridge according to the geographical location of the parish. The university was allowed to assign this right to a third party adherent to the new religion, for consideration or otherwise.

Did You Know?

• The word 'advowson' derives, via French, from the Latin 'advocare', from 'vocare' 'to call' plus 'ad', 'to, towards', thus a 'summoning'.
• In 1603, there were an estimated 3,849 livings in the hands of lay impropriators out of a total of 9,284.
• The Presentation of Benefices Act 1605 (3 Jas. 1. c. 5) disbarred recusant patrons from making presentations, transferring the right to the universities of Oxford or Cambridge.
• Litigation on the basis of an advowson used unique forms of action such as the writ of 'quare impedit'.
• The Benefices Act 1898 (Amendment) Measure 1923 phased out advowsons so that they could not be sold or inherited after two vacancies occurred after 14 July 1924.