Definition
Vicarial tithes are the small or petty tithes payable to a vicar as distinct from the great tithes typically appropriated to a rector or lay impropriator. In the English ecclesiastical system, tithes were divided according to the nature of the produce from which they arose and the type of clergyman entitled to receive them. Great tithes generally covered the principal crops of a parish — corn, hay, and wood — while vicarial tithes (also called small or petty tithes) covered lesser yields: garden produce, livestock, wool, milk, eggs, and similar minor agricultural outputs. Where a parish living had been appropriated to a monastery, cathedral chapter, or lay owner, the appropriator took the great tithes and a vicar was endowed instead with the small tithes — hence "vicarial tithes" became the standard term for the vicar's portion.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter vicarial tithes primarily in three contexts: disputes over tithe entitlement in ecclesiastical and chancery court records, enclosure and commutation proceedings under the Tithe Commutation Act 1836, and conveyancing instruments transferring tithe interests.
The key research trap is conflation of the terms "petty tithes," "small tithes," and "vicarial tithes." These terms are largely interchangeable in older sources but are not perfectly synonymous in every local context. The precise composition of vicarial tithes varied by parish custom and endowment instrument, meaning what counted as a vicarial tithe in one parish might be a rectorial tithe in another. Any document asserting a right to vicarial tithes must be read against the specific endowment or appropriation history of that parish.
The Tithe Commutation Act 1836 converted most English tithes — vicarial and rectorial alike — into rent charges, at which point the distinction between great and small tithes became largely academic for practical purposes. Corpus materials predating 1836 will use the vicarial/rectorial distinction actively; materials after 1836 will more commonly reference tithe rent charges, with "vicarial" appearing mainly in historical recitations within conveyances or in ecclesiastical endowment disputes.
Researchers working in ecclesiastical court records should also note that jurisdiction over tithe disputes shifted significantly over time, moving from church courts to courts of equity and ultimately to secular tribunals. The forum in which a vicarial tithes dispute appears tells you something important about its era.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries give only a bare definition — "petty or small tithes payable to the vicar" — with a single citation to 2 Steph. Comm. 681 (Stephen's Commentaries on the Laws of England). Black's (both editions) and Rapalje & Lawrence are in complete agreement on the substance, differing only in that Rapalje & Lawrence directs the reader to the parent entry at TITHES rather than restating the definition in full. This cross-reference approach is itself instructive: the dictionaries treat vicarial tithes as a subtype, not an independent legal category, signaling that the full conceptual framework belongs under the broader tithe doctrine.
None of the historical dictionaries address the 1836 commutation or the post-commutation irrelevance of the distinction, which is a meaningful gap for any researcher whose materials span that period. They also do not address the variation in local custom that determined the exact scope of vicarial tithes in any given parish — a gap that primary sources such as endowment deeds, terriers, and tithe award documents must fill.
The maxim entries immediately following vicarial tithes in both Black's editions — "Vicarius non habet vicarium" (a deputy cannot have a deputy) — are unrelated and appear only because of alphabetical proximity. Researchers should not infer any doctrinal connection.
Jurisdictional Note
Vicarial tithes as a functioning legal category are essentially an English ecclesiastical law concept. Wales fell under the same tithe framework as England. Scotland, Ireland, and the American colonies developed distinct ecclesiastical and agricultural tenure systems in which the English vicarial/rectorial distinction either did not apply or took substantially different local forms. Researchers in non-English jurisdictions should not assume the English framework transfers without independent verification.