Jane,

My small number of books on Anglican canon law do not use that term. Bullard's edition of Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical 1604 (1934), pp. 142-145, mentions a table of fees set by the archbishop of Canterbury in 1597. This practice remained in effect for "special services, such as marriage fees and burial fees" at least to 1962 according to Garth Moore, English Canon Law (1967), p. 103.

Several synodal and conciliar decrees were issued in the Middle Ages to discourage simony by forbidding charging for the sacraments. Offerings, however, were received.

Tom Izbicki

From: "Jane Wickenden" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2016 6:15:21 PM
Subject: Re: [M-R] Surplice fees

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Might be worth checking the phrase's early appearances (if any) iin the Oxford English Dictionary?

Jane

On 15 Jul 2016 8:35 p.m., "Ms B M Cook" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Dear All,

This is a bit off topic, but its roots will be in the MA.

I came across the phrase "surplice fees" in an 18th C source (Parson Woodforde's Diary) and asked a priest friend if I was right to think that these were fees paid for the occasional office: baptisms, churchings, weddings, burials. Their reply was that it must refer to weddings & burials only since baptisms (and possibly churchings) were free - but then added that this may have only been true since the coming of state registration of birth since 1832. Before then baptism acted as a birth registration.

Can anyone throw light on this ? Were baptisms performed for free in (any part of ) the Middle Ages ? Post Reformation ? Wikipedia lists "baptisms, weddings and burials" as generating surplice fees but we all know how accurate THAT is. And it does not mention churchings.

In anticipation,

Brenda

Brenda M. Cook
Independent Scholar
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