Early Medieval Law in Nineteenth-Century Reform Debates: Tithes, the Nation, and the Established Church

Dr Gallimore studied at Mount Holyoak College, Massachusetts, and at the University of York, where she received her PhD this year on the historiography of the early medieval church in the period 1799-1849. Her research focuses on medievalism, the early medieval church and its modern historiography, and Old English and Anglo-Latin literature. She co-organized the Women in Medievalism conference at York in 2024. With a decade of professional services experience already under her belt, earlier this year Dr Gallimore joined the team of the International Medieval Congress here in Leeds.

Early medieval laws and ecclesiastical works were drawn into early nineteenth-century debates over tithe reform and the ability of the State to legislate the Church. Parish revenues came under intense scrutiny and debate raged across print media as clergymen, farmers, landowners, and labourers voiced their thoughts. Tithes, an ancient tax on agriculture to fund the local parish church, was viewed by opponents as prone to abuse and out-of-step with modern life. Supporters feared that tithe reform would be a first step towards disestablishing the Church of England. Those who defended tithes used early medieval laws to legitimise the present practice as an historic tradition protected by the kings of old. Those who advocated for the reform or abolition of tithes found in early medieval ecclesiastical works evidence that current practice had deviated from its historic forms so significantly to no longer serve its original function. This paper will investigate the use of early medieval materials in the tithe debate of the 1820s and 1830s to ask why England’s pre-Conquest past seemed vital to questions about reforming the modern Church of England and what this can tell us about how the early Middle Ages were viewed in industrialising Britain.