<VI.5>
WITH REGARD TO TITHES WHICH OUR VASSALS OR
OUR BENEFICIARIES[164]
OWE, THE TOLL IS THIS:
Of everything whatsoever that they may produce from the soil
for their own use, such as grain, wine, vegetables, fruit, or other
main or secondary crops produced, they must deliver in payment
to the monastery tithes on every item. Furthermore, they should
try to tithe in the same way those things which spring up as
volunteers, such as fruit, hay, or anything else for which man
is not so much required to work as that the providence of
omnipotent God wills that not only men but also animals feed
upon it. These products, too, they should deliver to the
monastery with pious goodwill in the fashion described. With
every different kind of animal they should exercise a like
responsibility. Hence from draft animals to chickens or eggs,
there shall be no livestock of any sort which they have reared
(or anything which is given a vassal in annual payment by his
workers of the kinds we have enumerated above or of those
which we now mention) which should remain at his manor
untithed, insofar as it can be identified and reasonably be
processed. Now if anyone should not fully understand these
statements or should have any doubt in his mind about them—
by what method or with what intensity they should be effected—
let him come to the monastery and ask the masters of the
monastery. In the same fashion that they are ordered to carry
out their affairs in serving the monastery, so should he conduct
his own affairs.[165]
But if the man's beneficium is located rather
too far away to be able to deliver the sheaves or hay without
excessive cost, let him ascertain how much the tithe amounts to
and make arrangements with the porter concerning a time when
he might satisfactorily sell these same. Then he should bring the
money from his sale to the porter, without any deceit or
shortage. However, if the porter should prefer to collect the
produce in his own cart and deliver it to the monastery rather
than to put it up for sale at the manor, that is his prerogative.[166]
Let it also be understood that those who hold as many as four
manses in beneficium should pay their own tithe to the
monastery according to the method described above. Those who
hold fewer should, of course, fully pay their tithes in the same
way, but not to the monastery. They should pay to that church
or chapter at which the community which holds the land
customarily pays its own tithe.
All beneficiaries[167]
of St. Peter ought to have this directive so
that they will know how to proceed, and so that no one can
plead ignorance as an excuse. But, as has been stated, if he
should have any question, he should go to the monastery, where
all the regulations regarding tithes are systematically recorded.
And there he can learn how he ought to perform.
