Brewer's: Queen Anne's Bounty

A fund created out of the firstfruits and tenths, which were part of the papal exactions before the Reformation. The firstfruits are the whole first year's profits of a clerical living, and the tenths are the tenth part annually of the profits of a living. Henry VIII. annexed both these to the Crown, but Queen Anne formed them into a perpetual fund for the augmentation of poor livings and the building of parsonages. The sum equals about 14,000 a year.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content