tithe (decima, tenth)

A tax paid to the Catholic church, one tenth of the crop, since the reign of St Stephen. From the 15th century villeins had to pay this tax to their lords on the following products: cereals, wine, lambs, goats, bees. In the 16th century owing to the expansion of the Turks it became a popular tradition that bishops leased the church tithe for landlords or the Hungarian Chamber. So the products collected by the tithe-collectors (decimator-s) could be used for paying for border fortress soldiers.

PG