privileged church, annatas, tithe rent
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Different church institutes could have privileges concerning taxation to the royal government and rights of passing judgements over their people. This was called immunitas (exempted from something). In the sense of church law they could own privileges, and that meant that they came under the direct authority of the archbishop of Esztergom or the Pope himself (exempted from the authority of the county bishop), so this was called exemptio. There were two groups of privileged churches in the Middle Ages (excluding the direct papal authority over the communal chapter of Székesfehérvár and the Benedictine monastery of Pannonhalma). One group contained the royal chapels established on early royal private estates, which were exempted from the authority of the county bishop because of the fact that they were founded by the king on private estates, and their priest, the king's chaplain, got the whole tithe. In the second half of the 15th century there were about 70 privileged parish churches including the churches of the deans of Transylvanian Saxons of Szeben and Brasso (independent body of parish priests). The privileges of the churches of other groups (there were more churches in this group) originated from a later period. These remained under the authority of the county bishop, but were exempted from the authority of the chief dean, that is, they were exempted from paying tax to the chief dean.
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annatas
One type of papal income in the late Middle Ages, which had to be paid when someone received a new church office. Its basis was the old feudal custom, according to which the income of the first month was the legal due of the person who gave away the office (the name comes from the Latin 'annualis' = yearly). Hungarian kings, from Charles I on limited the obligations, and the reform synods of the 15th century wanted to abolish it. In spite of this fact by the end of the 15th century popes raised the sums. Ferdinand I managed to exempt Hungarian prelates from paying annatas formally.
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tithe rent
A special form of collecting church tithes from the 15th century. As collecting the tithe was a difficult task with a conservative apparatus, the owner of church tithe (bishop, chapter, monastery) gave the uncollected tax (due in products) to entrepreneurs, who were obliged to pay a definite sum set in a contract. Thus the owner did not have to pay the costs of collecting a tax and dealing with the money, and the income was received faster in cash. The practice of tithe rent was illegal in principle, and sometimes laws were passed against it (1481:8). In the Jagello age the church was attacked by noblemen because of the tithe. The 1525 spring parliament at Rákos (article 48) suspended paying the tithe, but primate Szalkai prevented the enforcement of this law.
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