Eventually, they consisted of half or the whole of the first year's profits of a benefice; after the appropriation of the right of collation by the Roman see, they were paid to the papal treasury, ostensibly as a proffered contribution to the church.

[2] These annates may be divided broadly into four classes,[3] though the chief features are common to all:[2] It must not be supposed that this system ever was worked with absolute uniformity and completeness throughout the various parts of Catholic Christendom.

There were continual disagreements and disputes: the central authorities endeavouring to maintain and extend this most important of their financial schemes, and the subordinate ecclesiastics doing their best to get rid of the impost altogether or to transmute it into some less objectionable form.

[3] The easy expedient of rewarding the officials of the Curia and increasing the papal revenue by "reserving" more and more benefices was met by repeated protests, such as that of the bishops and barons of England (the chief sufferers), headed by Robert Grosseteste of Lincoln, at the council of Lyons in 1245.

In the Kingdom of England, which included Wales after the English conquest of 1277 to 1283, the annates were originally paid for the most part to the archbishop of Canterbury, but were claimed for three years by John XXII in the early 14th century and permanently usurped by his successors.

[3] In France, in spite of royal edicts[c] and even denunciations of the Sorbonne, at least the custom of paying the servitia communia held its ground until the infamous decree of August 4 during the French Revolution in 1789.

He has thus lost his right to them, and deserves punishment.The practice of collecting servitia continued through the Reformation, in spite of the efforts of the congress of Ems (1786) to alter it, still remains nominally in force.

As a matter of fact, however, the revolution caused by the secularization of the ecclesiastical states in 1803 practically put an end to the system, and the servitia have either been commuted via gratiae to a moderate fixed sum under particular concordats, or are the subject of separate negotiation with each bishop on his appointment.