By Brenda S. Cox
Church livings play an important part in most of Jane Austen’s novels.
For example:
A fortunate chance had recommended him [Mr. Collins] to Lady Catherine de Bourgh when the living of Hunsford was vacant; and the respect which he felt for her high rank, and his veneration for her as his patroness, mingling with a very good opinion of himself, of his authority as a clergyman, and his right as a rector, made him altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility.—Pride and Prejudice chapter 15
A church living was a permanent job as rector or vicar of a parish, and the income, house, and farmland that went along with that.
In a country parish, most of the income came from tithes. People in the parish were legally required to pay the clergyman 10% of their income, which was usually from farming. It might be paid in crops, animals, and eggs, or in cash. During Austen’s time the system was changing over to cash, but many still paid in produce.
The clergyman also sometimes got income from glebe, the farmland that was part of the living. (Austen usually calls this land “meadow.”) And he might get a few pounds a year from the fees people paid for weddings, funerals, etc.
Some parishes in England traditionally had (and still have) a rector. Others traditionally had (and still have) a vicar. Mr. Collins was a rector, like most of Austen’s clergymen. Edward Ferrars is also offered a position as a rector:
“It is a rectory, but a small one”—Col. Brandon on the church living he is offering Edward Ferrars, Sense and Sensibility chapter 39
The word rectory could mean either a job as a rector, or the rector’s home (also called a parsonage) that was provided with the living. Here it means his position. The word rector, by the way, is related to the words right and rectify. The rector was supposed to lead his parish in the right direction, and he had certain rights, which Mr. Collins is proud of.
Mr. Elton, though, is not a rector. He’s a vicar.
“He [Mr. Elton] had a comfortable home for her [Harriet], and Emma imagined a very sufficient income; for though the vicarage of Highbury was not large, he was known to have some independent property”—Emma chapter 4
The word vicarage, like the word rectory, could refer to his position or his home; here it means his position. Vicar is related to vicarious, it means standing in the place of someone else.
A rector or a vicar had the same duties. They led church services, preached, officiated at ceremonies like baptisms, met with the vestry to deal with parish issues, helped the poor, and so forth. However, they did not receive the same level of pay.
There were two kinds of tithes. Parishes had their own agreements and definitions about what was included in each. But most commonly:
Greater tithes included everything that came from the ground, like wheat, oats, and barley.
Lesser tithes were usually fruit, eggs, and the young of animals.
If a clergyman was the rector of a parish, he got all the tithes.
If a clergyman was the vicar of a parish, he only got the lesser tithes, usually about a quarter of the total tithes. Someone else, probably the patron, was actually the rector and took the greater tithes.
So, I think Austen is very intentional when she makes Mr. Elton a vicar. Emma knows that he doesn’t make a lot of money as vicar (“the vicarage . . . was not large”). Austen also gives us another clue:
“Mrs. Bates, the widow of a former vicar of Highbury, was a very old lady . . . She lived with her single daughter in a very small way . . . her [daughter’s] middle of life was devoted to the care of a failing mother, and the endeavour to make a small income go as far as possible.” —Emma chapter 3
Mrs. Bates’s husband, the former vicar, had not made enough money to leave much for his wife and daughter. So the income of this parish, at least for the vicar, is certainly low.
Emma, as usual, is clueless. She doesn’t realize that Mr. Elton, a vicar, is going to need to marry for money (though her readers would have known). So, the fun begins!
The third major type of clergyman was a curate. You can read more about curates in my post Nothing But a Country Curate.
Brenda S. Cox blogs on Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen at brendascox.wordpress.com . She is working on a book entitled Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England.
Jane Austen's World 
Thank you for the essay on rectors and vicars. I am retired Lutheran pastor, and in our tradition in the US a “vicar” is a seminary student completing a year of residency serving a congregation under its pastor, usually the 3rd year of a 4-year seminary program. The pastor of such a vicar is often referred to their “bishop.”
Does Jane Austen ever mention a “curate”?
the difference between a rector and a vicar goes back to medieval times when a rector was clergyman and with the increasing corruption in the church many people held more than one living, often being ordained as priests when still children in order to keep money in the family. A vicar held his post vicariously hence the name, and was paid to manage a parish. They had to be in minor orders, but often were not very well educated and had rudimentary latin at best. they were not paid especially well, their pay coming out of the living of the rector.
An informative useful blog.
This comment was written by Tony Grant:
Some clergymen never became vicars or rectors. Henry, Jane’s brother, remained a curate throughout his career as a clergyman. Here is a quotation from the Wikipedia article about him.
” After the collapse of Austen, Maunde & Tilson, Henry Thomas Austen decided to enter the church. In December 1816, he became an ordained deacon and was appointed curate of Chawton, Hampshire, where his mother and two sisters had lived since 1809.[28] During his three years at Chawton, he was well respected as a preacher. In 1819, he was appointed curate at Farnham in Surrey, and during this time he also worked as a master at Farnham Grammar School. He eventually became the curate of Bentley in Hampshire.”
Probably more interesting, the naturalist Gilbert White, who lived at Selborne, five miles from Chawton and who we can thank for describing the weather on the day Jane Austen was born remained a curate all his life too. In the Penguin Classics introduction to The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White,Richard Mabey writes,
” He could never become vicar of Selborne ( the living was with Magdalan College) and during this period he took up five temporary curacies, three of them at Selborne. (White never wanted to move away from Selborne to become a vicar or a rector.) His beloved Selborne was too strong a magnet. In 1761 he settled for the curacy of Farringdon. ”
Farringdon incidentally is a village about two miles south of Chawton. The church there is one of the most beautiful English village churches I have ever seen. Apart from Gilbert White and also JA attending services there it is famous for its thousand year old yew tree. Villagers in the Middle Ages made long bows from the yew. Men had to practice archery from an early age. They may have been needed in a war.
Okay, I was only focusing on rectors and vicars here, having written about curates previously. I am now adding to the article above a link to my article on Nothing But a Country Curate.
And, yes, to those who commented, Austen did mention curates, and many people stayed curates all their lives, if they couldn’t get a living as a rector or vicar. And, the meanings of the words rector, vicar, and curate have quite different meanings in modern churches. My book will expand on all that thoroughly. This is just a taste, since the rector/vicar contrast gives us insights into Mr. Elton’s situation.
For a little more about Henry: He was rector of Steventon from about 1820-1823, from James’s death until his nephew, Edward’s son, was ready to take it; Henry took it as a temporary living, like the one Charles Hayter took in Persuasion. According to Irene Collins, he got the curacy of Farnham in 1822 and the perpetual curacy (meaning he had the job for life) of Bentley in 1824. He was apparently a fiery Evangelical preacher later in life.
Hi Brenda. You would love Farnham and Bentley. Farnham is a country town with many Georgian and Victorian buildings. It has castle, not a very good one I must add, that was prominent as a Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War. Getting back to the clergy, Farnham Castle was originally a country home for the Bishop of Winchester, one of his many abodes. Bentley is a lovely village with a great history. These places tend to go back to Roman times and have Saxon and Norman and Medieval links too.You would love to visit those places I am sure Brenda, I am sure, one day,
As an after thought Brenda have you read Anthony Trollope? The Warden, followed by his Barsetshire novels are absolutely brilliant and describe the lives of the clergy at a slightly later date than Austen but I should imagine the clergy described by Trollope are the same as those in Austen’s time. There is humour and all the failings of the human condition and incredible characterisation.The clergy leap into life with all their quirks , mannerisms , pride, weaknesses, failings, greed and some successes !! Ha! Ha!
Thanks, Tony, I very much hope to do that one day! And Farringdon sounds lovely as well. I don’t expect to make it to England this year, as I’m working hard on getting my book finished and published, but next year, Lord willing!
I’d agree with Tony, Brenda – Trollope’s Barchester Chronicles were a delight to read – witty and subtle humor and The Warden was a gem. And thanks for the article – those different titles are a bit less confusing now.
You’re very welcome, all of you. And thanks for the recommendations of Trollope; I will read more of him. :-)
And, yes, I’ve read a little of Trollope and would like to read more–he shows what happened to the clergy in the Victorian age.
BTW, Tony, it would be great if you could do a post for us on those churches in Farringdon, Farnham, and Bentley, with some of your excellent photos!
very interesting post
denise
This is very informative; thank you for sharing.
Have you ever read the Reverend Francis Kilvert’ s (1840-1879) diaries, Brenda? Not quite Jane’s period but it is a rural clergymans diary and the world of the labourers and the role of the church would not have changed much since Jane’s time. It is a very beguiling book at first. Kivert comes across as seemingly benign and gentle. There are beautiful descriptions of the countryside and local customs, institutions, and hus interactions with local people., At first I was enjoying it and then it turned very dark. You don’t notice at first but the way the Bible and the austere sides of religion infiltrate his thinking is insidious. The way, those he regards as sinners, and how they should be punished in his eyes is disturbing to say the least. I had to stop reading it after a while. His attitudes to young women in his parish and among his gentry friends seemingly innocent , as the diary continues becomes more than suspect. As far as is known he didn’t act on his urges. I wonder whether he was typical for his time and the time of Jane Austen? He probably was.