An internecine administrative feud of the Commonwealth: Thomason Tract 669.f.20(18)

Abstract

IN the Thomason collection of tracts from the Civil War and Interregnum held in the British Library there exists a single sheet, annotated' A paper from ye first frutits office aboutpayinge ye first fruits', printed for Thomas Baker, Deputy Remembrancer and Receiver of First Fruits and Tenths, in November 1655. A warning to clergy that first fruits were payable to Baker alone, this sheet was but one salvo in a lengthy battle waged between the Receiver and the Trustees for the Maintenance of Ministers for control of ecclesiastical tax collection.