Proprietary church

During the Middle Ages, the proprietary church (Latin "ecclesia propria", German "Eigenkirche") was a church, abbey or cloister built on private ground by a feudal lord, over which he retained proprietary interests, especially the right of what in English law is "advowson", that of nominating the ecclesiastic personnel. In a small parish church this right may be trivial, but in the German territories of Otto the Great it was an essential check and control on the church through which the Holy Roman Emperor largely ruled.

In Germany the "Grundherr", the land lord, maintained the right of investiture, as he was the "advocatus" (German "Vogt") of the fief, and responsible for its security and good order. In the 9th and 10th centuries the establishment of proprietary churches in Germany swelled to their maximum. The layman who held the position was a lay abbot.

The proprietary right could be granted away or otherwise alienated, even for a sum of money, which compromised the position of the spiritual community that it contained. In such a situation, Simony, the purchase of an ecclesiastic position through payment or barter, was an ever-present problem, one that was attacked over and over in all the synods of the 11th and early 12th century Gregorian reforms.

The Royal peculiars have remained proprietary churches until today.

References

* Ulrich Stutz: "Ausgewählte Kapitel aus der Geschichte der Eigenkirche und ihres Rechtes". Böhlau, Weimar 1937
* Ulrich Stutz: "Die Eigenkirche als Element des mittelalterlich-germanischen Kirchenrechts". Wissenschaftl. Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1964
* Ulrich Stutz, Hans Erich Feine: "Forschungen zu Recht und Geschichte der Eigenkirche. Gesammelte Abhandlungen". Scientia, Aalen 1989, ISBN 3-511-00667-8
* Ulrich Stutz: "Geschichte des kirchlichen Benefizialwesens. Von seinen Anfängen bis auf die Zeit Alexanders III." Scientia, Aalen 1995, ISBN 3-511-00091-2 (Ergänzt von Hans Erich Feine)