Editing Tithe (section)

====Dissenters====
In the seventeenth century various dissenting groups objected to paying tithes to Church of England. [[Quakers]] were prominent among these, objecting to 'forced payments for the maintenance of a professional ministry'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Braithwaite |first1=William C. |last2=Cadbury |first2=Henry J. |title=The Beginnings of Quakerism |date=1970 |publisher=William Sessions Ltd |location=York, England |page=136 |edition=2nd}}</ref> In 1659 guidance was issued for a national system for recording the fines, [[impropriation]]s and imprisonments for non-payment of tithes as seen in the following extract from a document.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Braithwaite |first1=William C. |last2=Cadbury |first2=Henry J. |title=The Beginnings of Quakerism |date=1970 |publisher=William Sessions Ltd |location=York, England |page=315 |edition=2nd}}</ref>
 
{{Blockquote
|text=Clause 9. Sufferings of Friends to be gathered up and recorded, the sufferes to report to a recorder in each meeting who is to report to the next General Meeting for the county for record by a county recorder.
|author=From Register Book of a Monthly Meeting in Hampshire, 1659
}}

These records were eventually collated and published in 1753 by [[Joseph Besse]], documenting widespread persecution throughout the British Isles and further abroad. This only abated in the 1680s, due in no small measure to the efforts of [[William Penn]] who, through [[William Penn (Royal Navy officer)|his father]]'s earlier connections at court, was friendly with [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] and [[James, Duke of York]] and interceded with them in behalf of Quakers in England and on the Continent, respectively.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=Richard |last2=Dunn |first2=Mary Maples |title=The Papers of William Penn |date=1982 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=0-8122-7852-6 |page=21 |edition=1st}}</ref>

[[#Tithes and tithe law in England before reform|See below]] for a fuller description and history, until the reforms of the 19th century, written by [[Sir William Blackstone]] and edited by other learned lawyers of the period.<ref>.Alan Wharham, "Tithes in Country Life," ''History Today'' (June 1972), Vol. 22 Issue 6, pp 426-433.</ref>