Annates

(Lat. annatae from annus, “year”). The first year's revenue of an ecclesiastical benefice paid to the pope. Originating in a bishop's right to the first year's profits of the living from a newly inducted incumbent, first mentioned in the thirteenth century, popes under financial stress later claimed the privilege for themselves, temporarily at first. Thus Clement V in 1305 claimed them from all vacant benefices in England, and John XXII in 1319 from all Christendom. Protests became frequent, e.g., from England at the Council of Lyons in 1245. Henry VIII transferred the English annates to the Crown in 1534, and these were in 1704 converted into “Queen Anne's Bounty.” With the gradual transformation of the system of benefices, annates as such fell into disuse.