BENEFICE

Benefice

A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term beneficium as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by the western church in the Carolingian Era as a benefit bestowed by the crown or church officials. A benefice specifically from a church is called a precaria such as a stipend and one from a monarch or nobleman is usually called a fief. A benefice is distinct from an allod, in that an allod is property owned outright, not bestowed by a higher authority.

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benefice

Noun

  1. Land granted to a priest in a church that has a source of income attached to it.
  2. A favour or benefit.
  3. An estate in lands; a fief.

Verb

  1. To bestow a benefice upon


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: benefice
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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