Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Church property
(1,968 words)

1. Definition

The phrase church property (Latin bona ecclesiastica) denotes the assets of a church. It includes all rights with monetary value – especially property, usage rights, claims to taxes, other legal claims, and power of disposition over external things. Even in the Catholic Church, the proprietors of church property are not (only) the universal church or the Apostolic See (Papacy) but primarily individual ecclesiastical in…

Cite this page
Weitzel, Jürgen and Troßbach, Werner, “Church property”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_022180>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160907



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