(Vol. ii., p 154.)
I believe to have been that kind of customary payment or oblations made _on
Sundays_ to the rector, or his vicegerent, of the church where a person
heard divine service and received the sacraments:
"Hostiensis dicit quod in præcipuis festivitatibus tenetur quis
offerre, et _cogi potest_; maximè cum sit quasi _generalis consuetudo
ubique terrarum_ ... et intelligit festivitates præcipuas, _dies
Dominicos_, et alios dies festivos."--Lyndwood, _Prov._, p. 21., not.
e., ed. Oxon. 1679.
Though Lyndwood himself, as I understand him, seems to doubt the cardinal's
statement, that the payment could be _enforced_, unless sanctioned by local
custom.
Ducange, in v. "Denarius," 8vo. ed., Adel. 1774, says, the "Denarius de
Palmâ" and "Denarius Dominicalis" were the same:
"Habebit (vicarius) cum eis victum suum competentem, et ad vestes sibi
emendas XL. solidos Andegavenses, et _Denarium singulis diebus
Dominicis ecclesiasticâ consuetudine offerendum_."
On this extract from a charter he observes:
"Erat itaque _Denarius de Palmâ_, ille qui singulis Diebus Dominicis et
[lege à] fidelibus offerrebatur. Cur autem dictus 'de Palmâ' non
constat, nisi forte sic dictus fuerit quod in manum seu _palmam_
traderetur." _Denarius Dominicalis_, idem.--Arest. MS. a. 1407.
It would seem also from his definition to be the same as the payment called
"Denaria Sacramentorum," that is:
"iidem denarii qui _singulis offerrebantur Dominicis_, ideoque
Sacramentorum dicti, quod tempore Sacrosancti Missæ Sacrificii, pro
excellentiâ interdum nudè appellati Sacramentum, a fidelibus
offerrentur."--_Annal. Bened._, t. iv. p. 466., n. 80. ad annum 1045.
These extracts sufficiently explain, perhaps, the payment known by the
different names of "Dominicals," "Palm-penny," and "Sacrament-pence;" and
still indicated, probably, by the weekly offertory of our communion
service.
Of a kindred nature were the "Denarii pro Requestis," or "Denarii
perquisiti," sometimes also {26} called "Denarii memoriales," pence paid
for masses in memory of the dead: called "pro requestis," because they were
obtained by special petition [requesta] from the curate; and "perquisiti,"
"perquisite pence," because they were demanded [perquirebantur] from the
devotion of the parishioners, over and above the customary offerings. And
in this, perhaps, we find the origin of our word "perquisite." (Lyndw.
_Prov._ p. 111., notes c, e. and p. 237.)
In further illustration of this subject, I will quote the following note
from Mr. Dansey's learned work _Horæ Decanicæ Rurales_, vol. i., p. 426.,
ed. 1844, which refers also to Blomefield's _Norfolk_, vol. iv. p. 63.:
"A.D. 1686. The dean of the deanery of the city of Norwich was
committed to custody, on one occasion, by the itinerant justices, for
exacting _hallidays toll_ by his sub-dean in too high a manner; but on
his proving that he took of every great boat that came up to the city
on a holiday 1d. only, and of each small one a _halfpenny_; of every
cart 1d., and of every horse or man laden an _halfpenny_; and of all
bakers, butchers, and fishmongers, that sold their commodities on a
holiday, 1d. each; and that his predecessors always had immemorially
taken it, he was discharged.--Something of the same kind is related, in
T. Martin's MS. history, respecting the dues exacted by the rural dean
of Thetford. Dr. Sutton's MS. Letter."