Queen Ajine's Bounty

Preserved but no longer current.

Meaning · English

A fund created out of the firstfruits and tenths which were part of the papal exactions before the Reformation. The firstfruits are the whole first year's profits of a clerical living, and the tenths are the tenth part annually of the profits of a living. Henry VIII annexed both these to the Crown, but Queen Anne formed them into a perpetual fund for the augmentation of poor livings and the build- ing of parsonages.

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Common questions

What does “Queen Ajine's Bounty” mean?

A fund created out of the firstfruits and tenths which were part of the papal exactions before the Reformation. The firstfruits are the whole first year's profits of a clerical living, and the tenths are the tenth part annually of the profits of a living. Henry VIII annexed both these to the Crown, but Queen Anne formed them into a perpetual fund for the augmentation of poor livings and the build- ing of parsonages.

Is “Queen Ajine's Bounty” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.