A payment made by parishioners for the maintenance of the church and the support of its clergy. Levied by the early Hebrews and common in Europe after the synods of Tours (567) and Mâcon (585), tithes were enforced by law in England from the 10th century. They were divided into three categories—praedial (one‐tenth of the produce of the soil), personal (one‐tenth of the profits of labour and industry), and mixed (a combination of the produce of animals and labour). They were abolished finally in England in 1936.