The creation of an advowson was a secondary development arising from the process of creating parishes across … See more

Where a manor was split into moieties due to inheritance by co-heiresses, the advowson was also split. Before the 13th century, this would commonly result in the rectory (and its advowson) being split into two or mor… See more

Canon law, however, by the 12th century, decreed that the right to present belonged to the saint to whom the church was dedicated and that only ecclesiastical courts could rule on cases involving advowsons… See more

In the Reformation in the 16th century, the Dissolution of the Monasteries led to the transfer of much monastic property to laymen, and with the properties passed the advowsons which the monasteries had held: thus c… See more

Legally, advowsons were treated as real property that could be held or conveyed, and conversely could be taken or encumbered, in the same general manner as a parcel of land. Advowsons were among the earliest incorporea… See more

Advowsons were valuable assets for a number of reasons, principally as a means for the patron to exert moral influence on the parishioners, who were his manorial tenants, through the teaching and sermons of the paris… See more