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Bible Encyclopedias
Manse
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or the Scottish name synonymous with our word parsonage. In Scotland the manse, with unendowed churches, is the property of the Church, erected and maintained by it. In the Established Church it is built and maintained by law, and belongs to the heritors. Dunlop says, "While manses and houses which had belonged to the popish clergy were still standing, these, of course, fell to be first designed for a manse, and an order of designation, similar to that prescribed by the act of 1593 as to glebes, seems to have been followed. (See GLEBE).
A minister accordingly was not allowed to have a manse designed to him within the precincts of an abbey or bishop's palace if there was a parson's or vicar's manse in the parish; nor was he entitled to any house which, though erected on Church lands, had not of old belonged to any kirkman, or incumbent serving at the church. Where there is no manse in a parish the minister is entitled to have designed to him by the presbytery of the bounds half an acre of land for the manse, offices, and garden, and to have the heritors ordained to erect a manse and offices thereon. The statutes regarding manses require that they shall be situated near the parish church; and in general the manse and glebe are contiguous. The presbytery are, of course, in the designation of a new manse, entitled, in the first instance, to fix its situation; and even in the case of an old manse to be rebuilt they may fix on a new situation, always, of course, within the ground or glebe allotted to the minister.
The act of 1663 provides ‘ that where competent manses are not already built,' the heritors shall ‘ build competent manses to their ministers, the expenses thereof not exceeding one thousand pounds, and not being beneath five hundred merks;' and it has been questioned whether, in respect of the phrase ‘ competent manses,' heritors can be compelled to expend a greater sum than one thousand pounds Scots on the erection of a manse." Hill says, "‘ The law of Scotland provides the minister of every country parish with a dwelling-house, called a manse, a garden, a glebe of not less than four acres of arable land, designed' out of lands in the parish near the manse, and with grass, over and above the glebe, for one horse and two cows; and with the out-houses necessary for the management of his small farm. As the act of James VI, parl. 3, c. 48, declares that the manse and glebe shall be marked and designed by the archbishop, bishop, superintendent, or commissioner of each diocese or province, upon whose testimonial being presented by the minister, the lords of Council and Session are instructed to direct letters, charging the former occupiers to remove, and entering the minister to possession; as the act of Charles II, parl. 1, sess. 3, c. 21, ordains that the heritors of the parish, at the sight of the bishop of the diocese, or such ministers as he shall appoint, with two or three of the most knowing and discreet men of the parish, build competent manses to the ministers; and as, by the settlement of presbyterian government in Scotland, the presbytery has come in place of the bishop, all applications concerning manses and glebes are made, in the first instance, to the presbytery of the bounds. After taking the regular steps suitable to the nature of the business, which, as a civil court specially constituted for that purpose, they are called to discuss, the presbytery pronounce a decreet; and their sentence, unless brought by a bill of suspension before the Court of Session, is binding upon all concerned." Prior to the Reformation, canon 13 ordained that every parish should have a dwelling for the minister, built at the expense of the parsons and their vicars, the support of it afterwards falling as a burden on the vicars. By the General Assembly of 1563 ministers having manses were required to live in them.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Manse'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/m/manse.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
