, Canada
Beginning in 1670, tenants under the seigneurial system were required to remit a tithe to the Church.

The tithe, equal to a twenty-sixth of the wheat crop, was used to maintain the religious buildings and property that the tenants used, such as the chapel, the rectory and the cemetery. Finally, the obligation to provide days of unpaid labour or corvée, dating back to the medieval period, remained in effect. A habitant was required to provide three to five days of unpaid labour each year for the maintenance of bridges and roads and for the construction of various buildings or structures, such as the manor house, the mill, barns, stables and fences. In return, the habitant had access to the seigneury’s services and benefited from the security it provided. The seigneurial system was central to France’s colonisation policy and came to play a major role in traditional Québec society. Despite the attractions of city life and the fur trade, 75-80% of the population lived on seigneurial land until the mid-nineteenth century. The roughly 200 seigneuries granted during the French regime covered virtually all the inhabited areas on both banks of the St Lawrence River between Montréal and Québec and the Chaudière and Richelieu valleys and extended to the Gaspé. Seigneuries were granted to the nobility, to religious institutions in return for education and hospital services, to military officers and to civil administrators...

richardjohnbr.blogspot.com/ 2010/ 10/ seigneurial-system-and-settlement.html

Visit Canada
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.