The law‐text known as I Æthelstan is commonly accepted as the earliest evidence of a legal obligation to pay tithes in England. As it turns out, it might not be. The extant Old English version of I Æthelstan does indeed legislate for tithe payments. However, this version is an eleventh‐century revision of the original text, probably penned by Archbishop Wulfstan of York (d. 1023). As I will argue in this article, the original version, which survives only as contained in a twelfth‐century translation into Latin, appears to be a call for a one‐off charitable alms payment.

中文翻译：

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Æthelstan，Wulfstan和英格兰的什一税修订历史

人们普遍认为，被称为Ithelstan的法律文本是英格兰有法定义务支付什一税的最早证据。事实证明，事实并非如此。现存的Ithelstan的古英语版本确实为什一税支付制定了立法。但是，此版本是原始文本的11世纪修订版，可能是约克大主教沃尔夫斯坦（卒于1023年）所写。就像我在本文中将要讨论的那样，原始版本仅在第十二世纪翻译成拉丁语的情况下才能生存，似乎是在向一次性慈善救济金付款。