Also 6 annatys, 6–8 annats. [a. Fr. annate (15th c.), ad. med. and late L. annāta a year’s space, work, proceeds, the same word which in its primary sense became in Fr. année. See -ATA.] The first-fruits, or entire revenue of one year, paid to the Pope by bishops and other ecclesiastics of the R. C. Church on their appointment to a see or benefice.
At the Reformation the right to the annates of English benefices was transferred to the Crown; in the reign of Anne they were given up to form a fund for the augmentation of poor livings, known as Queen Anne’s Bounty.
1534. Act 25 Hen. VIII., xx. It is ordained … that the paiments of the Annates or first fruits … [shall] vtterly cease.
1538. Starkey, England, I. iv. § 63. No just cause wy thes annatys schold be payd to Rome.
1621. Howell, Lett. (1650), I. 55. These cardinals … have the annats of benefices to support their greatness.
1756. Nugent, Grand Tour, IV. 11. The pope afterwards grants his bulls of consecration, and receives the annates or first fruits.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng., I. 334. The payment of annates … had originated in the time of the crusades, as a means of providing a fund for the holy wars.
2. Sc. Law. A half-year’s salary, which, in addition to the ordinary stipend from his incumbency, is legally due to the executors of a deceased minister.
1571. Act Jas. VI. (1814), 63 (Jam.). The annet thareaftir to pertene to thame, and thair executouris.
1708. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., II. II. iii. (1743), 354. The widow, children, and nearest kin to the Defunct [minister] have a right by act of parliament to an annate, i.e. half a year’s stipend over and above what is due for his Incumbency.
