A chop-church, or church-chopper, was a parson who made a practice of exchanging ecclesiastical benefices.[1][2] The term is used in an ancient statute as a lawful trade, or occupation.
An example, where the spelling is 'chopchyrche', occurs as the occupation of John Charles of Bishop's Milford, Wiltshire, as a defendant in a plea of debt, for 40/- (forty shillings) brought by John Wyot, merchant of Salisbury.[3]
References
- 1.Lawler, Traugott (2008-10-01). "The Secular Clergy in Piers Plowman". The Yearbook of Langland Studies. 16: 85–129. doi:10.1484/J.YLS.2.302645.
- 2.Moore, Thomas (1881). Dictionary of the English Church, Ancient and Modern. Wells Gardner, Darton. p. 107.
- 3.Plea Rolls of the Common Pleas, National Archives, 1440