Manse - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

MANSE (Med. Lat. mansa, mansus or mansum, from manere, to dwell, remain), originally a dwelling-house together with a portion of land sufficient for the support of a family. It is defined by Du Cange (Glossarium, s.v. Mansus) as. .. certant agri portionem quae coleretur et in qua coloni aedes esset. The term was particularly applied, in ecclesiastical law, to the house and glebe to which every church was entitled by common right, the rule of canon law being sancitum est ut unicuique ecclesiae unus mansus integer absque ullo servitio tribuatur (Phillimore, Eccles. Law, 1895, ii. 1125). The word is now chiefly used for the residence of a minister of the Established Church of Scotland; to this every minister of a rural parish is entitled, and the landed proprietors must build and keep it up. "Manse" is also loosely used for the residence of a minister of various Free Church denominations (see Glebe).