Hello! I’m a little confused as to how land was divided into parishes, each with a parsonage and a clergyman (vicar, rector, curate), in Regency England. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, Mr Collins is a clergyman under the patronage of Lady Catherine de Bough. I have always assumed this means that he owns the church living in her estate, and that is the area he is the vicar (I assume, or else a rector?) of.
I also have a few questions about how parishes, parsonages, and patronage work, more generally.
If we go back to Pride and Prejudice as an example, Mr Darcy owns the estate of Pemberley. Presumably the living under the ownership of this estate is on (or at least near, as asked before) Pemberley. Does this mean that the parish (under the lead of the clergyman) only includes the tenants and owners of Pemberley, or might it also extent to surrounding areas (e.g. those from the town of Lambton nearby). Otherwise, would Lambton also have its own clergyman and church, even though it is close to Pemberley? For instance, in Emma, the town of Highbury has its own church, the vicar of which is Mr Elton. However, might there have been other churches nearby (e.g. on Mr Knightley’s estate)?
Finally, if a clergyman was situated as the leader of the church of an estate (a member of the aristocracy or a gentleman’s estate), does this mean that his church was for all the members of that estate (or also potentially those in local towns and areas)? E.g. who actually goes to Mr Collins’s services? Presumably Lady Catherine and her guests, but who else? The tenants? Other local people? Would Lady Catherine even condescend to attend the same church as the tenant farmers or poorer members of surrounding areas?
Thank you so much for reading, any help is appreciated :)
A number of good questions!
The basic answer about how this worked is that a large landholder would usually own the "living" - the rectory/vicarage, the associated farmlands (called the glebe), and the right to appoint someone to it - though some were owned by the bishop of the diocese instead. (The difference between a rectory and a vicarage is that a rector was entitled to the greater and lesser tithes, and a vicar was only entitled to the lesser tithes. These tithes were ten percent of the parish residents' produce: the greater being wheat, hay, and wood, and the lesser being livestock, products derived from livestock, and crops other than wheat.) In practice, this sometimes meant that the landowner pushed his second son into the church and promised it to him once the current living-holder died or retired, making sure the parson was sympathetic to the family and ensuring that the non-inheriting son would have an income, or that the landowner's right to name the next clergyman was bought by someone else for the same reason.
For instance, in Mansfield Park, Sir Thomas Bertram is "happily able to give his friend an income in the living of Mansfield" when said friend marries his wife's sister; however, years down the road, when the Rev. Norris dies Edmund hasn't taken orders yet (he hasn't officially become a clergyman) and the family has financial difficulties. Instead of giving the living to a friend who could be counted on to step aside and find another living when Edmund can take it, Sir Thomas has to sell the right of presentation (naming someone to it) to Dr. Grant, who takes it himself. Sir Thomas owns other livings, one of which he still plans to give Edmund, but they aren't as lucrative or close to Mansfield.
So Mr. Collins actually owns nothing. Lady Catherine has appointed him and can't unappoint him, but he will not leave his position, his church, or his home to any potential children he might have with Charlotte. As a result of this system, clergymen's wives and daughters could easily find themselves living in poverty (like Mrs. and Miss Bates in Emma) or on the charity of their relatives (like Jane Austen). He could get another living from Lady Catherine - Elizabeth suspects that this is why both he and Charlotte pay so much attention to her - which would give him even more income, but which he would have to partially use to pay for a curate to handle his duties there.
Now, rather than thinking of Lady Catherine's property as being equivalent to her estate (or Mr. Darcy's and Pemberley), we should think of Rosings Park/Pemberley as just part of their property, which would certainly have been more extensive - much or most of the land in any given area would be owned by a wealthy landlord, with much if not most of it being rented out. Where a parsonage/church was located would depend on whether there was some sort of village nearby, since a parish was organized (theoretically) for the benefit of people living in it. (A clergyman who worked for a wealthy family on a personal basis would have been called a chaplain, not a parson, and would give services in the family chapel.) In the case of Hunsford and Rosings, in the dialogue Austen has Mr. Collins say that the two are "separated only by a lane", ie you only have to walk down a lane to get from one to the other. This is much like we see in Mansfield Park with the distance between Mansfield itself and the Norris/Grant parsonage, which Fanny is required to traverse multiple times a day, though you have to bear in a mind that the definition of "walkable distance" has shifted. But for there to be a parish church, there must also be a parish, so the church itself must be in a village.
It was the norm for the local landowners to attend their parish churches along with the other members of the parish. Rather than this being something degrading to their dignity, they would have a prime seat in front, where they would essentially sit in state before their social inferiors. They would also visit the poor to bring them gifts of food and supplies, and potentially send them medical assistance - none of which was pure charity, but also a way to cement who was in charge in general. Lady Catherine is described as even going so far as to get involved in the domestic arguments of her tenants whenever she hears about them. (Mr. Darcy would likely attend the church in Lambton, since it seems to be the closest village/town to Pemberley.)
Tenants wouldn't just mean the poorest farmers, but many prosperous ones as well, and artisans, widows, professionals, etc. who lived in villages. So the idea of "the tenants of Pemberley" (or Rosings Park) in the context of your question is a little misleading. Pemberley is the house and its immediate grounds, which by definition don't have renting tenants; Mr. Darcy has many tenants on his land, some of them in different villages, as between marriages, sales, and inheritances, members of the gentry and aristocracy rarely owned one simple, continuous parcel of land.