PETER-PENCE, the name given to a tribute which was collected in several of the western kingdoms, and offered to the Rornan pontiff, in reverence of the memory of St. Peter, whose successor that bishop is believed by Catholics to be. From an early period, the Roman see had been richly endowed; and although its first endowments were chiefly local, yet as early as the days of Gregory the great, large estates were held by the Roman bishops in Campania, in Calabria, and even in the island of Sicily. The first idea, however, of an annual tribute appears to have conic from England. It is ascribed by some to Ina (721 A.D), king of the west Saxons, who went as a pilgrim to Rome, and there founded a hospice for Anglo-Saxon pilgrims, to be maintained by an annual con tribution from,England; by others, to 0 Ira and Ethelwulf, at least in the sense of their having extended it to the entire of the Saxon territory. But this seems very uncertain; and although the usage was certainly anterior to the Norman conquest, Dr. Lingard rs disposed not to place it higher than the time of Alfred. The tribute consisted in the payment of a :,liver penny by every possessing land or cattle of the yearly value of 30 pence, and it was collected durino. the `five weeks between St. Peter's and St.
Paul's day and Aug. 1, In the time of king .John the total annual payment was L'199, 8.s., contributed by the several dioceses, in various proportions, which will be found in Lingard's History of England, voi. ii. p. 330. The tax, called Romescot, with some variation, continued to be paid till the reign of henry VIII., when it was abolished. By Gregory VII. it was sought to establish it for France; and it appears also in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Poland. This tribute differs from the payments of the feudatory kingdoms, such as Naples, Aragon, and England under the reign of John.
The pope having suffered a considerable diminution of has own revenue since the revolution of 1848, an effort has been 'made in several parts of Europe to revive this tribute. In some countries it has been very successful, and the proceeds have been among the chief of the resources by which Pius IX. has been enabled to meet the pres sure of pecuniary embarrassments caused by his diminished territorial possessions. Since the total annexation of the Papal states to the kingdom of Italy, the tribute has been largely increased, in France, Belgium, England, and Ireland.