76 Urdahl—Historical Survey of Fee Systems. 
Not only was a charge made for every service or activity of 
the state or its servants on account of or in the interest of any 
individual, but even the church had gradually come around to 
the doctrine of equivalents; or, in other words, “No service 
without a counter-service. 
This condition, however, was not attained at a single bound. 
Gradually the church had changed from the primitive simplicity 
when it refused to accept any lands or other valuables, except 
money, until the time when it would accept anything of value,, 
from the last farthing of the starving beggar to the wealth and 
lands of a dying king. Very little stress was laid at first upon 
the doctrine of equivalents, but soon penances or pilgrimages 
came to be prescribed for the atonement of sin. Little by little 
these began to be commuted for money payments, from which 
it is only a step to the absolute power of the church to absolve 
from sin and its consequences. The sale of indulgences is nothing 
but a payment in the nature of a fee for a privilege or service. 
The old idea of voluntary contributions was almost entirely dis¬ 
placed by these counter-payments and taxes. * 1 2 
The enormous revenues of the Holy See were largely pay¬ 
ments of this kind for real or imaginary privileges, exemptions, 
and dispensations. State and church offices were secured only 
through payment of huge sums of money, which were simply 
fees collected for the privileges and honors conferred. Although 
there was no fixed tariff of these charges in Germany during 
the reign of Henry V still no political or ecclesiastical office 
was granted without obtaining at least a gift from the individ¬ 
ual so honored. 3 Although the local churches or their repre¬ 
sentatives were largely supported- by tithes and revenue from 
seventy-seven toll places. In the middle of the 14th century the tolls 
collected from Bingen to Coblenz amounted to 67 per cent, of the value of 
the commodity transported. Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaf- 
ten, Supplement, 1897, p. 943. 
1 For a short account of church revenues see Handworterbuch der 
Staatswissenschaften , IV, 677. (Article by Edgar Loening.) 
2 The hearth tax in England and the “Denarius St. Petri” in Scandina¬ 
via were originally in the nature of fees, but became burdensome taxes. 
8 Waitz, VIII, p.409. 
