The tithe system which the Urgemeinde did not know, has returned to the church with the Judaising trends. The early church was convinced that it would correspond with the spirit of the gospel, to use the tithe for the purpose of charity. The church depended on the voluntary donations; but in the sixth century, in Meroving dynasty the tithe was referred to for the first time in a synodal letter, and thence force it has begun to have the obligatory character. In the Caroling Dynasty the bishops asked the secular power to chastise those who refused to pay the tithes. At last Charlemagne proclaimed a capitulary, which made the payment of the tithes an obligation. He chastised the refusers as violators of the imperial order. In this way the tithe which men introduced originally as voluntary donation, changed into a sort of religious tax. Also the rule concerning the 1/4 portion for the poor which the Roman popes had stipulated, has lost its meaning. The purpose of tithes collection for the charity has been forgotten; the tithes has been collected only for the salary of the clergy.
In the Frankish empire which was neither a industrial state nor a welfare state, the worst victims of the wars, the plagues and the natural catastrophes were the common people. They who were freemen nominally, have lost their scanty possessions for several reasons and erred on the streets.
Although the church and the monastery tried to provide the costs for the charity from the tithes and other incomes and the synods tried to reform the charity system, the charity activities were encountered with their limits for several reasons. The rulers like Charlemage and Louis the Pious were interested for the problem of the poor; it could be relieved with the public funds, but could not be solved basically. The charity was the only help for the poor of the early Middle Age, and they were waiting for the charity.

• 황정욱(한신대학교) | Jeong Uck Hwang