English

Adjective

prebendal ‎(not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to a prebend; prebendary.
   • 2004, Charles Fonge, The Cartulary of St Mary's Collegiate Church, Warwick,

     In this respect, Earl Henry's grants of prebendal property might be regarded as the original donatio and the first of a series of such grants that would only later culminate in a more general and confirmatory charter of foundation.

   • 2006, John Sainsbury, John Wilkes: The Lives of a Libertine,

     In October 1746 Mary had taken over the lease of the Prebendal estate in Aylesbury, and with it the position of lady of the manor, from her mother.

   • 2008, Clive Burgess, Martin Heale (editors), The Late Medieval English College and its Context,

     Thus prebendal parishes were formed, with the canon prebendary as rector, employing his junior clerics as vicars either to serve his place in the collegiate church or to serve the parish if he preferred to reside in the college. […] Administrators tend to multiply and procedures to become more complex, and there were certainly large numbers of well-educated men, Oxford graduates, within Lacy's employ, who were paid, at least partly, by convenient prebendal incomes from colleges.

2. (of an office) Having an associated prebend.
   • 1864, Anthony Trollope, Can You Forgive Her?,

     His father had held a prebendal stall at Ely in times when prebendal stalls were worth more than they are at present, and having also been possessed of a living in the neighbourhood, had amassed a considerable sum of money.

   • 1910 [1840], Alexandre Dumas, père, translator not mentioned, Celebrated Crimes: Urbain Grandier, P. F. Collier edition,

     When he had been some months installed there as a priest-in-charge, he received a prebendal stall, thanks to the same patrons, in the collegiate church of Sainte-Croix.

3. Of or pertaining to an honorary religious title granted by the state.
4. Of or relating to official positions that are profitable for the incumbent, to the allocation of such positions, or to a system in which such allocation is prevalent.
   • 2006, Kenneth C. Omeje, High Stakes and Stakeholders: Oil Conflict and Security in Nigeria,

     In the 'Nigerian prebendal republic', Joseph (1996) argues, the statutory purposes of state offices become a matter of secondary concern. Gore & Pratten (2003:211) in their recent study described the pervasiveness of prebendal corruption in the Nigerian state 'endemic since the beginning of the oil boom, but locally perceived as having intensified from the 1990s onwards' as the 'politics of plunder'.

   • 2006, Aradhana Sharma, Akhil Gupta, The Anthropology of the State: A Reader,

     Similar phenomena, which promote a guild-like closure of officialdom, are typically found in the patrimonial and, particularly, in prebendal officialdom of the past.

5. (politics) Relating to political patronage.

Derived terms

• prebendalism