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thumb|alt=A two-storey wooden house viewed across a river, surrounded by trees|[[The Old Manse, Concord, Massachusetts, built in 1770; associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne]]
A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister of a Christian congregation. Dictionaries define the term as the house of a Christian minister, especially in Scotland or in Presbyterian usage. It is used in Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and other Nonconformist traditions, and differs in usage from terms such as vicarage and rectory, which are associated with Anglican parish clergy.
The word derives from the Latin mansus, "dwelling", from manere, "to remain", and is cognate with mansion. In older ecclesiastical use, a manse could refer to both a dwelling and land attached to a minister's office; in modern use, it usually means the house itself. In Scotland, children raised in manses by ministers are sometimes described as "sons" or "daughters of the manse", a phrase common in journalism and political commentary about public figures from Presbyterian ministerial households.
History and etymology
The word manse entered Middle English from medieval Latin mansus, the past participle of manere ("to remain"), used in medieval land tenure to denote a unit of land sufficient to support one household. It shares a root with mansion and manor. Dictionaries define the modern term as the house of a Christian minister, especially in Scotland or in Presbyterian usage. In Scots ecclesiastical law, manse became the standard word for the parish minister's residence, distinguishing it from Anglican terms such as vicarage or rectory.
The Oxford English Dictionary dates the ecclesiastical use of the term in English to the 16th century, at which point it referred both to a dwelling and, in church contexts, to a unit of agricultural land. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica similarly described a manse as originally a dwelling-house with enough land to support a family, and in ecclesiastical law as the house and glebe attached to a church. The land sense is now secondary in ordinary English; the building sense is the dominant modern use.
Modern denominational usage
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland is the denomination most closely associated with the manse. The Church's General Trustees describe manses as homes provided for ministers and maintain a Manse Handbook covering policy, standards, condition schedules, maintenance, and responsibilities for congregations and ministers. The Church of Scotland's manse standards distinguish between essential, recommended, and suggested requirements, reflecting both housing standards and the minister's use of the property for work connected with the parish. Its guidance notes that a study in the manse may be used for ministerial work and that access, privacy, room layout, maintenance, and long-term suitability should be considered when buying or maintaining a manse.
Other usage
The term is also used in other Reformed and Nonconformist contexts.
Role in parish ministry
The manse historically was both the minister's private residence and part of the institutional structure of the parish. In rural areas especially, the minister's household was often closely involved in parish administration and pastoral work. Church of Scotland guidance treats a manse primarily as a ministerial residence, while noting that parts of it may also be used for meetings, office work, and other duties connected with ministry.
The glebe provided supplementary income before fixed stipends became common. Ministers might farm the glebe or lease it, and in some parishes glebe income formed part of the minister's living. As the land component receded, the word manse increasingly referred to the residence alone.
Gordon Brown, prime minister from 2007 to 2010, is often described as a son of the manse; his father was a Church of Scotland minister in Kirkcaldy. Actor David Tennant is another example frequently discussed in Scottish media; his father, Sandy McDonald, was a Church of Scotland minister and later Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
See also
- Preacher's kid
- List of children of clergy