a tax on the first year's income (first fruits) from an ecclesiastical benefice given by a new incumbent either to the bishop or to the pope. The first mention of the practice appears in the time of Pope Honorius III (d. 1227). The earliest records show that the annates were sometimes a privilege conceded to the bishop for a term of years and sometimes a right based on immemorial precedent. Eventually popes claimed the privilege for themselves, at first only on a temporary basis to meet particular financial needs. Thus, in 1305 Clement V claimed the first fruits of all vacant benefices in England, and in 1319 John XXII claimed those of all of Christendom vacated within the next two years. The system was never applied uniformly or effectively throughout the church's territories and was the cause of much protest. Under the Annates Statute of 1534, Henry VIII claimed the English annates for the crown. Papal annates fell into disuse with the transformation of the system of benefices after the Council of Trent (1545–63).

From the time of Pope Benedict XIV (1740–58) the term has referred to the half portion (Latin media annata) of the first year's income from parochial benefices, which in Italy and the adjacent islands was to be contributed toward the restoration of the cathedral and collegiate churches of the respective dioceses.