People paid 10% of what they earned in a year to the Church. This tax was called the tithe. Tithes could be paid either in money or in goods produced by poor peasants. The peasants being very poor, they almost always had to pay in seeds, grains or animal parts. This usually caused a lot of trouble for the farmers as they needed seeds to plant their crops the following year. The Church was so rich that it took these tithes from the peasants and put them in large barns. The food in the barns was usually overrun with rats and other animals that would eat the seeds, or the seeds/produce would simply rot. This truly shows the power and wealth of the Roman Catholic Church. People were almost forced to pay these tithes because if they didn't pay them, the consequences were enormous. Peasants could either be punished on earth by the Church or go to hell afterwards