Benefices after the Reformation
The corruption of some priests brought forth the Reformation in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Martin Luther ultimately started the Protestant Reformation. After it occurred, the new churches adopted policies that did not entail benefices except the Church of England.
In Europe, the French Revolution broke the back of the system, confiscating the huge capital of the church and paying for it by awarding the formerly dependent clergy a state salary. This system is still in place in some countries. At the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church called for the abolition of benefices altogether. Even so, it was not successful.