The dissolution of the monasteries by
King Henry VIII made him the richest king in
Christiandom but, although the scale of the dissolution was drastic, attacks on monastic
property were not unprecedented.
Henry V had seized the property of alien priories in England - those whose founding houses
to which they owed their allegiance were on the continent, particularly the French
houses. Cardinal Wolsey and others took the endowments made to monasteries and diverted
them for schools. Laymen were often given pensions on monastic estates.
Monasteries were established as religious cumminities practising austerity, learning and
prayer. It was inevitable that institutions whose members were sworn to hard work, prayer
and austerity and which could not fail but attract gifts and endowments would in time grow
rich and there were several waves of new monastic orders over the centuries, ever more
austere in protest at the wealth of the established houses.
By the 16th century, the monastic fervour which had existed since the reintroduction of
Christianity into Saxon Britain and survived through the Middle Ages had abated and the
spread of the Renaissance had much reduced their status as the centres of
learning.
Amongst the population at large, the clerical bailifs were despised and people were
indignant at the huge profits the monastic establishments made by means of tolls imposed
on fairs on their lands.
In many places the monks ran schools for the local population, sometimes the only
schooling available in the locality. They also provided care for the sick and aleviated
the poor - in fact, it has been suggested in over-generous hospitality, they encouraged
vagabondage. As large land-owners, the monasteries also fostered farming as well as
taking part in the great trade in wool.
Henry VII won the crown on the field of battle and, during the course of his reign,
amassed a huge fortune for
Henry VIII
to inherit. Henry VIII's
extravagantly lavish court and his ambitions in Europe required vast amounts of money
which suppressing the monastic houses could provide - it caould also provide huge estates
to be distributed amongst the nobles to ease acceptance of the Reformation.
DISSOLUTION OF THE MINOR HOUSES
Thomas Cromwell, a layman, was made Vicar General in 1635. He issued 'injunctions' which
required the monks to teach the King's Supremacy (as opposed to the Pope's), improve
monastic discipline and curb the extravagance of the monastic houses. He also ordered a
visitation which disclosed many gross abuses.
In 1536, the Reformation Parliament passed an act dissolving the lesser monastic houses;
those with an annual income of less than � 200. This measure, which disolved three hundred
and seventy six religious (the greatest number in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire), was
accepted by the great abbots of the realm - probably in the hope that if the lesser
houses were sacrificed, their own might survive.
Opposition to the suppression of the smaller monasteries was strong, particularly in
the north-east, and resulted in a number of incidents, including the
Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, which were suppressed.
DISSOLUTION OF THE LARGE MONASTERIES
The remaining 645 large monasteries and abbeys were suppressed by an Act of Parliament
with no debate in 1539.
Henry VIII
became the richest king England had seen and his
supporters recieved large grants of the abbeys' extensive estates.
EFFECTS OF DISSOLUTION
A great deal of hardship was caused to the poor who had previously sought relief in the
hopitality of the monasteries and this led to the Poor Laws passed during the reign of
Queen Elizabeth I which made relief of the poor the responsibility of the parish. Many
places, in losing their monastery, also lost the school run by the monks which was
usually the only provision for education.
A small portion of the revenues which were gained by the suppression of the monasteries was
used to create six new bishopricks and to found schools.
An immediate effect of the supression was the disappearance of the mitred abbots from
the House of Lords and the consequential reduction of the ecclesiastical influence in
Parliament. The distribution of monastics lands would later hinder the Counter-Reformation.
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It was the refusal of those who had recieved grants of the monastic lands to return them
to the Abbeys which was to check Queen Mary's attempt to restore Catholicism in England
after the death of her father.
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This was not the last seizure of ecclesiastical property by the crown; in 1552, Henry's son and heir King Edward VI seized all 'surplus church plate'.
Both Somerset and Northumberland continued the seizure of Church lands during the reign of Edward VI- in total they took lands worth £5-millions.
The restoration of the Monasteries was provided for in 1554 but they were again supressed
in 1559 when all monastic property was vested in the Crown.
