Dissolution of the Monasteries

One result of establishing the Church of England was the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England and Wales, over 800 of them in total, during 1536-40. This included all types and sizes of building where monks or nuns lived communally and practised daily Catholic worship. They were places of learning, employment, hospitality and nursing, but corruption had also set in to some extent, funded by paid requests for prayers and pilgrims’ donations.

In 1535 an audit of monastic possessions and property ~ Valor Ecclesiasticus ~ was carried out along with reporting of the inmates’ behaviour, e.g. drunkenness, and this gave King Henry VIII (1491-1547) and his adviser, Lord Cromwell of Wimbledon (c.1485-1540) both financial and moral reasons to proceed with closing them all down, starting with the smallest and continuing up the scale.

Henry needed money for war with France and the monasteries owned 20% of the land, which was sold off in a move which was largely welcomed. The buildings were either repurposed as manor-houses, colleges, CofE parish churches and cathedrals, such as Chester, Gloucester and Bristol, or they were demolished and the masonry and metalwork reused in Henry’s other projects. Thousands of abbots, monks and nuns were paid off, but some rebelled and were executed.

(Images LtoR: the cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral by Eirian Evans at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0, Thomas Cromwell / Public domain)