The Dissolution of the Monasteries

Twenty-six cartloads

In September 1538 the commissioners of Thomas Cromwell broke up the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury, the most visited pilgrimage site in England for 360 years. The gold, silver and jewels that pilgrims had left on it filled 26 carts on the road to the Tower of London. The bones of the saint were burned. Two years later there was not a monastery, priory, friary or nunnery left in the kingdom. It happened in four years. A survey in 1535 valued every religious house. An Act in March 1536 closed the small ones. A rebellion that autumn, the Pilgrimage of Grace, tried to stop it and failed. From 1537 the great houses were persuaded, one by one, to surrender voluntarily, and the three abbots who would not, at Reading, Glastonbury and Colchester, were hanged in the winter of 1539. Waltham Abbey in Essex, the last, gave up on 23 March 1540. The exam bullet asks why it was done, how the commissioners did it, and what it meant for the crown, the gentry and ordinary communities. This module gives you the dated evidence for each.

Five words the examiners use

Each definition ends with the moment it mattered, because a bare definition earns nothing in a 12-mark answer.

The dissolution, in order

Put these six events in the order they happened.

• The Valor Ecclesiasticus values every religious house in England and Wales
• The commissioners visit the monasteries and compile the Compendium Compertorum
• The Act for the dissolution of houses worth under 200 pounds a year, and the Court of Augmentations is set up
• The Pilgrimage of Grace demands the restoration of the closed houses
• The shrine of Becket at Canterbury is broken up and its treasure carted to London
• Waltham Abbey, the last house in England, surrenders

Why dissolve the monasteries?

Henry VIII had founded no monasteries but had suppressed none before 1536 except the few Wolsey closed for his colleges. Which explanation best accounts for the dissolution of all of them in four years?

• The crown needed money after the fall in income from Rome and with war likely, and the Valor of 1535 showed where it was; the monasteries were loyal to the Pope and had the king believed a nest of opposition, which the Pilgrimage of 1536 seemed to prove; reformers saw them as idle and superstitious; and the Compendium of 1536 gave Parliament a reason to act that sounded like reform rather than greed.
• The monasteries were already empty and nobody lived in them.
• The Pope ordered them closed.
• Henry had become a Lutheran and Luther condemned monastic vows.

Two phases, two methods

The question may ask about the role of Cromwell and his commissioners. Know that the small houses went by Act and the great ones by surrender, and that the rebellion in between changed the method.

Who lost?

Five statements about the results. Tap the TWO that give evidence of what local communities lost, as opposed to what the crown or the gentry gained.

• The monastic lands brought the crown about 120,000 pounds a year, more than doubling its ordinary income.
• The monasteries had given alms at the gate, kept guest houses for travellers and schools for local boys, and none of the three was replaced when they closed.
• By 1547 two-thirds of the land had been sold, mostly to the gentry, who converted abbeys into houses such as Lacock and Woburn.
• Monastic libraries were broken up and sold; the books of Worcester priory were bought by the yard for wrapping paper and the abbey church at Bury St Edmunds was quarried for stone.
• Six new bishoprics were founded from the wealth between 1540 and 1542, including Westminster, Oxford, Peterborough and Chester.

Who gained?

Select the THREE statements that are true of the impact of the dissolution on the crown and the gentry.

• The crown gained land worth about 120,000 pounds a year and plate, lead and jewels worth much more at once, including the 26 cartloads from Canterbury.
• By the death of Henry in 1547 about two-thirds of the land had been sold, mainly to pay for the wars of the 1540s, so the long-term gain went to the buyers rather than the crown.
• The gentry who bought the land, such as the Russells at Woburn and the Sharingtons at Lacock, gained estates and a permanent interest in the break with Rome.
• Most monks were executed.
• The crown kept all the land and lived off it for a century.
• The poor gained because the land was distributed to them.

Money first, but not money alone

The 16-mark question on this bullet will usually ask how far the dissolution was about money. The strong answer accepts that it mostly was and then shows what the other causes added. The case for money. The Valor came before the visitations, which means the government valued the houses before it inspected their morals. The Act of 1536 drew its line at 200 pounds a year, a financial threshold, not a moral one. The crown sold the land as fast as war required. And the surrender of the great houses from 1537 was arranged by the Court of Augmentations, a treasury department, not by the bishops. What the other causes add. The visitations gave Parliament a reason it could vote for, and the reformers a reason they believed. The Pilgrimage of Grace turned the great houses from an asset into a threat: after abbots had ridden with Aske, security demanded that the rest go. This meant that the dissolution began as a way to raise money and ended as a way to make the break with Rome permanent, because by 1540 nobody with an abbey in his park had any interest in the Pope coming back. A judgement that gives money the weight and the other causes the timing will reach the top level.

In the shoes of Cromwell, 1535 to 1539

Four decisions about the monasteries. Choose what Cromwell actually did, and notice what each choice was designed to achieve.

• January 1535. You are Vicegerent, the king needs money, and nobody knows what the Church is worth. What do you do first?
• Autumn 1535. The Valor is done. Parliament will need a reason to act that sounds better than the treasury. What do you do?
• Spring 1537. The Pilgrimage of Grace has been broken. The Act of 1536 only touched the small houses and the great abbots are watching you. What do you do?
• Autumn 1539. Almost every house has surrendered. The abbots of Reading, Glastonbury and Colchester will not. What do you do?

From cause to consequence

Because the Valor of _____ had priced every house, the government knew which ones fell below the 200-pound threshold of the 1536 Act. Because the commissioners wrote up the Compendium Compertorum, the Commons were able to treat the Act as a measure of _____ rather than of greed. Because abbots joined the Pilgrimage of Grace, the great houses became a threat and were taken by _____ from 1537. Because most abbots took the pension and surrendered, the crown gained about _____ thousand pounds a year. And because the land was sold to the gentry to pay for war, the buyers gained a permanent interest in keeping England out of the hands of the _____.

What the crown gained

By 1540 about 800 religious houses had been dissolved. Their land brought the crown roughly 120,000 pounds a year on top of an ordinary income of about 100,000 pounds. What was the total yearly income of the crown, in thousands of pounds?

The 4-mark question

Question (a) might read: Describe two features of the role of the commissioners in the dissolution. It is marked feature plus supporting detail, twice. Which answer scores all four marks?

• One feature was that they surveyed the wealth of the houses: the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 valued every one, which let the Act of 1536 target those under 200 pounds a year. Another was that they inspected morals: Layton and Legh visited hundreds of houses in the winter of 1535 to 1536 and compiled their findings as the Compendium Compertorum for Parliament.
• They visited the monasteries. They wrote reports.
• The commissioners were very important in the dissolution and worked hard for Cromwell.
• Cromwell used commissioners because he needed evidence to persuade Parliament to close the houses.

A 12-mark paragraph, marked

Question (b): Explain why the monasteries were dissolved in the years 1536 to 1540. One reason for the dissolution was the need of the crown for money. The break with Rome had cost the king the goodwill of the Emperor, war was possible, and the ordinary income of the crown was only about 100,000 pounds a year. The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 showed that the Church had an income of over 300,000 pounds a year, and it was carried out before any inquiry into the morals of the monks, which suggests what the government wanted to know first. This meant that when the Act of 1536 was passed it drew its line at houses worth under 200 pounds a year, a financial threshold, and the Court of Augmentations was set up in the same month to receive the proceeds. The monasteries were dissolved first of all because the king needed what they had. What earned the marks: a cause named in the first sentence; specific support (100,000, the Valor, 300,000, the order of events, 200 pounds, Augmentations); the link phrase this meant that; and a closing sentence that returns to the question. Two more paragraphs, on the Pilgrimage of Grace and the security of the break, and on the case for reform made by the visitations, and the answer reaches the top level.

Write the 12-mark answer

Explain why the monasteries were dissolved in the years 1536 to 1540. You may use the following in your answer: the Valor Ecclesiasticus; the Pilgrimage of Grace. You must also use information of your own.

• Support that counts: a date, a sum, an Act or a name
• Causes of your own: the visitations and the Compendium, the reforming view of monastic life, or the loyalty of the monasteries to Rome

The 16-mark judgement

Question (c) might read: "The main consequence of the dissolution was the enrichment of the crown." How far do you agree? A student has written the case FOR. Which is the strongest point to set AGAINST it?

• The enrichment of the crown was real but short: two-thirds of the land was sold by 1547 to pay for the wars of the 1540s, so the lasting consequence was the transfer of monastic land to the gentry, who by buying it acquired a permanent stake in the break with Rome that even Mary could not reverse, while local communities lost alms, schools and hospitality that nothing replaced.
• The monks lost their homes, which was worse than the king gaining money.
• The shrines were destroyed too.
• Six new bishoprics were founded from the money.