Dissolving the monasteries

What had Wolsey done following his legatine visitations?

He had already dissolved 29 small monasteries, he had found evidence of clerical abuse

By the time Wolsey was gone, what were the two phases of Dissolution after the break from Rome?

• 1536- smaller religious houses e.g. income<200 pounds per year

• 1539-40- all larger institutions. Final house to be closed was Waltham Abbey in 1540

What was crucial to the process?

Valor Ecclesiasticus- a census taken of the Church’s wealth in 1535

At the same time as the census, what did Cromwell do?

sent out inspectors to report on standards and behaviour within the religious houses

When inspectors reported on standards and behaviour, what did this mean for Cromwell?

provided him with evidence he wanted- that spiritually, the monasteries were in poor condition

How did parliament respond to the evidence?

they were easily convinced by the evidence to close the ‘decayed’ smaller houses, however the Act that closed these praised the larger houses, there was no plan to close all of them. 4 years later, they were closed

How did the people of the religious houses respond?

Most surrendered ‘voluntarily’ (abbots received large pensions i return

What Act finished the process?

Second Act of Dissolution in 1539, with the promise that the wealth obtained would be used to establish colleges/new bishoprics, as well as other social benefits- MPs voting for this may have been sure that the funds would go to worthy uses- not the crown

At this stage, how many religious houses were dissolved?

563

What happened to the crown income and the re-sale of monastic land?

crown income doubled and re-sale of monastic land estimated at 1.3 million pounds