The Dissolution of the Monasteries (referred to by Roman Catholic writers as the Suppression of the Monasteries) was the formal process, taking place between 1536 and 1540, by which King Henry VIII confiscated the property of the Roman Catholic institutions in England and took them to himself, as the new head of the Church of England. Events February 2 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina. ... Events January 6 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. ... Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ...

These processes should not necessarily be seen against the larger background of the Protestant Reformation taking place in continental Europe. This is because, despite the break from the jurisdiction of Rome under Henry VIII in religious appointments, the Anglicanism which resulted was, The Protestant Reformation was a movement which emerged in the 16th century (although out of earlier roots) as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe. ... The term Anglican (from the Angles or English) describes those people and churches following the religious traditions developed by the established Church of England. ...

• first, only a form of "State Catholicism" (see Henry VIII's 1539 Six Articles as proof of this).

• second, it was only under the influence of Thomas Cranmer (Henry VIII's Archbishop of Canterbury, who secretly married a niece of a Lutheran theologian of Nuremberg) and Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (serving as Lord Protector of the Realm and Governor of the King's Person in the regency organization for Henry VIII's heir, Edward VI), that Henry VIII's Anglicanism was moved explicitly toward Protestantist forms of religious expression.

• third, Cardinal Wolsey had obtained from the Pope a Papal Bull authorizing some limited reforms in the English Church as 'early' as 1518.

Under Henry VIII, acts reforming certain Church abusive practices were passed in November 1529. They set caps on fees for probating wills and mortuary expenses for burial on hallowed ground, tightened regulations covering rights of sanctuary for felons and murderers, and reduced to four the number of Church offices to be held by one man. These were less forms of "religious reformation" than they were ways of establishing royal jurisdiction in a "State Catholic" framework. The Six Articles of 1539 was an Act of Parliament which reaffirmed Henry VIIIs general Catholicism. ... Thomas Cranmer (July 2, 1489 - March 21, 1556) was the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of the English kings Henry VIII and Edward VI. Born in 1489 at Nottingham, Cranmer was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge and became a priest following the death of his first wife. ... Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. ... Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (c. ... The Papal bull is the most formal form of patent issued by the Vatican Chancery in the name of the pope. ... Events A plague of tropical fire ants devastates crops on Hispaniola. ... Events April 22 - Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal, stipulating that the dividing line should lie 297. ... A sanctuary is the consecrated (or sacred) area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar. ...

Regardless, resistance among the pro-Roman ecclesiastics was stiff. Opposition to Henry VIII occurred in the person of Reginald Pole, who escaped to the Continent and later was made Cardinal, against his will, by the Pope to be a potential "Pope's man" in England in an anticipated more pro-Roman future. Henry VIII originally offered Pole the archbishopric of York or the diocese of Winchester if he would support his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Pole withheld his support and went into self-imposed exile in France and Italy in 1532, continuing his studies in Padua and Paris. Pole was made cardinal under Pope Paul III in 1536 over Pole's own objections. In 1542 he was appointed as one of the three legates to preside over the Council of Trent, and after the death of Pope Paul III in 1549, Pole missed being elected pope by only one vote. Reginald Pole, cardinal Reginald Pole (1500 - 1558) Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, was the son of Margaret Pole who was the daughter of George, Duke of Clarence. ... The Council of Trent (Italian: Trento) was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church held in discontinuous sessions between 1545 and 1563 in response to the Protestant Reformation. ...

It has been suggested that getting the lands and treasuries of those religious houses was as much Henry's purpose in splitting with the Church of Rome as getting divorced from Catherine of Aragon; however, the evidence points away from this, since he spent five years pressuring the Pope for his annulment before finally giving up and splitting from Rome. Rather, having gained control over the church, he was unable to resist the temptation to use its wealth to clear the country's debts - especially as the church had an income three times greater than that of the state. The recently-widowed young Catherine of Aragon, by Henry VIIs court painter, Michael Sittow, c. ...

Additionally, it may have been a form of politics: that once the break with Rome had occurred, the Dissolution could be seen as a form of removing the organizations that were the mainspring of Henry VIII's political opposition, as well. The truth is likely a mixture of all these.

Henry had himself declared Supreme Head of the Church of England in February 1531. In April 1533 an Act in Restraint of Appeals, eliminated the right of clergy to appeal to "foreign tribunals" (Rome) over the King's head in any spiritual or financial matter. contemporary drawing of one of cromwells visitors leaving a monastery, believed to be colchester abbey, after sacking it and hanging its abbot This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... Events January 26 - Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake-- thousands die October 1 - Battle of Kappel - The forces of Zürich are defeated by the Catholic cantons. ... Events January 25 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort. ...

In 1534 Henry had Parliament authorize Thomas Cromwell, a layman in the King's service since 1530, to "visit" all the monasteries (which term includes abbeys and convents), ostensibly to make sure their members were instructed in the new rules for their supervision by the King instead of the Pope, but actually to inventory their assets. A few months later, in January 1535 when the consternation at having a lay visitation instead of a bishop had settled down, Cromwell's visitation authority was delegated to a commission of laymen. This phase is termed the "Visitation of the Monasteries." Events May 10 - Jacques Cartier explores Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage. ... The debating chamber or hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels. ... Thomas Cromwell: detail from a portrait by Hans Holbein, 1532-3 Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex ( 1485 - July 28, 1540) was an English statesman, one of the most important political figures of the reign of Henry VIII of England. ... Events June 25 - Augsburg confession presented to Charles V of Holy Roman Empire. ... Buddhist monastery near Tibet A monastery is the habitation of monks. ... This article is about an abbey as a religious building. ... This article is about an abbey as a religious building. ... The Pope is the Catholic Bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster (see Münster Rebellion) is conquered and disbanded. ...

In the summer of that year, the visitors started their work, and "preachers" and "railers" were sent to deliver sermons from the pulpits of the churches on three themes:

• The monks and nuns in the monasteries were sinful "hypocrites" and "sorcerers" who were living lives of luxury and engaging in every kind of sin.
• Those monks and nuns were sponging off the working people and giving nothing back and, thus, were a serious drain on England's economy.
• If the King received all the property of the monasteries, he would never again need taxes from the people.

Meanwhile, during the last half of 1535, the visiting commissioners were sending back written reports to Cromwell of all the scandalous doings they said they were discovering, sexual, as well as financial. The law Parliament enacted in early 1536, relying in large part on the reports of impropriety Cromwell had received, provided for the King to take all the monasteries with annual incomes of less than £200, and that was done: the smaller, less influential houses were emptied and their property confiscated. Monastic life had been in decline. By 1536, the thirteen Cistercian houses in Wales had only 85 monks among them. Their reputation for misbehaviour was likely overstated, however. A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ... In general, a nun is a female ascetic who chooses to voluntarily leave the world and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent. ... Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, virtues and feelings that one does not truly possess. ... A sorcerer (from Old French sorcier; fem. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster (see Münster Rebellion) is conquered and disbanded. ... Events February 2 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina. ... Events February 2 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina. ... Cistercians (OCist) (Latin Cistercenses), otherwise Gimey or White Monks (from the colour of the habit, over which is worn a black Catholic order of monks. ...

The moves did not raise as much capital as had been expected, even after the king re-chartered some of the confiscated monasteries and confiscated them again. In April 1539 a new Parliament passed a law giving the King the rest of the monasteries in England. Some of the abbots resisted, and that autumn the abbots of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Reading were executed for treason. Events May 30 - In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal to find gold. ... Abbots coat of arms An abbot (from the Hebrew ab, a father, through the Syriac abba, Latin abbas (genitive form, abbatis), Old English abbad, ; German Abt; French abbé) is the head and chief governor of a community of monks, called also in the East hegumenos or The English version... This article is about the town in England. ... Glastonbury Abbey in Glastonbury, Somerset, England, now presents itself as traditionally the oldest above-ground Christian church in the world situated in the mystical land of Avalon by dating the founding of the community of monks at 63 A.D., the legendary visit of Joseph of Arimathea who also brought... Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in Reading, Berkshire, founded by Henry I in 1121 for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors and successors. Contents // Categories: Buildings... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation. ...

The other abbots signed their abbeys over to the King. Some of the confiscated church buildings were destroyed by having the valuable lead removed from roofs and stone reused for secular buildings. Some of the smaller Benedictine houses were taken over as parish churches, and were even bought for the purpose by wealthy parishes. The tradition that there was widespread destruction and iconoclasm, that altars and windows were smashed, partly confuses the damage with the greater damage wrought by the Puritans in the next century. Relics were discarded and pilgrimages discouraged, however. Places like Glastonbury, Bury St Edmunds, Shaftesbury and Canterbury that had thrived on the pilgrim trade suffered setbacks. A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of Saint Benedict, whether belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, or to one of the Anglican or Protestant churches. ... Literally, iconoclasm is the destruction of religious icons and other sacred images or monuments, usually for religious or political motives. ... Picture of an altar from the Meyer Encyclopaedia An altar, (Hebrew mizbeah, from a word meaning to slay) is any structure on which sacrifices known as the korbanot as well as incense offerings are offered for religious purposes. ... Highly decorative Window in a Japanese Onsen in Hakone A window is an opening in an otherwise solid, opaque surface through which light can pass. ... The Puritans were members of a group of radical Protestants which developed in England after the Reformation. ... The word relic comes from the Latin reliquiae (remains) and there are many pre-Christian instances of some bone or other part of the corpse, or some intimately associated object, carefully preserved with an air of veneration as a tangible memorial. ... A pilgrimage is a journey by a religious person to a place that is sacred according to his or her religion. ... Map sources for Glastonbury at grid reference ST5039 Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry spot on the Somerset Levels, 30 miles south of Bristol. ... Bury St Edmunds is a town in the county of Suffolk, England. ... Gold Hill Shaftesbury is a town in North Dorset, England, situated on the A30 road near the Wiltshire border 20 miles west of Salisbury. ... St Peters St, Canterbury, from the West Gate, 1993 Canterbury (Latin: Duroverum) is a cathedral city in the county of Kent in southeast England. ...

Henry needed more cash so many of the abbeys were resold, at bargain rates, to the new Tudor gentry, aligning them as a class more firmly to the new Protestant settlement. The period of English history known as the Tudor period normally refers to the period of time between 1485 and 1603 when the Tudor dynasty (Welsh Twdwr) held the English throne. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ...

Other losses to posterity included widespread destruction of many valuable books held in the monastic libraries. It is believed that many of the earliest Anglo-Saxon manuscripts were lost at this time. Monastic schools and hospitals were also lost, with serious consequences locally. The Anglo-Saxons refers collectively to the groups of Germanic tribes who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century, forming the basis for the modern English nation. ...

Many of the dismantled monasteries and friaries were sold for nominal amounts (often to the local townspeople), and some of the lands the King gave away; there were also pensions to be paid to some of the dispossessed clerics. Many others continued to serve the parishes. Although the total value of the confiscated property has been calculated to have been £200,000 at the time, the actual amount of income King Henry received from it from 1536 through 1547 averaged only £37,000 per year, about one fifth of what the monks had derived from it. Events January 16 - Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia. ...

The Dissolution was not popular throughout England. In 1536 there were major popular risings in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire and, a further rising in Norfolk the following year. Rumors were spread that the King was going to strip the parish churches too, and even tax cattle and sheep. The rebels called for an end to the dissolution of the monasteries, for the removal of Cromwell, and for Henry's daughter, and eldest child, the Catholic Mary to be named as successor in place of his younger son Edward. Henry defused the movement with promises, then summarily executed some of the leaders. Events February 2 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina. ... Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs) is a county in the East Midlands of England, traditionally the second largest after Yorkshire. ... Yorkshire as a traditional county. ... For alternative meanings see: Norfolk (disambiguation) Norfolk (pronounced NOR-fk) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ... Thomas Cromwell: detail from a portrait by Hans Holbein, 1532-3 Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex ( 1485 - July 28, 1540) was an English statesman, one of the most important political figures of the reign of Henry VIII of England. ... Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 6 July 1553 (de jure) or 19 July 1553 (de facto) until her death. ... Edward VI King of England and Ireland Edward VI (12 October 1537–6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. ...

See also

• List of monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII of England
• Religion in the United Kingdom

These monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII of England in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. ... Categories: Stub | Religion in the United Kingdom | Religion by country ...

External links

• Dissolution of the Monasteries (http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries.htm)
• BBC Timeline: (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/tud_dissolution.shtml) Dissolution of the Monasteries
• Catholic Encyclopedia: (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10455a.htm) Suppression of English Monasteries

References

• D Knowles, The Religious Orders in England, vol III (1959)
• J Youings, The Dissolution of the Monasteries (1971)
• C Haigh, The Last Days of the Lancashire Monasteries and the Pilgrimage of Grace (1969)
• B Bradshaw, The Dissolution of the Religious Orders in Ireland under Henry VIII (1974)