cromwell- dissolution of monastries
- Created by: valentina__calcagni
- Created on: 04-03-21 11:39
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- Dissolution of the monastries
- Dissolution of monasteries 1536-49
- Due to financial motives
- Humanists said they were a drain on commonwealth
- Cromwell promised H that he would make him the 'richest king in Christendom'
- Visitation and the Comperta Monastica
- 1535 - C aim was to assess the state of the monasteries
- much of the work compiling in the Comperta Monastica carried out by C's trusted 'servants' who support his ambitious, reformist agenda - e.g John ap Rhys - particularly dismissive of pilgrimages and relics
- 1535 - C aim was to assess the state of the monasteries
- Valor Ecclesiasticus 1535
- VE - survey of ecclesiastical wealth and property
- it valued taxes paid to the Crown from ecclesiastical property/income that had been prev paid to Pope
- Huge project - every parish/monastic institution in Eng and Wales visited
- According to the Valour - Church income was around £350k - loads!
- VE - survey of ecclesiastical wealth and property
- Impact of the VE and CM (1535)
- Provided ammunition for closure of the monasteries - C manipulated them to show evidence of widespread corruption
- Even more damning - Comperta had evidence of widespread sexual immortality
- Cromwell managed to get signed confessions of monks and nuns who admitted to breaking their vows of chastity - even claims of homosexuality in Comperta
- Due to financial motives
- Dissolution of smaller monasteries 1536
- Arguably a test of Henry's supremacy
- March 1536 - Act of the Dissolution of the Smaller Monasteries - if they had an annual income less than £200
- Justified - religious lifestyles of smaller houses - 'manifest sin'
- 399 houses surpressed
- Resistance: Pilgrimage of Grace 1536-7
- Destruction of remaining monasteries 1538-40
- Lack of opposition: apart from those who supported PoG - majority seemed to accept their dissolution
- As supreme head of the Church, King had power to do what he wanted
- monks/nuns had accepted this when swearing Oath of Supremacy 1535
- will to resist had been broken when Convocation caved into royal pressure in Submission of the Clergy 1532 - were powerless
- As supreme head of the Church, King had power to do what he wanted
- Social and economic consequence
- Revolution in land ownership
- Monasteries often aided poor and needy - crime and social instability
- Some churches and abbeys transformed into cathedrals e.g one in Bristol, Westminster
- Seizures between 1536-40 had potential to x2 H income - didn't happen as lots of monastic property sold quickly for cheap
- H wanted immediate financial solution - didn't have LT plan to put Crown's finances on secure foundations
- Lack of opposition: apart from those who supported PoG - majority seemed to accept their dissolution
- Dissolution of monasteries 1536-49
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