Section 3, Chapter 2 Flashcards
The dissolution of the monasteries
List the role of the monasteries.
- Monasteries were local centres of education.
- The monks were the literate and educated who wrote events of the time down.
- Monasteries helped the poor and the sick.
What were the three main factors that motivated the dissolution of the monasteries?
- Political - Break with Rome, continental influence, patronage.
- Religious - behaviour of the clergy.
- Economic.
Explain how the break with Rome motivated the closure of the monasteries.
- Some of the most threatening opponents of Henry’s recent legislation had come from monastic houses.
- The most forceful opposition to the break with Rome had been expressed by the abbots - the presence of the abbots in the House of Lords offered an opportunity for resistance to further political changes.
- Breaking with Rome was also important in the process of creating an independent nation state.
- Henry and Cromwell were aware that religious houses could continue their allegiance to the Pope.
Explain how continental influence motivated the closure of the monasteries.
- Religious houses were being dissolved in Germany, Scandinavia demonstrating what could be done in England.
- The ideas of Erasmus, Tyndale and Fish, criticise monastic life were also gaining support internationally.
Explain how patronage motivated the closure of the monasteries.
- Following the 1536 Act the laity gained an appetite for land. Even Catholics such as Norfolk were quick to cash in on sales of monostatic land. This, in turn served a useful political purpose for Henry by pacifying potential critics of his break with Rome.
- Keeping the support of the nobility and preventing potential challenges to the authority of the monarchy.
- The dissolution of the monasteries had gained support in the House of Lords - people could gain wealth from the land.
Explain how the behaviour of the clergy motivated the closure of the monasteries.
- This was used as a way to persuade others of the process of dissolution.
- Specially appointed commissioners were sent out in 1535 to investigate the wealth and behaviour of the monks.
- Their findings were used to demonstrate that those living in religious house were greedy, lazy, self-indulgent and engaged in a range of sexual relationship.
- It was found that monks had relationships with many women and had fathered children with no punishment.
- Calculations have shown that there was one confession of homosexuality for every 30 monasteries visited.
Explain how fiscal matters motivated the closure of the monasteries.
- The Valor Ecclesiasticus demonstrated the wealth of the church to Cromwell - the House of Glastonbury had a net income of £3311 per year.
- While the Crown’s finances were healthy, there was a concern about the possibility of a Catholic crusade. A massive building programme of fortifications was undertaken and monastic wealth helped pay for it.
- Money from the Church also gave Cromwell the chance to free Henry from the need to impose taxation.
What Act was passed in 1536?
The Act of the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries.
What were the terms of the 1536 Act?
- All houses worth under £200 annually were to be dissolved.
- Priests and higher clergy were given pensions and priests could choose to become secular priest or move to larger monasteries.
- The act gave the king power to exempt houses as he saw fit - 67/300 houses were exempted from dissolution.
What happened to the dissolved monasteries after the 1536 Act had received royal assent?
- Valuable goods (especially gold, silver, jewels, lead from the rooves, bronze) were sent to the Tower of London.
- Many abbeys were destroyed by locals who used the stone as building material.
What did the commissioners who visited larger abbeys in 1538 do?
Through bribery, persuasion and bullying they were able to get many of the larger monasteries to sign themselves over.
What Act was passed in 1539?
An act that legalised the voluntary surrender of monastic property to the king.
How many houses were handed over to the monarch between 1536 and 1540?
800
What was the first revolt that occurred in 1536?
Lincolnshire Uprising.
What was the symbol of the Lincolnshire rebels?
The Badge of the Five Wounds of Christ.
What was the trigger cause of the Lincolnshire Uprising?
The arrival of commissioners in the Midlands dissolving parishes.
Who lead the Lincolnshire Uprising?
Nicholas Melton - “Captain Cobbler”.
How many men did Captain Cobbler persuade to raise a militia to challenge the commissioners?
20 men made up the core group.
How many men were part of the Uprising on the 3rd of October?
3000.
What occurred on the 3rd of October 1536?
3000 men advanced from Louth to Caistor to capture the commissioners who were dissolving the monasteries in the area.
What was the final number of people involved in the Lincolnshire Uprising?
10,000.
What happened on the 4th of October 1536?
A leading official of the Bishop of Lincoln was attacked and killed. The leaders of the rebellion drew up the Lincoln Articles.
Who led the King’s army to give the King’s response to the Lincoln Articles?
The Duke of Suffolk
What was the message give by the Duke of Suffolk to the Lincoln rebels?
There was to be no negotiations the actions they had taken were treasonable offences.
For how many days following the King’s Response was there unrest in Lincolnshire?
12.
What were the key points of the Lincoln Articles?
- An end to the suppression of religious houses.
- The act of uses may be supressed because by this active people are restricted in the declaration of wills concerning their land.
- The tax of sheep/cattle farming is too high.
- There are bishops in England who have been promoted but do not have the faith of Christ.
What was the second rebellion of 1536?
The Pilgrimage of Grace.
Who was the leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace?
Robert Aske.
How many people entered York on the 16th of October?
10,000.
Which Lords had their castles ‘captured’ and ceded to the rebels?
Lords Darcy and Hussey.
Which key figure had Aske secured the acquiescence’s of?
- Lord Darcy
- Archbishop of York
- 40 knights and gentlemen.
By the end of October how many rebels were supportive of the Pilgrimage of Grace?
30,000.
When and where and by who were the rebels of the Pilgrimage met by?
The rebels were met by the Duke of Norfolk and his 8000 men at Doncaster Bridge on the 27th of October 1536.
What is Henry’s response to the demands of the rebels of the Pilgrimage of Grace.
He promises that the demands will be listened to.
What happened to Aske and the demands of the rebels?
- The rebels revolt again in 1537.
- Henry crushes the North executing 216 people, including 38 monks and 16 priests.
- Aske is executed.
What were the demands of the Pilgrimage of Grace?
○ To have heresies (extreme Protestant ideas) within this realm ended and heretics burned.
○ To have the Supreme Head of the Church restored to the Pope in Rome.
○ That the Lady Mary be made the King’s legitimate heir instead of Princess Elizabeth.
○ To have the suppressed abbeys restored.
○ To have Cromwell, Richard Riche and the men who investigated the monasteries punished.
To what extent were the demands of the Pilgrims met?
The following examples show aims were met:
○ Statute of Wills in 1540.
○ Mary restored to the line of succession.
○ Cromwell executed.
The following examples show aims weren’t met:
○ No free Parliament in York.
○ The monasteries were never restored.
○ England didn’t re-join the Church in Rome.
What were the factors that caused the uprisings in October of 1536?
- Political.
- Social.
- Economic.
- Religious.
Explain how political factors caused the uprising of 1536?
○ The pilgrims and the Lincolnshire rebels did not believe that they were acting against the King - but rather against Henry’s councillors Thomas Cromwell and Richard Rich, they felt it was these two men who were the issue.
○ The wider politics issue was also linked to an aristocratic faction that had supported the late queen, Catherine of Aragon.
Explain how social factors caused the uprising of 1536?
○ Religion held communities together; people came together to worship, organise local affairs and pay for the rituals of the Church.
○ People will take action against the government if their livelihoods are threatened.
○ The poor harvest in both 1535 and 1536 had led to rising prices and food shortages - this was an underlying cause for the uprisings.
Explain how economic factors caused the uprising of 1536?
○ Enclosure of land was often seen as a reason why the poor took action as their access to the benefits of the common land was denied - there had been enclosure riots around Settle in 1535.
○ For those who rented the land on which they farmer there is considerable evidence of increases in rents and the money which had to be paid when tenancy was renewed.
○ For those who were ‘owners’ of land there was a request for the repeal of the Stature of Uses. Henry VIII had attempted to re-assert his right to the ownership of all the land in the country by payment of taxation when land changed hands through wills.
Explain how religious factors caused the uprising of 1536?
○ The main issue for both the Lincoln Uprising and the Pilgrimage of Grace was religious.
○ There were demands for the destruction of heresies then, the return to papal authority and the restoration of monasteries.
○ Religion held communities together in both the rural and the urban context; people came together to worship, organise local affairs and pay for the rituals of the Church.
Short term political impact of the dissolution?
Henry VIII establishes authority in local areas once all of the monasteries have been dissolved.
Long term political impact of the dissolution?
Bishops, picked by Henry, were chosen for the House of Lords which remained the most important chamber of Parliament.
Short term religious impact of the dissolution?
- The Church of England added 8,000 priests.
- In 1542, six new bishoprics were created in Oxford, Chester, Gloucester, Bristol, Peterborough and Westminster.
Long term religious impact of the dissolution?
- Since 1701 we have had a Protestant monarch who serves as head of state and head of the Church of England.
- Other European Catholic nations challenged the Catholic Church and established their own religion.
Short term social impact of the dissolution?
- Vagrancy increased as beggars had nowhere to shelter/receive aid from.
- Many books from monastic libraries were lost - of Worcester Priory’s 600 books only 6 still survive.
- Some monasteries were converted into grammar schools or university colleges:
○ Christ Church, Oxford (1546) was founded by Henry VIII using monastic funds.
○ Westminster School (1540) was created from Westminster Abbey’s former monastic school.
Long term social impact of the dissolution?
- Led to the Poor Laws (1597, 1601) which were introduced to replace the lost monastic charity with state-run welfare.
- The sale of Church land led to the rise of the “landed gentry”, a social class that would dominate politics in later centuries and the enclosure movement, as new landowners converted common land into private farmland, displacing peasants.
Short term economic impact of the dissolution?
- Brought financial relief to Henry VIII’s government, helping to fund his military campaigns and lavish court.
- It allowed for the creation of a more centralised and taxable system of land ownership.
- The closure of abbeys and monasteries often resulted in the loss of not only jobs.
- 4 new departments of finance were established by Cromwell which included the Courts of: augmentations, first fruits and tenths, wards and liveries, general surveyors.
Long term economic impact of the dissolution?
- The development of a new social class lead to a rise in commercial agriculture (especially sheep farming) rather than traditional subsistence farming.
- Enclosure a negative effect on small farmers, who were evicted and often pushed into urban areas.
