To begin with, we must realise that the dissolution of the monasteries was not a necessary consequence of the split from Rome.
Conversely, Henry may have seen the monasteries as a general centre to the king’s new style, and so may have resented the existence of the representatives of international orders in the now autonomous English church. However, most monasteries gave way to Henry’s wishes with as less fuss as possible and some even took great pains to stress their new allegiance in letters of loyalty to the king,
It is therefore unlikely that this was Henry’s motivation for closing down the monasteries.
Conversely, the dissolution of the monasteries could be seen in a much more positive light—it could have been a genuine attempt at removing the abuses that arose in monasticism, such as pluralism and nepotism etc and like that highlight the good works and value of those houses that remained.
In fact, the official reason given towards the closing down of the smaller monasteries was the ‘ manifest sin, vicious, carnal and abominable living’ to be found there.
To some people, the monasteries were a waste of human and financial resources—Cromwell himself should be included among these more radical reformers who simply wished to do away with monasticism altogether—however, we cannot associate Henry with this group of people as Henry, after all, was a committed catholic.
We may therefore think that perhaps Henry wanted to re-direct the resources used in the monasteries towards building schools, hospitals etc. However, little was done to fulfil this aspect of the reformer’s ambition and it is therefore generally accepted that, for Henry at least, money was the main motive.
In 1534 a plan had been suggested that would have enabled the crown to profit from church wealth.
As a result, when asked whether “ the monasteries were dissolved purely as a result of Henry V111’s greed”, we may say that his greed and want for money were his main motivation, but not the only one—perhaps he really wanted to put to better use the resources of the monasteries, and to do away with the abuses related to monasticism.
However, had Henry had a strong standing fortune at this point in time, he would have probably not dissolved the monasteries, as it was really his ‘need’ for money to finance his wars and extravagant lifestyle which made him see the church as a potential source of money to the crown—showing that really it was due to his greed that he closed down the monasteries.
