Why did Henry dissolve the monasteries?

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Why did Henry dissolve the monasteries?

During the late 1530’s a significant social, political, economic and religious event took place. This was the dissolution of all the monasteries and convents in England. This was done by first bringing them under government control and then closed down. However it is highly disputed why this was done.

The first step towards the dissolution of the monasteries was brought about in 1535 by Cromwell, he set up two offensive programmes. The first being visitations in which his agents would check on the standards of the church and report of any evidence that could be used against the church. The second was Valour Ecclesiasticus, which was a huge survey to examine the wealth of the church. Cromwell soon built up a dossier illustrating the corrupt morals and spiritual laxity of the clergy; these findings were presented before parliament in 1536. These reports combined with Henry’s intervention secured the passing of an act to allow the dissolving of the smaller religious houses. These houses and there estates were now the property of the crown, there inmates could either transfer to other houses or join the secular clergy. After several protests a second act was passed in 1539 allowing Henry to claim all the monasteries and by 1540 all the monasteries in England had been dissolved. But why did Henry decided to close the monasteries at all?

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First of all it should be noted that the dissolution of the monasteries was not an obligatory consequence after the break with Rome. Nor was the split with Rome compulsory in order to close at least some of the monasteries, closure of monasteries had been done in the past in order to redirect resources to other uses. For instance Wolsey in 1518 closed a number of houses to fund his new college. Therefore the mere act of closing monasteries could not mean a move away from Catholicism although this is highly disputed.

The dissolution of the monasteries is often viewed ...

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