The Dissolution of the Monasteries
According to the visitations what were monks and nuns?
Morally lax and not fulfilling their vocations or their vows of chastity.
What were Cromwell's injunctions intended to do?
Remove all superstition and forbid monks to worship images, relics or miracles.
What did the Valor Ecclesiasticus show the annual income of the church to be?
£136,000
When was the act for first fruits and tenths passed?
1534
When was the idea of confiscating all church lands floated but abandoned?
1534
When was the Valor Ecclesiasticus completed?
1535
When did Cromwell draw up injunctions in Henry's name?
1536
When was the court of Augmentations set up?
1536
When was the Shrine of Thomas Becket destroyed?
1538
When was the act of parliament passed legalising the voluntary surrender of monastic property to the King?
1539
How many religious houses were deemed to have an income of less than £200 per year?
300
How many people were executed as a result of the general grumblings against religious change?
65
How many of the 300 houses were exempt from the dissolution of smaller monasteries?
67
What was the valor ecclesiasticus primarily intended to do?
Assess property for taxation purposes
Who chose the people to conduct the visitations?
Cromwell
Who set up the court of Augmentations?
Cromwell/Parliament
What was Cromwell's greatest skill in achieving the dissolution of the monasteries?
Dealing with local opposition
What happened to the abbots in the houses involved in the rebellions?
Declared to be traitors and in some cases Acts of Attainder were brought in
What did Cromwell demonstrate real skill and talent in?
Establishing structures to facilitate the transfer of the property of the Church to the King.
What did the dissolution of the monasteries do?
Irrevocable destroyed an established part of English life.
When was the act passed for the dissolution of the smaller monasteries?
March 1536
What happened to the valuable goods of monasteries?
Taken to the tower of London
What might Cromwell have been doing with the first act of the dissolution of the smaller monasteries?
Testing the support for an attack on the monasteries.
What does Elton say about monks in the 16th century?
That lay people had no respect for the monks because of their percieved behaviour and disrespect for their vows.
What was a direct response to the dissolution of the smaller monasteries?
The Lincolnshire Rising and the Pilgrimage of Grace
What did the process that led to the dissolution of the monasteries begin with?
The appointment of Thomas Cromwell as the King's vicegerent.
What does Hoyle argue?
The dissolution was little more than a political move intended to consolidate the power of Henry VIII in England and to provide him with a war chest with which to attack France.
What can the dissolution of the monasteries partly be seen as an attack on?
The doctrine of good works as a means to salvation
Who ordered the shrine of Thomas Becket to be destroyed?
The government
What was the court of Augmentations meant to deal with?
The growth of the King's revenue as a result of the transfer of property to the crown.
What was a key political reason for dissolving the monasteries?
The need to break decisively from the power of Rome.
What did the dissolution of the monasteries represent?
The removal of corruption, superstition and the interference of external powers in the concerns of England.
What have recent historians argued about the visitations?
They were flying visits, sometimes only a few hours, and that much of the so - called evidence was fabricated.
What were Cromwell's objectives in the dissolution?
To raise money, to gain support of the members of the nobility for the continued break with Rome and to persue a religious policy intent on destroying superstition and what he regarded as unacceptable Catholic practices.
What did the act for first fruits and tenths bring?
£4,000 previously paid to Rome
