Access to History: The Early Tudors: Henry VII to Mary I, 1485–1558 Second Edition
'Every monastic institution in the Kingdom was closed down during the reign of Henry VIII because of the King's urgent need for money.' To what extent do you agree with this view?
A* Early Tudors 1485-1558 Henry VII Exemplar Essay 1
A* Early Tudors 1485-1558 Henry VII Exemplar Essay 3
A* Early Tudors 1485-1558 Henry VII Exemplar Essay 2
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Henry VIII practice essay 3
'Every monastic institution in the Kingdom was closed down during the reign of Henry VIII
because of the King's urgent need for money.' To what extent do you agree with this view?
There is a general consensus among historians that the true motivation for the
dissolution of the monasteries was financial. The Kingdom was economically crippled
after the monumental failure of the Second French War, which was accentuated by
Wolsey's failure to collect the Amicable Grant. This left the Crown to bear the majority of
the war costs, leaving the King desperate for money. The monasteries were thought to
be an easy target as they were already in decay; one-fifth of cultivated land was
inhabited by only 10,000 monks, which meant that resistance would be severely limited,
and worth the risk due to the vast economic benefits that would come with closing the
monasteries. Indeed, the Valor Ecclesiasticus revealed that the Church earned between
£320,000 and £360,000 per annum, and Henry VIII arguably considered this revenue
invaluable in replenishing the Kingdom's depleted finances. He was influenced by his
closest advisor Thomas Cromwell, who promised to make him the 'richest King in all of
christendom'. This quote seems to be clear evidence of the financial motivations behind
the dissolution of the monasteries, as Cromwell understood the extent of Henry's urgent
need for money and hence manipulated his xenophobic hubris to achieve his own aims,
which undoubtedly would have included improving the Kingdom's finances. It is
perhaps most revealing that the monasteries were dissolved in order of economic
wealth - the Act for the Dissolution of the Smaller Monasteries specified that a 'small'
monastery was one with an income of less than £200 per annum. As a pragmatic
politician, Cromwell pursued a piecemeal process of dissolution which would gradually
result in the accumulation of all monastic wealth, without encouraging resistance. The
way in which monastic land was sold almost immediately after it became the property of
the Crown lower than the market value seems to confirm that Henry had an urgent need
for money, which motivated the dissolution of the monasteries in the first place.
Nevertheless, dissolving the monasteries was also an opportunity which made
perfect sense for the Crown, given that the houses contradicted the Act of Supremacy.
Monasteries were a fundamental aspect of Catholicism, a symbol of 'papal imperialism'
to many of the educated Protestants in England. Therefore, dissolving the monasteries
was motivated to a considerable extent by religion; this view is supported by the fact
that the leader of the visitations was a Protestant, Thomas Cromwell. He chose advisors
to undertake visitations who, like himself, had a reformist agenda, and subsequently the
reports of many visitations centred on criticism of the monastic provision of religious
service and in Wales, the presence of superstitious images and the idea of pilgrimages
was a cause for concern. Therefore, it seems that assessing religion was a key aspect of
the visitations, which resulted in criticism to such an extent that closing the houses
became a necessity to maintain the drift towards Protestantism in the Kingdom. Above
all, Cromwell's advisors were instructed to record whether or not the monasteries were
complying with the Oath of Supremacy, and this oath was principally concerned with
abolishing the influence of the Pope and by extension, Catholicism. The reports deemed
that the houses were not compliant with royal supremacy, and hence it was important
for this reason that the monasteries were dissolved, because they were simply against
the law and religion of the period.
Another reason for the dissolution of the monasteries unrelated to finances was
arguably due to the abuses revealed in the Valor Ecclesiasticus and the Comperta
Monastica. Indeed, the Valor provided evidence of the economic greed associated with
the monasteries; only 3% of monastic revenue was given to charitable causes,
suggesting that the houses were corrupt and subsequently in need of dissolution.
Perhaps even more damning, the Comperta contained evidence of widespread
immorality and sexual perversion among monks, which to some degree influenced
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