significance of the dissolution of the monasteries

    Cards (5)

    • In the early 16th cent. there were at least 825 religious houses in England and Wales
    • Over 500 of these were monasteries, the others being nunneries and friaries
    • Many owned much land and employed many labourers, as well as providing livelihoods for those in villages nearby
    • By 1540 - all these had closed - with huge implications for society and the economy as a whole as well what was being assumed about religious beliefs and practices
    • It also provides evidence of how both monarch and Parliament were able to utilise their newly declared power in the legislation of the earlier 1530s