The Impact of Dissolutions

Cards (8)

  • 500 religious houses, many of which had stood for centuries, were dissolved.
  • There was serious opposition in the North of England: the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536.
  • There was a huge turnover and sale of land. Cromwell set up the Court of Augmentations run by Richard Rich, which handled goods and land confiscated by the king.
  • The Crown sold off much of the land quite quickly as it needed ready money.
  • The opportunity to put Crown finances on a more secure footing in the long term was lost.
  • Henry and Cromwell showed off the power of the Crown. Monasteries, which were not widely unpopular or corrupt, were destroyed in just four years.
  • Although Parliament passed the two Acts, it effectively rubber-stamped what Henry wanted.
  • In 1536, Parliament was persuaded that monasticism as a whole was not under threat, when it was.