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.
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