Dissolution of the Monasteries

• Inspection of monastic institutions


  1. Compilation of Valor Ecclessiatcus

  2. Four 'visitors' sent round the country

  3. Inspected all monastic institutions
• They found much to criticise
• They had clearly been instructed to find evidence of weakness and corruption
• Dissolving the smaller monasteries


  1. Cromwell provided evidence to justify bringing in an Act of Parliament in 1536

  2. Defined as those with an income of under £200 per annum or less

  3. Presented as a mechanism for preserving and improving the quality of monasticism

  4. Argument that it was the smaller religious houses which had allowed standards to slip
• Cromwell's intention to get rid of the monasteries

  1. Softening-up process

  2. Act dissolving the remaining monasteries passed in 1539

  3. All remaining religious houses dissolved by March 1540