Dissolution of the English monasteries

The dissolution of the monasteries ( English Dissolution of the Monasteries ) of the English Catholics as suppression of the monasteries ( English suppression of the monasteries ) denotes the formal act was during the English Reformation , with the VIII Henry. 1536 to 1541, the possessions confiscated from monastic institutions in England , Wales and Ireland .

prehistory

The origin of the movement for the abolition of monasticism in England began before the Reformation of King Henry VIII. Already during the Hundred Years War with France, monasteries with a French mother monastery ( alien priories ) had been closed, which also contributed to the financing of the war effort. In 1414, Henry V had the properties of numerous such monasteries transferred to the Crown by parliamentary resolution. In 1523 Cardinal Thomas Wolsey received papal permission to close forty small monasteries to raise funds for the opening of Christ Church College in Oxford . The example of the Reformation in other European countries also played a role. In 1521 Martin Luther published his work De votis monasticis , in which he declared that monastic life had no basis in the Bible. This not only set in motion a wave of withdrawals from the monasteries, but also prompted secular rulers to access monastic church property. In 1527, for example, King Gustav I Vasa reached a relevant decision of the Swedish Diet of Västerås , which also provided for the return of willingly dedicated monastery property to the heirs of the donors. In 1528 King Frederik I of Denmark acted similarly, confiscating the goods of 15 of the richest religious houses for the crown. After the Supreme Act , with which Henry VIII was made head of the Church of England , was adopted in 1534, the monasteries were also one of the first goals of the reform in England. Based on reports from Thomas Cromwell , Parliament authorized the dissolution of all monasteries in February 1536, the annual income of which did not exceed a certain amount.

execution

Already in February 1531 Henry VIII declared himself head of the Anglican Church in his dispute with the Pope and in a law of April 1533 abrogated the clergy's right to appeal to “foreign tribunals” (Rome) ( Act in Restraint of Appeals ). Reluctant people were treated as high traitors and their goods were confiscated. Henry's Chancellor Thomas Cromwell had local auditors create a list of all church property in England and Wales and the income based on it in 1535 ( Valor Ecclesiasticus ). He then had the monasteries checked for their practices by commissioners. “Superstitious” worship of relics and moral laxity were rated as particularly negative by the examiners. Due to the extremely critical reports sent to Cromwell in the fall of 1535, the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries Act was adopted in 1536 , which provided the legal basis for the dissolution of monasteries by the king. This law was the basis for the decision in principle to dissolve monasteries with annual incomes below £ 200 (there were 419 of these, but exceptions were granted, so that initially only 243 religious houses were dissolved). Their fortune fell to the crown, but the clergy concerned received cash compensation or pensions. They also had the opportunity to move to larger houses of their order.

Although Henry VIII's approach partly corresponded to the Reformation current of the times, it also provoked resistance, which Henry again interpreted as high treason . Many religious houses took part in the northern English rebellion of 1536 ( Pilgrimage of Grace ). After the revolt was put down, there were a number of "voluntary" dissolutions of the monastery for fear of the monastery superiors of high treason trials. In the case of Lewes Priory (November 1537), the monks were offered pensions for the first time, but not the option of moving to another monastery. This became the rule and with this technique of positive and negative incentives there was pressure on the monastery superiors, who were legally faked as owners of their institution , to agree to the dissolution of their religious house. When Parliament passed a law legalizing the voluntary dissolution of monasteries in April 1539, the vast majority of religious houses in England, Ireland and Wales had already been secularized.

Result

Glastonbury Abbey Chapel of Our Lady circa 1900 ( autochromy )

As part of the campaign against superstition, many relics and statues of saints were also destroyed and melted down. Over a hundred former monastery churches remained in use as parish churches, and 14 became cathedrals. Many of the other monastic structures were burned down - the easiest way to get the valuable lead on the roofs and drains. Building blocks and slate roofs went to the highest bidder. Many formerly monastic buildings became residential houses, barns and stables. Some abandoned monasteries in remote areas where there was little need for building materials only fell into disrepair over the centuries. Formerly great abbeys and pilgrimage sites such as Glastonbury Abbey , Walsingham Priory , St Edmund , Reading and Shaftesbury Abbeys were in ruins.

The annual income growth of the British crown was initially £ 150,000 (£ 63,606,300 in 2010 value), but a third of that had to be paid out in pensions. After the overthrow of Thomas Cromwell in 1540, due to Henry's Wars, there was an accelerated sale of former monastery properties, usually at twenty times the annual yield. Local nobles and wealthy citizens were usually the buyers.

Interior view of the abbey church at Tintern Abbey , Wales

Apart from the fundamental effect on the structure of the church, the dissolution of the monastery increased the income of the crown and ensured a stable secular majority in the upper house of parliament. The English nobility bought a large part of the land and many farmers lost their houses due to the change of ownership.

Afterlife

From the end of the 18th century, the British cultured public began to appreciate the church ruins of the 16th century as an enrichment to the landscape, particularly picturesque examples such as Tintern Abbey became the subject of literary reflection and painting thanks to William Turner and William Wordsworth . Fifteen-year-old Jane Austen (1775-1817) even went so far in her joking History of England by a partial prejudiced and ignorant Historian (1791) that Henry VIII credited his beautification of the landscape by creating numerous monastery ruins as an aesthetically motivated intention.

literature

J. Youngs: The Dissolution of the Monasteries , London 1971

Web links

Britain Express (English)
schoolnet.co.uk (English)
Suppression of English Monasteries under Henry VIII New Advent (cath.) (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Original quote: “ The Crimes & Cruelties of this Prince were too numerous to be mentioned & nothing could be said in his Vindication, but that his abolishing Religious Houses leaving them to the ruinous depredations of Time has been of infinite use to the landscape of England in general, which probably was a principal motive for it, since otherwise why should a Man who was of no Religion himself be at so much trouble to abolish one which had for ages been established in the Kingdom. ”

[1] Original quote: “ The Crimes & Cruelties of this Prince were too numerous to be mentioned & nothing could be said in his Vindication, but that his abolishing Religious Houses leaving them to the ruinous depredations of Time has been of infinite use to the landscape of England in general, which probably was a principal motive for it, since otherwise why should a Man who was of no Religion himself be at so much trouble to abolish one which had for ages been established in the Kingdom. ”