Henry VIII and the monastries

[VHG]

Although I knew about Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monastries I never really thought about the effect it must have had on the country as a whole.

I used to think it really only effected the monks and their buildings.

But I have just watched a program on the History channel which covers it, and for the first time realised the huge impact it must have had all over the UK.

There were 800 monastries, with thousands of monks, but more importantly the monastries owned thousands of acres of land and were heavily involved in farming and agriculture.

So not only did all the monks have to leave their monastries and find somewehre else to live and work, but also their farming and agriculture business had to carry on uninterrupted (or their would have been food shortages).

One thing I learned was that some monastries were turned into cathedrals (such as Norwich cathedral).

Others, such as Fountains Abbey, were considered to become cathedrals, but in the end were not, and so the lead was removed, the glass was removed, the wooden items burned, and the buidlings left to decay. What a terrible act of vandalism.

This is not so much a question as a debate jumping off point, I know a lot of people here have interesting things to say about different periods of history.

Wiki entry here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_th e_Monasteries

[VHG]

To follow on from question above, you also have to wonder if the monastries were abusing their "links to god" to build up their huge holdings of land, their wealth, and their magnificent buildings.

In those days people were terrified of going to hell so rich land owners would give some of their land and some of their wealth to monastries to clear the pathway to heaven.

I guess the monks were happy to keep up this illusion and it meant they gradually got richer and richer and more and more powerful (rather against the concept of a monk who is supposed to have no possessions).

Of course Henry VIII saw this wealth and power and decided at a stroke he could grab their wealth and reduce their power.

Makes you wonder where we would be today if Henry had NOT done it.

What would places like Fountains Abbey be like today, would it still be a monastry (think of the cost of the upkeep!) or would it have fallen into decay in the following centuries anyway?

[VHG]

If anyone is interest the series is called "The Buildings that Shaped Britan" and the particular episode was "Castles and Monastries"

http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/tv_gui de/full_details/British_history/programme_107. php

Series is still being shown on History (though you have missed the early episodes)

[jake-the-peg]

I think Anne Widecome tried (rather badly 0 to make this point in her episode on the history of Christianity.

It's not so much Henry that sealed England's position as a protestant nation but his children.

The question is not quite so much what would have happened if Henry hadn't have done this but what if Mary had had heirs - we'd have returned to Catholicism.

What if Mary had had Elizabeth killed - Mary queen of Scots would probably have become Queen and James would have been Brought up Catholic and again we'd have been a Catholic country.

But if we'd have stayed a Catholic country would we have remained so - would we have had a Civil war - probably not - we'd have most likely continued with an abolute monarch and then perhaps We'd have had a real revolution like the French.

It's a powerful what if moment but one thing's for sure by the time the Armada had tried and failed to invade and the gunpowder plot had failed the majority of the country were rabidly protestant

[jake-the-peg]

Worth remembering too that those beautiful works of art that were destroyed were as much items of propaganda as the huge statues of Mao or Sadam Hussein.

I would say we don't say what a terrible loss their destruction was but in a sense we're starting to.

Heroic statues of Lenin and especially Stalin are now pretty rare and have a very specific artistic style. Consequently they are now fetching quite high prices.

It takes a while for people to forget the original fear associated with such pieces and see them as art.

[Haggisdj]

Carrying on from the above, I live in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. It was in the Priory Church here that Henry was divorced. The history of this church, once a monastery, is fascinating and well worth a read.