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Why Henry VIII Closed the Monasteries
There were 800 monks and nuns in 1500s they had strict rules, The rule
of St. Benedict for monks of the Benedictine order was prayer should
take place eight times a day, all monks should sleep in separate beds,
all monks must rise quickly when signal is given to attend the
services and all monks must not grumble about the colour or rough
material of their clothes.
The rule of St. Augustine for the monks of the Augustine order was
love god and your neighbour and monks should spend their time when not
praying, coping books, looking after the poor and old, nursing the
sick and crippled, teaching children and looking after travellers.
Between 1536 and 1539 Henry V111 and Cromwell decided to close the
monasteries because the monks are not flowing rules and take all the
wealth to defend the country.
In order to complete this essay I am going to explain below in detail
why the monasteries were closed by Henry V111 between 1536 and 1539
and I am going to evaluate the evidence about the stage of the
monasteries at the time of their decision.
Henry V111 and Cromwell had sent around people to report that the
monks are not following the rules, for example: that the monks are
playing dice and spent much money on gambling, monks are not answering
the door and the prior of the crossed friar's monastery in London in
bed with a woman. When Henry V111 had the evidence that the monks were
not following the rules, he felt he could close the monasteries.
This evidence may not have been reliable because inspectors were
employed by Cromwell who wanted to please Henry V111 and look for
negative thing about monks; Cromwell was protestant (probably employed
protestant inspectors) so likely to be used against catholic monastery
and might be good reason for women to be there (for example: sick)
monastery might really be poor.
Modern historian can use the benefit of hindsight to help them by
looking at all the evidence and have a less biased opinion, they can
from Rome, Henry had to get rid of them to show that he was now in
Quinn, Patricia A. Better Than the Sons of Kings: Boys and Monks in the Early Middle Ages. (New York,
The middle ages began when William the Normans took over England. William liked to regard himself as a reformer. He would not allow the pope to interfere with what he regarded as the king’s lawful business. He regarded himself as the head of the Church in England. William appointed his close friend, Lanfranc, as the archbishop of Canterbury. They both ruled England until William’s death. William Rufus who was William the Normans’ son took over the throne. Rufus uses the Church as a source of income for his kingdom. While he was ill, he appointed Anselm to take over Lanfranc’s position. Anselm on the other hand, accepts papal authority and he wanted to reform the church back to the rule of the Pope. He insisted to have the pope as the head of the church and not the king. When Rufus passed away, Henry I took over the throne for a short period. Stephen then took over the throne after the death of Henry I. Stephen had a hard time governing England. In fact, he tried to bribe the church in order to keep his throne. Upon his death, Henry II started to reign as the King of England. He believes that the law must be equal for all and universally applied to all. The Archbishop then was Thomas Becket. Thomas Becket and Henry had some disagreement especially on the issues of whether a secular court has the right to trial a clergy. The main issue was between the Church and the state which was part of a long and...
After King of England, Henry VIII (1491 – 1547) separated the Church of England from the authority of the Pope, the Crown took control of the church in the country. As such, after the English Reformation in the 16th century, the Crown ordered...
During the Reformation many different protests uprose, two of which had a large effect on that time.
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While both Henry VIII and Martin Luther identified corruption in the Church, Martin Luther sought to purify it when Henry VIII was only driven by his desire for an heir. Martin Luther did many things to try to please God such as constantly repent, fast, and bow down in humble reverence to his Creator, but Luther found the forgiveness process to only get more difficult, because truly, not one human being is without fault. Luther began noticing corruption in the Roman Catholic Church, and was soon convinced it had fallen away from many key truths of the Bible, perverting others and leading them astray with many unethical sources including the grotesque sale of indulgences. Henry VIII was also well aware of the Church’s critical situation,
Politics played a major role in England’s withdraw from the Roman Catholic Church because King Henry had a need for power. One example of King Henry VIII’s need for power was when he asked Pope Clement VII for an annulment after he and Catherine had been unable to produced a male heir for succession to the throne (“Henry”). At the time male heirs were most wanted so he could step up to the succession of the throne and not have to find a spouse to take control. Henry felt he needed to have his family stay in control of the throne and not gift the throne to another family through a female heir. Considering King Henry VIII thought he needed authority of
Henry V looks like the perfect leader; however, despite all the heroic speeches, Henry is still irresponsible at times. In Act I, Henry relies on Bishop of Canterbury to give him the reasons to go to war. He asks, "Why the law Salic that they have in France or should or should not bar us in our claim (19)?" And once more, he asks, "May I with right and conscience make this claim (23)?" Based on these statements, Henry is putting the responsibility of a King to decide to go to war onto a Bishop. This shows that King Henry is irresponsible. Furthermore, in Act III, sc. 3, after Henry has conquered half of Harfleur, he demands the governor to open the gate, or he will not take the blame for his soldiers' doings. King Henry says, "Take pity of
Political and religious turmoil during Henry VIII’s reign (r. 1509-1547) resulted in Henry VIII assuming the roles as head of both the state and the Church of England through the separation of the Church of England from papal authority, the dissolution of monarchies, and the ‘Act of Supremacy’. Fundamental changes to the English constitution and the establishment of precedent features regarding Parliamentarian inclusion came as a result of opposition during his time on the throne. King Henry VIII’s reign is arguably the largest reason as to why England was so successful during Queen Elizabeth I’s reign from 1558-1603. This paper will chronicle the events of large scale that developed his historic reign and the perpetual changes to the English
Medieval England was under great influence of the Catholic church, and there were many monasteries called Abbeys where monks could live with one another in
Henry then took over England's monasteries, which owned huge treasures, including gold and silver religious objects as well as valuable land. The English people had been required to pay income to these monasteries, and this substantial
Son of a copper miner, Martin Luther was born in November 10, 1483 in Eisleben.He decided to study in the University of Erfurt to become a lawyer and increase the Luther’s family success, but before long, after a terrifying thunderstorm, Martin promised that if he ended up save he would become a monk, and he did so. Luther ended up joining the monastic order, and soon became an Augustinian friar. In 1510, he visited Rome to support a group of augustinian monasteries and he didn’t like what he saw. He was angry with all that corruption in Rome, especially when the minister sold indulgences.
When thinking about a medieval monastery the first thing that comes to mind is the origin of the word monastery which comes from the Greek monos, meaning alone. Monasticism in itself is a way of life that is devoted to God in seclusion. A large part of monasticism is isolation, not only from the neighbors but from family. When taking the vows to be a monk one not only completely devotes ones life to God but all friends, family and earthly possessions are left behind. Taking the vows of monasticism takes brutal dedication and severe strength. What pushed Guibert of Nogent into monasticism is that his mother withdrew from the world after his father’s death. During that time he was left alone and became very rebellious. He also was drawn to the medieval reform of monasticism which gave it a more community aspect. Thirdly, literature and history became a large part of the monastery during the middle ages and Guibert wanted to be a successful writer and historian. When Guibert joined the monastery he joined a strict religious order that had come along way form the time of hermits and the reforms where relevant to him, for the most part. Guibert of Nogent became a monk because he was suited for monastic existence and to give himself the restraints and success he wanted from life.
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