The Dissolution of the Monasteries

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The Dissolution of the Monasteries

The dissolution of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII was

seen by many as a disaster for the people and only benefiting the king

and crown. However new research has contradicted this statement

suggesting that the dissolution affected less people, less

dramatically, it even goes as far as to suggest that the dissolution

was a brilliant opportunity for plenty of people across the country.

It is this change of opinion prompting people to question the facts

about the impact of the closers on the people that took place during

the fifteenth century.

The dissolution has many potential problems which have been disputed

between historians. Catholic writers believe that cultural and

religious vandalism took place pointlessly destroying medieval art and

architecture as well as entire libraries of knowledge because their

contents were ‘temporarily out of fashion’ thus, traditions and ides

dating back many centuries where eliminated. Although this is

accepted as fact to some extent modern historians now believe there is

a large amount of exaggeration involved with these cries.

The effects on the people were first seen to be huge in size

indicating that many people were displaced and forced to become

accustomed to a lower standard of living. Monks and nuns were often

the ones portrayed to be out starving on the streets, their ordered

way of life suddenly ended after being cast out into a turbulent and

fast changing world. In reality only 1500 out of 8000 monks could not

find alternative paid employment within the church with which to

supplement their pensions. It was the nuns that did ...

... middle of paper ...

...onarchy freer form violent revolution.

In conclusion I do not believe that the dissolution of the monasteries

was a disaster for that many people, undoubtedly it did put more

strain on the country economically, and it also slightly worsened the

problem of poverty leading future rulers to deal with the problem but

in the long run most people could find alternative employment and

finance a key statistic to prove this fact was only 1500 out of 8000

monks could not find employment elsewhere. I also don’t believe it

was a golden opportunity for many, when you consider England’s

population in 1540 and compare it to the number of people who were

transported to a higher social rank it is unrealistic to say that this

happened to a very large percent of people. I think that ‘many’ and

‘few’ are two extremes of the situation.

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