Monastic land and buildings were confiscated and sold off to families who sympathised with Henry’s break from Rome. The Second Suppression Act of 1539 allowed the dissolution of the larger monasteries and religious houses. This led to the Act of Suppression in 1536 whereby small monasteries with an income of less than £200 a year were closed and their buildings, land and money taken by the Crown. He sent out royal commissioners to all the monasteries in England, Wales and Ireland. Henry’s chief minister Cromwell then introduced the ‘Valor Ecclesiasticus’ to find out just how much property was owned by the Church. First of all, a dossier was presented to Parliament outlining the corrupt morals of the clergy. Thomas Cromwell had already helped Cardinal Wolsey dissolve monasteries in the past. By destroying the monastic system Henry could acquire all its wealth and property whilst removing its Papist influence.
Monasteries owned over a quarter of all the cultivated land in England. It was also true that the monasteries were the wealthiest institutions in the country, and Henry’s lifestyle, along with his wars, had led to a lack of money. The monasteries were a reminder of the power of the Catholic Church. The Act of Supremacy in 1534 confirmed the break from Rome, declaring Henry to be the Supreme Head of the Church of England. When the Pope refused to grant the divorce, Henry set up the Church of England.
The Reformation came about when Henry VIII wished to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, who had failed to give him a male heir. One of the major outcomes of the Reformation was the destruction of the monasteries which began in 1536.
The Reformation in Tudor England was a time of unprecedented change.
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