The 1536 Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries: Same Suppression ...

Chapter One:
THE PRECEDENT FOR DISSOLUTION
The 1536 Act for the Suppression of Lesser Monasteries followed from previous
closures, and was thus not unprecedented. Seizure of monastic wealth in time of financial crisis
had occurred before, in 1292, 1337, and 1369. 1 Until the mid-fourteenth century, English
monasteries suffered no large-scale extinction, ―and the number of those that had become extinct
from what may be called natural causes was extremely small.‖ 2 Edward I, however, sparked a
seizure of alien priories that eventually led to a large-scale closure a century later. During the
wars with France, Edward implemented policies to prevent alien priories from sending their
revenues to mother-houses in Normandy. These policies included the 1307 Statute of Carlisle,
which sought to restrict and control the movement of English money abroad from the alien
houses. Then in 1414, during the reign of Henry V, the decision was made to close all alien
priories and redirect their revenues to the Crown.
The Norman invasion led to the establishment of alien priories. During the eleventh
century, monasticism was regarded by society as a high ideal, being seen as the definitive form
of piety. As a result, Norman conquerors established cells or priories on the lands they acquired. 3
Families who governed England did not establish large monasteries, but rather founded alien
priories as a branch of Norman monasteries, maintaining Normandy as their true home. Thus,
lands were given to their Norman homes, and priories established in England became extensions
1
Christopher Haigh, English Reformation: Religion, Politics, and Society under the Tudors (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1993), 130-1.
2
David Knowles and R. Neville Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales (London: Longmans,
1953), 48-9.
3
Donald Matthew, The Norman Monasteries and their English Possessions (Oxford, 1962), 27.
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