Henry's reasons for closing down the Monasteries

[Mr P J Lee]

Your H/W this Friday is to:-

a) Vote for your choice
b) Justify it in 200-250 words below on the forum

[samsung]

I am voting for gold and land.

Henry VII shut down the monasteries mainly because he was enforcing the religion of The Church of England and he was sure that the monasteries would stay loyal to the pope but there are arguments on whether the attacks on the monasteries were for spiritual purposes or for financial gain. These attacks on the monasteries were named the dissolution of the monasteries. Henry VIII had inherited a lot of money from his farther, Henry VII, but by the mid-1530’s, Henry had spent a large chunk of his inheritance and also knew of the monasteries were considerably wealthy, Henry’s advisors spread the story that most of the monasteries wealth went to the Vatican, a place in the Italian capital city, Rome. This was however, untrue as only a small percentage of the monasteries wealth left either England or Wales. Although there were over eight hundred and fifty religious houses, only a few were actually named monasteries and so the title, “The Dissolution of the Monasteries” is actually very misleading. Those larger religious houses were known as abbeys and the medium sized religious houses were known as priories while the small religious houses were known as friaries. Only the “closed” religious houses were named monasteries, as they grew rich and didn’t help the local community, and in fact, they got workers for free.

The Dissolution of monasteries helped Henry VIII financially as he set the law that all monasteries with income under £200 a year would be dissolved and the property claimed by the crown. In total, King Henry VIII gained around about £13,500 from this law.

[DemonGod(abdul)]

Abdul Imtiyaz Homework Mr. lee Henry VIII


I am also voting for gold and land.

Henry VIII abandoned and broke down the monasteries because he wanted to create a new Protestant form of Christian worship. Also he had done it for finacial reasons. Of course, there was also an enormous economic incentive to dissolve the monasteries - they were the single largest landowners in the country.They had been collecting property for nearly a thousand of years in some parts of the kingdom and by declaring himself Head of the Anglican Church, all of that land suddenly became the property of Henry! He could sell it to those who had supported the break with Rome, or he could just enjoy the profits the monasteries had previously raked in.
All Henry VIII mostly wanted was to have land and money also expensive stuff to show off and have fun with. He made people in the Monarstarie into playing Cards, Bowling and partying also more.. When normally poeple in the monasteries should be living a plain and simple life. This was to make sure they were going the right way! This is what basically happened..

Henery VIII broke with the Church of Rome because he wanted to be able to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope would not grant him an annulment, so he made himself head of the Church of England. he also saw a good opportunity to get his hands on the wealth of the church, so he dissolved the monasteries. This was a cause of great hardship to the poor people of England, who had been used to receive help from the monasteries, who kept hospitals for the sick and old, and gave alms to the poor and shelter to poor travellers, and also kept schools. Henry VIII broke down many monasteries as the fact that he can "take over" and have "power". Henry later on decided to make a new law : that Monasteries income should go to whoever had been crowned. Henry had earned £13,600 from this law. This money was like heaven to Henry he could had spent it on lots of stuff like; more parties; more land; more power such as- bribing more people to live life like Henry would and to break down more Monasteries.

[Kimmmmm;]

I am voting for Gold and Land..
Heny VIII decided to close down the Monasteries because he obviously had, had a fall out with the pope who worked at the Church Of Catholics, this caused King Henry VIII to show him up and leave the church, then set up his own so he could show the pope that he was not beaten. After he had set up his church he started to run out of money and so he had an idea that if he could come up with some reason to close down the Monasteries he would have the land of them and the land there is quite a lot of money as the land was very very big.
He then thought he had an idea,so he sent his good friend Thomas Cromwell to inspect every single Monastery and if they then were not to fortunate then he could shut them down and have the land, and a lot of money with it. After Thomas Cromwell had insepcted most of the buildings, he then had to report back to Henry VIII, after Henry recieved the reports he was not happy after finding out most of the Monasteries were full of drunken, gambling, Playing Bowls, Spending all their money, People so he decided it would be right to close down 376 Monasteries, causing him millions of money.

[Rawr]

I'm voting for wealth (gold, land, lead).

The monasteries of the time had lead roofs - lead was (and still is) a valuable material. By closing them down, he could make himself even richer and feed his spending need. This tempting idea of being able to purchase even more and have even more parties is what I believe was Henry VIII's main reason for shutting them down. The monasteries also had gold in them - even more feed for his spending spree.

Aside from the fact that they were buildings that were worth a great amount, they were also taking up land that Henry could use.

In order to get what he wanted, he sent his friend Thomas Cromwell to report on every monastery. He believed that the people of the monasteries were up to no good and that he could use this as an excuse to end their service.

He did get his wish and as a result he became even wealthier than he already was. He was able to use his newfound riches to fund even more parties, and his extravagance.

This is why I believe he did what he did mainly for the sake of wealth. It may have also fed his happiness.

[luke]

Henry shut down the monastries for the reason that he wanted renvenge on the church, who would not let him do what he wanted when Cathrine of Aragon could not produce him with a son, so he wanted the younger Anne Boleyn to be his wife. The pope would not accept this, partly because it is against the Catholic rules, but also because Catherine's nephew was holding him captive. His excuse was that the monks where up to not good: gambling, corruption and sleeping with women. The fact that he could make loads of money was a bonus for Henry, but I think that even if the Monastries hadn't been full of wealth he would still have closed them, just to stop Catholic monks causing trouble against the new church. The money would have been very helpful however, Henry could sell the gold candlesticks, cups and other things like that; he could sell the land on which the Abbey was built and he could even sell the very stone that the Monastries and convents were made from to gain loyalty and money. Another reason that was not mentioned was Henry wanted power over the church and didn't want monks and monastries, the pillar of the community, where there were schools, temples, hospitals and hostels gathering support for a rebellion.

[shadow443]

Henry VIII did not close down the Monasteries because the monks were not living in the way they were supposed to. He did not really care in the goings on of Catholicism but he merely used this as a reason to close them down while staying on the general public's side. He also did not close them down for revenge against the Pope because he had no real reason to be angry with the Pope. He knew he was making the decision based on his own safety. Plus the pope had more reason to want revenge on Henry VIII for making his own church and changing the official religion in England. He did it primarily for the money and land. This was used to tackle his growing issue lack of money which had occurred mainly from the famously known big expensive parties which he held far too frequently for him to be able to do continuously. There were also some more minor but still plausible reasons for him to close down the Monasteries. One of these was the fact that there were many monasteries scattered all over the country with a lot of money and the occupants would still be Catholic and so still loyal to the Pope and with all of there money they would still have a large impact on England which Henry didn't want as it would be negative to him and the Church of England because of Henry's break with the pope. James

[ToSLegends]

I accidentally chose Another reason but I think King Henry VIII closed down the monasteries because he wanted revenge upon the Pope of the Church of Catholicism. He wanted revenge because he couldn't get a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon; the reason being she only conceived a girl called Mary (I) and King Henry VIII eventually grew bored of her for she didn't give birth to a male heir because she constantly had miscarriages and stillborn male heirs. So King Henry VIII decided to divorce her and marry Anne Boleyn daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth Boleyn. But when King Henry went to the Pope of the Church of Catholicism the Pope wouldn't null their marriage so Henry VIII's Chief Minister Sir Thomas Cromwell advised the king to send inspectors who weren't strict catholics to each monastery and look for everything bad in it. In the monasteries some inspectors found monks and nuns breaking the rule of chasisty (not having sexual intercourse) and found nuns gambling and living a comfortable life when nuns and monks are meant to live a simple life, the way Jesus's disciples did. Also within the monasteries are gold coins, lead, and many other pricey materials. They used some of these materials, after they started closing down the monasteries from 1536 onwards, for fortresses and many other stuff. In my opinion I think this is the reason to why King Henry VIII started closing down the monasteries.

[Nanette]

I think that Henry VIII wanted the Monasteries because he was in financial debt. The Monasteries held lots of valuable things such as gold and lead. These could then be sold off to make a small fortune so that Henry VIII could live properly ( in the lap of luxury).

He had financial problems due to him breaking off with the Catholic Church, making the Church of England as a result of it. He broke off with the Catholic Church because the Pope would not allow him to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon, to marry Anne Boleyn with which he had been having affair with for a little over ten years. He broke off with the Catholic Church in 1533. He hadn't had much problem with finance until when he did this because the Pope had help him out and in 1521 he (the Pope) even gave him the title ‘Fidei Defensor,’ which is Latin for ' Defender of Faith'. He also lost money because of the wars in France, various other places.

It was then that he thought up the idea of going around the Monasteries and finding fault, with which they then could shut it down and claim all that was to be had. They would then rent it out so that they could get even more out of with .So he sent out his inspectors one of which was Thomas Cromwell. The inspectors had to find fault with the Monks, they had to be breaking one of the religious rules.

[ojcutts]

After watching the Channel 4 program: "King VIII Mind of a Tyrant", I am convinced that Henry VIII's soul reason for wanting to close down England's monasteries was to take ownership of the vast amounts of money, gold, land, and overall wealth of all of the Catholic establishments. I think this because it stated on the program ("King Henry VIII Mind of a Tyrant"): "After King Henry VIII had become leader of the Church of England, his plan was to close down all of the monasteries, an d use the money and building materials to turn Britain into one huge fortress, protected by hundreds of castles, watch towers, and armed patrol fleets waiting for any un-expected invadors that may attempt to enter King Henry VIII's kingdom.
Another reason of Henry's for closing down the monasteries was the fact that he was suspicious of the monks who lived there, and so sent out teams of undercover inspectors to check that the monks of the monasteries were obeying the laws of Catholicism, and living by the monk code.(1.Lead a simple life, free of luxeries. 2.Live a life of strict chastity. 3.Do not consume anything in excess i.e alcohol.) When henry recieved the reports sent by the inspectors, he must of been delighted to hear that many of the monks were getting drunk every night and sleeping with the local nuns! One report stated that one of Henry VIII's inspectors had walked in on a monk, and a nun, naked in bed at 11am, after a night of wine and partying!
Although not all of the reports were negetive, and many monks were obeying the laws, Henry and Thomas Cromwell-his assistant in closing down the monasteries- already had more than enough eveidence to support their claim that closing down the monasteries was the best way of getting materials to start his mission.

Oscar Cutts

[Hassan]

Henry had broken away from the Catholic Church, because the Pope could not grant him a divorce for his wife at the time – Catherine of Aragon, even though he had been given the title ‘Fidei Defensor’ previously. He made the Church of England as a result of it and because he had lost money in other problems such as wars he had found himself to be in financial debt.

To combat this, Henry decided to close down the Monasteries, which, in my opinion was for the valuable items they had. There were lots of items of gold kept inside the Monasteries. There was also land which they were built on which Henry could sell if he decided to shut down the Monasteries. Finally, another valuable item was the lead kept on the roof. Henry could take that off and sell it for a small fortune which would contribute towards his personal debt.

Closing down the Monasteries would make him very unpopular among his people. After all, they all probably thought the Monks and Nuns were behaving and acting like they were supposed to be. But no, Henry hired some Inspectors and they discovered some deplorable and alarming activities. The Monks and Nuns inside the Monasteries were found to be disobeying the rule of chastity inside the Monasteries but also the rule of denying self-luxury such as wearing expensive clothes or obtaining classy belongings – many of them were not found to be wearing a basic robe like they were supposed to. All Monks and Nuns were supposed to behave in a good, pure Christian Manner just like Jesus’ disciples did, but they were not, because one was even found with a woman in bed, both naked at 11 o’ clock in the morning! Dreadful as it is, Henry had found enough evidence and reason to close down the Monasteries rightfully.

1536 and onwards Henry had started to close down most of these Monasteries. He used the pricey materials within in many different ways. The lead on the roof may have been used to contribute to the construction of another building which Henry had paid for. The gold items (cups, lecterns etc.) were probably sold and the money used to add to Henry’s current wealth, which was already at a substantial amount. The land probably went the same way, which made Henry even wealthier. This is why I think, and is the main reason why Henry decided to close down the Monasteries.

[naj]

Between 1536 and 1540 Henry VIII closed down all the monasteries in England, their contents, land and wealth were all given to him, unfortunately those who objected… were hung. By doing so he was reducing the power of the pope, he wanted to do this so that he could get revenge back on the pope for not letting him divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn.

I think Henry was right to close the monasteries because many of the religious houses were breaking strict rules for a monk’s life. They were abusing their power and wealth, turning beggars away, playing bowls, gambling and sleeping with nuns. Henry knew this because a man named Thomas Cromwell had recruited inspectors to visit the monasteries, and report back on any sinful behaviour. When the inspectors entered the buildings they witnessed monks gambling, drinking and even leading nuns (who shouldn’t be there anyway) upstairs! Cromwell told Henry and he realised, he had a good case to close the monasteries down and have everything they owned!

Closing the buildings down meant Henry could snaffle all things owned by the Catholic Church; the buildings themselves, (he demolished them to build things for his own needs) the gold within them, he could also have the lead roofing, which was expensive, which he could sell. And finally he benefited from the land owned by the thousands of Monasteries throughout England; their grounds were so big that they hosted markets weekly. Henry’s mind was made up when he thought about what he could do with so much land. Demolishing the monasteries caused much dismay to the public, because to them monasteries were schools, hospitals and meditation centers. This made these people gather together and start a rebellion.


Sunesh Patel Smith.

[jessie17]

I think Henry VIII wanted to close the monasteries because if he did then he would alleviate his country’s financial debt by liquidating the land and selling off the gold and silver the catholic monks and nuns possessed.
Henrys chief minister (a fancy term for advisor) Thomas Cromwell organised inspectors to go to the monasteries and write reports about the goings on there, one of the things an inspector had to look for was whether or not the inhabitants were living by the monks code. The monks code was to A. live a simple life e.g. don't own gold and silver or don't have extravagant luxuries such as expensive furniture. B. Stick to a life of celibacy i.e. doesn’t lie with a woman. And C. doesn’t have anything in excess (this could relate to wealth, alcohol ect.). However most monks ignored the code and did everything the code told them not to and more!
When the inspectors went to examine the monasteries they were astounded to be greeted by monks that were drunk and others in the company of women, as the inspectors went around the monasteries they discovered more and more scandal, the monks and nuns were playing dice (a form of gambling) and drinking even more!
Finally Henry had a valid reason to shut the monasteries down; first he emptied them of all their wealth (and inhabitants!) and then sold the land to various lords and dukes. The monks were evicted and left homeless.

Jessica Doherty

[tanika]

Henry VII wanted to close down the monasteries so he could have the money and fortune,gold and lead from the buildings.
Monks and monasteries had a good income of money from donations ect. and Henry VII wanted it, he wanted the lead that they used to make the roofs because they also where worth a lot of money that he so badly craved.
Moreover, he wanted the gold and treasures they possessed. He thought it wrong for Monks to own such valued objects and believed it was his duty to retrieve the to the rightful owner, himself. He knew it was not in the monks code to have money and jewels so he used it to his advantage and told his good friend Thomas to collect a team of inspectors and roam through England to make sure all monasteries where sticking to the code and being loyal to God. However, if he did should find a monastery that is not behaving in a Christian way then he will strip it of its goods and close it down.
Obviously, all the money went to the king as he needed to spend it on important things such as wine, party's and more finery for himself.
The closing of monasteries all started when Henry decided he didn't like his present wife, Catherine of Arragon, and after twenty years he decided he loved another woman called Anne Bolyne. He asked for a divorce from the pope but at the time it was seen as wrong to get a divorce so it wasn't granted, resulting in Henry VII making his own religion called church of England. Then a German Monk wrote ninety five different complaints on the catholic church founded a new religion called Protestant, then Henry decided he wanted loads more money and fortune and thought robbing money off Monks was the way to go.
tanika ;D

[captaineverett]

I chose Gold and land because the Monasteries had both. King Henry VIII was a very greedy man, and with the monasteries having all that gold available Henry could not resist. Although this was the main reason there were other reason as well.

The other reason is that King Henry VIII had fallen out with the Pope due to the Pope refusing him a divorce to Catherine of Aragon. By the Pope doing that King Henry VIII set up is own church which is known as the Church of England.


King Henry VIII also chose gold and land so he could sell it and buy himself armor and just general decoration for himself. Unlike his father King Henry VII, King Henry VIII liked to spend a lot of money on himself. Henry mainly spent his money on Armor.

For Henry to get to all this gold and land, he had to have a reason to close them down because a lot of people were in favor of the Monasteries. So to solve this minor problem Henry had he decided to send round a few inspectors to most the Monasteries. To the inspectors surprise the found something they hadn’t bargained for; Drunken Monks, Nuns Gambling and just unholy activity. Now with the inspectors witnessing all this the reported straight back to Henry who now had a very big reason to close down the Monasteries.

Well that is the Main reason why Henry wanted the Monasteries closed.

Joshua Everett