Henry VIII's real intention for the Monasteries | The Dissolution of the Monasteries, Episode 1/5

For decades we have understood the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which took place in the late 1530's during the reign of Henry VIII, in a short hand, summarised and sanitised version of events. Professor James Clark, in his book 'The Dissolution of the Monasteries. A New History' published by Yale University Press in 2021, looks at how the dissolution unfolded for the ordinary people and exposes the received history and its short hand explanations of the process as way too simple and, in many ways, inaccurate.
#Dissolutionofthemonasteries #HenryVIII #monasteries
In this series "The Truth About the Dissolution of the Monasteries," over 5 episodes, Professor James Clark discusses in fascinating detail, how the dissolution unfolded.
Episode 1 - Henry VIII's real intention for the Monasteries of England and Wales
"The starting point for the dissolution is NOT a total dissolution."
"The story to be told is not endlessly revisiting the drama between Henry, Cromwell and Anne Boleyn but actually trying to understand what it means for people in the Kingdom of England."
Episodes in this series
Episode 1 - Henry VIII's real intention for the Monasteries of England and Wales
Episode 2 - How the Pilgrimage of Grace may have led to the more monasteries being closed
Episode 3 - What was the Valor Ecclesiasticus?
Episode 4 - What really happened when a monastery was closed.
Episode 5 - "Even in 1539, they still don’t believe the end is coming."
There is a bonus hour with James in which he discusses what Anne Boleyn thought about the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the fundamental lack of consistency in Henry's ideas on religion, and what happened to the women ejected at the closure of the religious institutions, among many other fascinating topics. Join Patreon.com/BritishHistory to access it. (Available from 26th August 2023).
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About Philippa
Philippa is a Historian and History Event Organiser
Philippa Lacey Brewell lives in Central England and is well respected in her field as a historian and tour guide. She is the owner and founder of British History Tours, a tour company for those who love British History.
Philippa entertains thousands each week with her videos and stories from across the UK and British History. This ability to engage an audience, as well as being an expert in traveling the historical sites of the UK, makes her your perfect guide.

[@stevestone1171]

An excellent and very informative episode, thank you. Looking forward to the next episodes. Interested in how those monasteries that surrendered before dissolution, such as Norwich, were treated differently from those that did not.

[@harrietlovejoy3424]

Enjoyed this perspective.

[@cinemaocd1752]

Just read about the Valor Eccleasiasticus and the dissolution of the monasteries in History Today. I was fascinating that such a huge set of documents has been largely ignored for the past 500 years...I'm a huge fan of the Hilary Mantel books, but having read Diarmid MacCulloch, I know that those books gloss over the vast majority of his life and his work, especially as related to the church and his manifold reasons for closing the monasteries. I am interested in this as a writer because yes, I'm tired of seeing those stories play out in fiction. I think what attracted me to the Mantel books was this more human view. No longer quite the Great Man view of history but including lots of side characters and people who felt real as characters in a novel. I want to read about Thomas Cromwell's cook and his barge man and maybe the lives of the people he interacted with before he was in that more rarified company. I find original source documents to be so beautiful and inspiring. Thank you for taking the time to make this introduction. It's very useful.