Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The dissolution of the monasteries (1536–40) has long been recognized as one of the principal distinguishing features of the English Reformation under Henry VIII. The later dissolution of the chantries (1545–8) is less well known but over recent years its enormous importance in the reform of parish life during the reign of Edward VI has been widely acknowledged. In Ireland, the suppression of monasticism under the Tudors was a long drawn-out process which was pursued as a major element in the policy of extending English colonial rule, but the Irish chantries survived virtually unscathed until much later in the sixteenth century. In Scotland, chantries and other intercessory institutions were one of the immediate targets of Calvinist reformers after 1560, but monasticism was allowed to die a slow death in the second half of the century rather than being subjected to the more immediate suppression which had been achieved in England. In this sense the dissolution movement in the British Isles was not a unified process but rather a series of distinctive movements set in train by princes and politicians who had markedly different religious beliefs and secular goals. The British Isles was therefore no different from the Continent in the variety of ways in which religious institutions were treated during the Protestant Reformation. Moreover, as in many other parts of northern Europe, the ... log in or subscribe to read full text