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Research Guide: Dissolution of the Monasteries
From Your Archives
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[edit] Letters and Papers of Henry VIII
The best place to start is with the published Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, using the indexes at the back of the volumes. This will include some, but not all, of the material mentioned below. If you have not used this work look at the Research Guide Letters and Papers of Henry VIII.
[edit] Wolsey's Dissolutions, 1524-1528
About 30 very small religious houses were surrendered into the hands of Cardinal Wolsey, with papal permission, in order to set up places of learning: the surrenders are in E 21. Inquisitions into their lands and goods are in the Cardinal's Bundles in C 142/76-77: and grants of their possessions to Wolsey's new colleges in Oxford and Ipswich are in E 24.
[edit] The Valor Ecclesiasticus
In 1534, the Act of First Fruits and Tenths transferred taxes on ecclesiastical income, previously paid to the Pope, to the Crown. Commissioners surveyed and valued all benefices, including religious houses and Oxford and Cambridge colleges. These returns were entered in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, the greatest survey of ecclesiastical property since the valuation for the taxatio of Pope Nicholas IV in 1291. Many returns for England and Wales survive, arranged by diocese, with one volume of returns for Ireland, in E 344. The Record Commission transcript (printed between 1810-1834) is the place to start.
[edit] The Royal Supremacy
The King, as supreme Head of the new Church of England, appointed Thomas Cromwell as his vicegerent with authority over the church. All monastics, among others, were ordered to swear an oath in support of the royal supremacy: some refused and were tried as traitors (see the trial records in KB 8). Acknowledgements of the royal supremacy by religious houses are in E 25. Cromwell also ordered visitations, to check on the spiritual condition of the monasteries. The infamous Compendium Compertorum, detailing the alleged offences found by his visitors, is now in SP 1/102 ff 91-114. Correspondence relating to the oath of supremacy and the visitation of monasteries (mostly from SP 1 and SP 5) has been calendared in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII.
[edit] The Dissolution, 1536-1540
Most small religious houses (worth less than £200 a year) were dissolved by Act of Parliament in 1536. A few were able to persuade Cromwell that they were viable institutions, and should continue. Larger houses (and the small survivors of 1536) were then 'encouraged' to surrender to the Crown, with the offer of benefices or pensions to the monastics. In these cases, the crown was fictitiously alleged to be the founder to whom the temporal possessions would revert. Waltham Holy Cross was the last to surrender, in 1540. Surrenders are in E 322.
Copies of the acts relating to the dissolution were entered in the register of the Court of Augmentations (E 315/2), and are available in Statutes of the Realm. Not all houses surrendered willingly, and several monastics were tried as traitors for taking part in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536-1537. Treason trial records can be found in KB 8. Papers relating to all of this will be found in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII.
[edit] Chantries
In 1547, under Edward VI a statute declared that lands and revenues from foundations endowed to benefit the souls of their founders be appropriated by the Crown - with the exception of Oxford and Cambridge colleges. The returns of commissioners from the court of Augmentations recording the purposes for which foundations were established, are in E 301, E 315, LR 2, DL 38 and SC 11. The returns vary considerably, and the number of extant charity certificates also varies from the county to another. Most date from 1547. There is an index, arranged by county, Particulars for sale for the chantries are held in E 315/67-68 and DL 14. The court sent out commissioners to compile inventories of goods such as plate, jewellery, animals etc. Inventories can be found in E 117.
[edit] The Courts of Augmentations and General Surveyors
Monastic Lands confiscated as a result of the treason of their abbots were handled by the Court of General Surveyors. The other monastic lands were dealt with by the Court of Augmentations, set up in 1536. These two courts were amalgamated in 1547, under the new name "Court of Augmentations and Revenues of the King's Crown," and were then absorbed into the Exchequer in 1553. Some records remained in the Augmentation Office, others passed on to the Auditors of Land Revenue. E 315, LR 1 and LR 2 are important series, as is DL 41 for Lancashire monasteries.
[edit] Pensions
Warrants for pension grants to former monks, nuns may be found in E 315/244-247 and LR 5. Some lists of monks, nuns and other pensioners are in SP 5, LR 1, E 314 and E 101.
[edit] Managing the Ex-Monastic Estates
The income and expenditure of the ex-monastic estates was accounted for in the Court of Augmentations. The main series of treasurer's accounts are in E 323 and E 315/248-262: they do not record payments made at a local level out of local income. Local ministers' and receivers' accounts are in LR 6, DL 29 and SC 6. Be wary when using the published list: to save space, it lists the full estates covered once, and then gives them in a very short form, cross-referred back often by several pages. The index, to create confusion, indexes all the pages where an entry would occur if it had been listed out in full, so that quite often the index appears not to work. For court rolls (often pre-dating the dissolution) see SC 2 and DL 30. Surveys and rentals of monastic lands may be found in SC 11, SC 12, LR 2, LR 10 and E 315: there is a joint list of these.
[edit] Sales and Leases of Ex-Monastic Land
Sales and leases of ex-monastic land were enrolled on the Patent Rolls (C 66, calendared in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII), if above a certain annual value; if below, they were records in the enrolment books of the Court of Augmentations, in LR 1. Particulars for grants are in E 318. An alphabetical index of names of grantees was published in the Deputy Keeper of Public Records' 9th and 10th Reports (1848, 1849). There is also a manuscript index of place names.
[edit] Disputes
The Court of Augmentations also acted as a court for the settlement of disputes over the former monastic lands. Proceedings were by English bill procedure. Records of these can be found in E 321, E 314 and E 315/19-23, E 315/108-133, E 315/165, E 315/516 and E 315/522. Many later disputes about ex-monastic land can be found among the equity proceedings of the Exchequer (see E 134 to start with).
[edit] Deeds
With the estates came the legal evidences. Some were passed on to the new owners (see E 324): others were retained or eventually returned into official custody. Unfortunately, they are scattered among several different series.
[edit] Ireland
In 1540, royal commissioners surveyed monastic property in Ireland; the results are summarised in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII: see also the Calendar of State Papers, Ireland. Most Irish records relating to the Dissolution were destroyed in 1922, but there are some printed records in the Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland, vol I (Dublin, 1861).
[edit] Further Reading
- D Knowles, The Religious Orders in England, vol III (1959)
- J Youings, The Dissolution of the Monasteries (1971)
- C Haigh, The Last Days of the Lancashire Monasteries and the Pilgrimage of Grace (1969)
- W C Richardson, History of the Court of Augmentations, 1536-1554 (1961)
- B Bradshaw, The Dissolution of the Religious Orders in Ireland under Henry VIII (1974)
- A H Lawes, 'The Dissolution of the Monasteries and Chantries', The Genealogists' Magazine, vol 27 no 11 (September 2003)
- English Monastic Archives is a database designed to be a research tool and guide to the types and current locations of documents generated by medieval English monasteries.
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