Dissolution of the Monasteries

I thought I better give you some facts as I am visiting a lot of destroyed abbeys. The pope would not let Henry VIII annul his marriage. Henry desperately wanted to marry Anne Boleyn so he broke with the Catholic faith and declared himself Head of the Church of England. The monasteries and abbey’s passed into his ownership, they were wealthy and Henry felt they had too much power (correct me if my notes are wrong). Henry got 1.3 million (500 million today) from them. Between 1536-1540 every abbey and priory (800) was ordered to be dissolved or closed.

A lot of these were significant pilgrimage sites, were larger than our cathedrals today and housed many people.