dissolution of the monasteries

dissolution of the monasteries. On the eve of the Reformation, recruitment to the monasteries was in decline and secularization already in train, with gentry families intruding kinsmen as superiors who dilapidated the properties in their favour. The Palesmen, led by Patrick Barnewall, rejected an initial bill in 1536 to dissolve eight small Irish monasteries, fearing the loss of interest in estates they were already administering as lawyers or leasing as farmers. The bill passed in 1537, when an equitable distribution of property was agreed. Following the complete suppression of English monasteries in 1538, a commission was appointed in April 1539 which dissolved 42 monasteries and 51 friaries in the Pale and Ormond. The commissioners encountered few problems, despite the war of the Geraldine League. The last major dissolution was the Knights Hospitallers at Kilmainham, which Prior Rawson surrendered in November 1540 after being granted a life peerage and a pension of 500 marks. St Leger extended the policy to Desmond and Thomond, but in tune with the conciliatory policy of surrender and regrant allowed the earls to run the suppression commissions themselves.

The exchequer gained only £1,884 additional revenue from the dissolution. The main beneficiaries were Lord Deputies Grey and St Leger, and Treasurer Brabazon. Palesmen received lands to round off their estates. About 20 New English landowners arrived in the Pale and in Wexford. The marcher lords extended their holdings as did Ormond, Clanricard, Thomond, and Desmond.

Calculated on the annual income of their monasteries, superiors received pensions ranging from £6 to £50; ordinary monks received between 13s. 4d. and £3 6s. 8d. An act of parliament allowed them to work and trade but did not absolve them of their vows of chastity! Socially the dissolution was not a disaster: the monastic provision of poor relief, education, and medical care had all but ceased, and since the end of the 15th century secular charities and municipal bodies had established hospitals, almshouses, and schools. The growing wealth of the Palesmen, which the dissolution accelerated, facilitated further private philanthropy.

Sixty per cent of Irish monasteries and friaries, with a dwindling band of monks but many highly respected friars, remained undisturbed in the Gaelic and Gaelicized parts of Ireland, as potential targets for future land‐grabbers.

Bibliography

Bradshaw, Brendan , The Dissolution of the Religious Orders in Ireland (1974)

Hiram Morgan