dissolution of the monasteries

dissolution of the monasteries of England and Wales occurred between 1536 and 1540. Profoundly controversial to contemporaries, this was an unparalleled secular spoliation of ecclesiastical property. By the 16th cent. most English monasteries were in some decline, but remained wealthy, and hence tempting to Henry VIII. The full‐scale valuation of ecclesiastical income, the Valor ecclesiasticus (1535), had revealed the extent of monastic revenues. The desire to appropriate these potently combined with the king's continuing onslaught on the ecclesiastical establishment. Royal visitations revealed convenient scandals and in 1536 all monasteries with an annual income of less than £200 were suppressed. In 1539 all surviving greater monasteries were dissolved. Monks were given annual pensions; a number became secular priests. Ex‐nuns were more harshly treated and were not permitted to marry till the reign of Edward VI. Monastic lands, administered through the Court of Augmentations, largely fell into the hands of the aristocracy and gentry.