In the aftermath of Henry VIII appointment as Head of The Church of England (see The formation of The Church of England), he was trying to assert his own authority within English Religion, while reducing the Pope’s. The monasteries saw the Pope as their head, not the king. Monasteries and other religious buildings, such as Chanceries, were also associated with Roman Catholic traditions and practises, notably purgatory (the belief that after death people serve time in purgatory before moving on, the length of time in purgatory depended on their sins and if monks in these religious houses were praying for them), reformers, such as Cromwell, were moving away from these beliefs and therefore saw no need for these buildings. People were also questioning the honesty of these buildings, reports of Monks having affairs and being corrupt were not uncommon. However, these was not the only reasons; the church held a considerable amount of the land and wealth of England, a fact Henry was jealous of. Henry, dreaming of undertaking a victorious conquest in France (having already failed in previous attempts), was continually short of money and in heavy debt; he believed that the dissolution would bring in much needed wealth (in fact much of the land and wealth was sold off quickly to cover his debts and brought in little long term benefit). Henry VIII was not unique in shutting monasteries down, in fact many Monarchs had done so before him, the difference was the scale and number.

Cromwell, now appointed as Vice-regent in Spirituals, sent out commissioners to produce a report on the Monasteries and religious houses around the country. The commissioners were to uncover whether the houses were corrupt and not functioning as they should. It is almost certain that not every Monk or Nun in the country was celibate or honest, or that every Monastery was running perfectly and had no scandals; but the overall negative tone of the report, produced from the feedback of the commissioners, and the evidence of alterations to individual accounts, strongly suggests that the account was not completely accurate. However, the report achieved its aim, when presented to Parliament in 1536, the MPs could not stand against the King’s wish of an Act allowing the dissolution of smaller Monasteries. Consequently, soldiers were despatched to shut down those Monasteries worth less than £200 a year. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to distinguish which Monasteries were included in this and by 1539 most Monasteries, small or big had been closed. The Act passed in 1539 authorizing the closure of these larger monasteries, pretty much just acknowledged that they had gone. Anyway, by this point the nobility (who were also the majority of MPs) had received some of the wealth or land of these Monasteries and wanting more would not stand in the way of anymore closures.

The dissolution of the Monasteries strengthened the divide, already pronounced, between England, particularly Henry VIII and the Pope. It also gave rise to the number of reformers within the country. However, the dissolution also saw the beginning of confusion within England, Henry VIII never denounced the Roman Catholic Church and never left it. After the dissolution he continually seemed to change his religious policy towards and then away from Catholic beliefs. In fact the dissolution seemed to be one step to far for Thomas Cromwell, who only a few months after masterminding the closure of the larger monasteries was executed. This left the people of England confused over which beliefs to follow and which Religion was the offical one in England.

The loss of Monasteries also had other effects. Monasteries had provided employment for people working on their land and property. They had also handed out food and bedding to the poor and travellers. This was now lost and the number of Vagrancy Acts passed by Henry and his children implies that there was a rise in the number of poor, or at least fears about such a rise. The dissolution also lead rise to the largest redistribution of land seen in England since the Norman conquest. Landowners in England became even more powerful and wealthy.