The Last Divine Office: Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries

by Geoffrey Moorhouse

The Last Divine Office explores the enormous upheaval caused by the English Reformation, drawing for his sources on material that has lain forgotten in one of the world’s great cathedrals. He recreates in vivid detail what life was like in a major monastery before the Dissolution began in 1536, and how that life was forever transformed on the orders of King Henry VIII.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Religion, Tudor Period, Christianity

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2008

About the author

Geoffrey Moorhouse, FRGS, FRSL, D.Litt, was an English journalist and author. He was born Geoffrey Heald in Bolton and took his stepfather's surname. He attended Bury Grammar School. He began writing as a journalist on the Bolton Evening News. At the age of 27, he joined the Manchester Guardian where he eventually became chief feature writer and combined writing book with journalism.

Many of his books were largely based on his travels. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society in 1972, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1982, and received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Warwick. His book To The Frontier won the Thomas Cook Award for the best travel book of its year in 1984. He had recently concentrated on Tudor history, with The Pilgrimage of Grace and Great Harry's Navy. He lived in a hill village in North Yorkshire. In an interview given at the University of Tuebingen in 1999, he described his approach to his writing.

All three of Moorhouse's marriages ended in divorce. He had two sons and two daughters, one of whom died of cancer in 1981. He died aged 77 of a stroke on 26 November 2009 and is survived by both sons and one daughter.

Reviews

[Robert Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry VIII's reign was about a lot more than just his six wives. Henry, who reigned in England from 1509-1547 was probably the most powerful monarch to ever sit on that throne. Not because he was internationally powerful, his record there was vaguely comedic to tragically pitiful, but because he used state power within England in new ways, and with new levels of wealth. The English civil wars and succession crises of the 1600s were to a large extent about making sure that no king could ever again act with the domestic powers that Henry VIII did. In a lot of ways he, or rather the men around him, founded the modern British state. Henry's era is not as present in the historical consciousness as his daughter Elizabeth's, with its Shakespearean adornment, but it's tremendously significant, and it keeps coming up in my research.

What doesn't often come up in my research is the flip side of one of the sources of his incredible wealth... the dissolution of the monasteries. This book ably fills that gap. The Anglican church, known as Episcopalian in the United States (the church in which I was raised), is an outlier among Protestant churches. Most other Reformation sects were formed out of some degree of religious conviction, and took Christianity in more extreme directions. Anglicanism was about two things, Henry's wish to get divorced, and Henry's wish to get rich. Over the centuries Anglicanism has added and subtracted some more conventionally Protestant elements, but it remains the Protestant church that is closest to Catholicism in ritual and theology. It ditched the Pope because he wouldn't give Henry his divorce, and it ditched the Monasteries because Henry wanted their money.

Centuries later, even the Catholic countries took this step as states consolidated, but England was the first mover. I'm accustomed to thinking about this in terms of state formation and broad historical trends. This book revels in the traumatic impacts on day to day life. Monasteries formed the center of communities all over the country, but this book focuses on the scrupulously maintained records of one cathedral, at Durham. Durham was run by more powerful people, who did a better job of tacking with the winds of change than many others did. So the cathedral did not become one of the picturesque monastic ruins that dot the English countryside.

The book is built off the records of Durham, and the nascent archives of the modern state being born in this period. The greed of Henry's men, and sometimes even their daily schedules, is reconstructed meticulously. Honestly, the exhaustiveness of this presentation got a little tedious at times, but I think it's valuable. The multiple stages of the dissolution process, over the course of much of a decade, are carefully documented. The book gives a true sense of the traumas and petty injustices of an entire way of life dying to satisfy a monarch's greed. I certainly believe that this anti-monastic process got civilization to a better place eventually. But Moorhouse does valuable work excavating the horror and injustice of that process. Having read this, I'm excited to check out his book on the Pilgrimage of Grace, a ground-up rebellion against Henry's turn against the Catholic church. The late Mr. Moorhouse did great work highlighting the losing side of one of history's most important processes.

[Steve Donoghue]

Geoffrey Moorhouse's wonderful book describes one of the many times in history when an irresistible force met a seemingly immovable object - in this case, the desire of England's King Henry VIII to sack the wealthy monasteries of his own land and bring them under his control. Over centuries, some of those monasteries had become basically independent kingdoms within the realm of England, so the stage is set for a very satisfying story, and Moorhouse does it justice. Here's my full review:
https://www.stevedonoghue.com/review-...

And when Moorhouse sadly died, I did a rare second review, this time of the US paperback edition of the book:
https://www.stevedonoghue.com/review-...

[Almachius · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's as poignant a time as ever to read about the state wrecking the spiritual heritage of England and the remarkable swiftness with which a small handful of powerful statesmen can change the soul of a nation. The most shocking paragraphs were those which dealt with the vandalism of shrines, notably the treatment of St. Cuthbert's incorrupt body and the banning of the Latin Mass.

Well written, compelling and as balanced as I might have hoped considering it is ultimately pro-Anglican. But I close the book with mixed feelings as I knew I would. The pretence of continuity between Anglicanism and the old faith is cringeworthy. I'm biased of course. Yet there's this paradox that I must acknowledge when it comes to the desecration of England in the 16th century: those saints who were uncompromising in their fidelity to the old faith, the old liturgy, the old theology would quite possibly feel more at home in today's Anglican cathedrals than they would in most of our Catholic churches. When Catholicism gets her stolen churches back, she must give credit to the Anglicans for preserving so well what little they didn't destroy. I'm not sure twentieth century neo-Catholicism would have done so well.

One happy note: the whole book was worth reading for the description of the rebellion that broke out in the late 1560s when the Cathedral was taken over by laypeople who destroyed the new wooden table and had a proper high Latin Mass with full choir and everything. Four of the old Benedictines (since made prebendaries) got involved. One wonders what it must have felt like to see and hear God worshipped with reverence after nearly thirty years of innovation. But what wreckage had been wrought in the meantime, and never since has Mass been heard in Durham Cathedral.

There's always hope.

[Tomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was more of a 2.5 (we need a sliding scale to rate books!) but I'll give a little extra credit because parts of it were very good. It is about half the story of Durham Cathedral and half the story of the Dissolution.
On the plus side: I learned a lot about life in a medieval monastery. The descriptions of the people involved in the dissolution were colorful and well-drawn - enough that I wanted to jump through the pages and slap some people around! And of course, I enjoyed the graphic descriptions of torture...😇
Negative: parts of the book read like a grocery list - entire paragraphs of names of people involved in an event! The author also uses Latin phrases without a translation. Would a footnote be too much to ask?

[Luke Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

As part of my research for a new idea I tracked this down at the Vancouver public library and it's a thoughtful read that wisely narrows its focus. As someone raised in Catholicism I always thought the dissolution of the monasteries was something airily brushed over and this book takes a hard look at the seismic impact it had on society via Durham cathedral. Moorhouse has a keen eye for detail which can be a bit much when he exhaustably categorizes the expenses of the abbey's employees. Where he excels is summarizing the characters of the people who inhabited this drama. The ending felt a little drawn out but the post script is moving, suggesting the spirit of a monastery that made such a huge impact on people's minds has lingered on

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a research tool, this is first rate work. As a relaxing & entertaining read, it's a mess: too much detail and minutiae, overly-dense text, and not the easiest attempt at organization. The end result is a 3 star rating that splits the difference between usefulness (superb), and enjoyment (extremely lacking).

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely superb

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent book is about Henry VIII's suppression on the English monasteries with particular focus on the monastery and cathedral of Durham. Henry's lust for women and lust for more money led him to suppress monastic institutions that had been at the heart of English religious life for a thousand years. Henry had the help of the able and very ruthless administrator Thomas Cromwell. At first it was only the smaller houses which were suppressed, but later, even the larger houses fell to Henry's avarice. Durham, however, was "reformed." As a cathedral monastery, it became home to the deanery of the new Anglican establishment in Durham. Some of the old monks continued to live and serve in the deanery or as priests of the diocese. This book shows the tactics of the so called "visitors" who were appointed by Cromwell to examine the monasteries and question both monks and nuns as to the viability of the religious houses and the moral lives of their inhabitants. The questions were invasive and the questioners put the monasteries in the worst possible light, often falsifying or exaggerating in order to justify the suppression. Perhaps most tragic of all is the desecration of the tombs and shrines of great saints such as Saint Cuthbert. I came away from this book with a real disdain for Henry VIII and an even greater disdain for the opportunistic Cromwell. Under the guise of reformation these men plundered and looted the religious houses of England.

[Mary Sperry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots and lots of detail about finances and property, but very little about people and faith. I guess that I expected social and religious history. Moorhouse clearly did a ton of research. but I didn't really get a feel for the times. What made previously faithful monks so willing to walk away from the faith to which they'd devoted their lives? What happened to the monks who were forcibly laicized? How did the change affect the people in the communities aligned with the monasteries? I didn't get an answer to any of these questions.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anyone who has ever visited Durham Cathedral will find this book interesting, but it certainly becomes tedious in places. Moorhouse becomes a bit too mired down in minutiae and details, but still manages to tell the story of the English Reformation as witnessed among one place and people. For Anglicans who love history this would be an interesting read; if both criteria don't apply, take a pass.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and easy to read, but certainly favoured the Monasteries. There was really no discussion of the wealth of the Monasteries and the fact that they did require reform. So the decision to shut them down, perhaps, was not just a money grab by Henry VIII; or perhaps it was a money grab with a reformation rationalization.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very readable history of King Henry VIII's religious break with Rome and the dissolution of the monastic houses in England. I think there were too many instances where Moorhouse devolved into trivia instead of relating the story and this broke up the narrative. Very informative though.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing because I expected the book to capture something of the drama, majesty, banality, intrigue of the transformation/ending of Durham as a great monastery. But it didn't. The fact may be here but something is missing. Maybe I am at fault, but I was bitterly disappointed in this book.

[CLM]

My mother will want this!!

[2curlydogs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exhaustively researched, well written. A bit too verbose at times.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exhaustively researched, well written. A bit too verbose at times.

[Adrienne Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really more like 2.5 stars. And would be 2 stars if I hadn't just been to Durham last year. Too much minutiae!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched, but not an easy read. It gave an interesting perspective on the English Reformation.

[Lu]

1539 and the dissolution of a monastery; benedictine