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The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History
The first account of the dissolution of the monasteries for fifty years—exploring its profound impact on the people of Tudor England
“This is a book about people, though, not ideas, and as a detailed account of an extraordinary human drama with a cast of thousands, it is an exceptional piece of historical writing.”—Lucy Wooding, Times Literary Supplement
Shortly before Easter, 1540 saw the end of almost a millennium of monastic life in England. Until then religious houses had acted as a focus for education, literary, and artistic expression and even the creation of regional and national identity. Their closure, carried out in just four years between 1536 and 1540, caused a dislocation of people and a disruption of life not seen in England since the Norman Conquest.
Drawing on the records of national and regional archives as well as archaeological remains, James Clark explores the little-known lives of the last men and women who lived in England’s monasteries before the Reformation. Clark challenges received wisdom, showing that buildings were not immediately demolished and Henry VIII’s subjects were so attached to the religious houses that they kept fixtures and fittings as souvenirs. This rich, vivid history brings back into focus the prominent place of abbeys, priories, and friaries in the lives of the English people.
“This is a book about people, though, not ideas, and as a detailed account of an extraordinary human drama with a cast of thousands, it is an exceptional piece of historical writing.”—Lucy Wooding, Times Literary Supplement
Shortly before Easter, 1540 saw the end of almost a millennium of monastic life in England. Until then religious houses had acted as a focus for education, literary, and artistic expression and even the creation of regional and national identity. Their closure, carried out in just four years between 1536 and 1540, caused a dislocation of people and a disruption of life not seen in England since the Norman Conquest.
Drawing on the records of national and regional archives as well as archaeological remains, James Clark explores the little-known lives of the last men and women who lived in England’s monasteries before the Reformation. Clark challenges received wisdom, showing that buildings were not immediately demolished and Henry VIII’s subjects were so attached to the religious houses that they kept fixtures and fittings as souvenirs. This rich, vivid history brings back into focus the prominent place of abbeys, priories, and friaries in the lives of the English people.
704 pages, Hardcover
First published November 2, 2021
44 people are currently reading
501 people want to read
About the author
James G. Clark
18 books5 followersJames G. Clark is Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Transfer, and Professor of History at the University of Exeter.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 28, 2022
This is a good book. It's nearly an excellent book.
We've needed a good and up-to-date history of the Dissolution of the Monasteries for a while now, but this is a book that *still* needs a good editor, and an editor that is familiar with the subject matter.
Too often does Clark introduce an idea or theme or an anecdote about a religous house, then say the same thing a page or two later - it gives the reader a niggling sense of déjà vu, or at the very least, déjà lu. Likewise, there are one or two annoyingly recurrent infelicities in terminology which a good editor should have picked up.
In spite of this, it is a solid book. It is very good at conjuring a sense of occasion and a sense of place, and gives a good feeling of indvidual 'stories' in the context of the Dissolution. The author is in command of the archival material, but I suspect that knowing the archives so intimately is part of what encouraged the author to organise the book thematically rather than chronologically - to give him space to tell indvidual stories.
Therefore, unless you already know the period well in terms of dates and the broad outline of the Dissolution, the back-and-forth nature of the book (in terms of dates) might leave you more than a little confused. If you need to, it's worth boning up on this before you read - the book will more than repay this effort.
This is balanced and nuanced history. In spite of the niggles above, I learnt a very great deal that I did not know!
We've needed a good and up-to-date history of the Dissolution of the Monasteries for a while now, but this is a book that *still* needs a good editor, and an editor that is familiar with the subject matter.
Too often does Clark introduce an idea or theme or an anecdote about a religous house, then say the same thing a page or two later - it gives the reader a niggling sense of déjà vu, or at the very least, déjà lu. Likewise, there are one or two annoyingly recurrent infelicities in terminology which a good editor should have picked up.
In spite of this, it is a solid book. It is very good at conjuring a sense of occasion and a sense of place, and gives a good feeling of indvidual 'stories' in the context of the Dissolution. The author is in command of the archival material, but I suspect that knowing the archives so intimately is part of what encouraged the author to organise the book thematically rather than chronologically - to give him space to tell indvidual stories.
Therefore, unless you already know the period well in terms of dates and the broad outline of the Dissolution, the back-and-forth nature of the book (in terms of dates) might leave you more than a little confused. If you need to, it's worth boning up on this before you read - the book will more than repay this effort.
This is balanced and nuanced history. In spite of the niggles above, I learnt a very great deal that I did not know!
December 21, 2024
This is a thematic history, not a narrative one, so if you are coming to the subject with little or no pre-knowledge then you may struggle but if you have some familiarity with the period, even if is like mine from school and university days, then professor Clark's book will be a delight. It is long, and because of its thematic nature, has repetitions (it is unavoidable in such a work because you are looking at the same causations across different themes) but it brings a startlingly fresh perspective to England's monastic establishment and thus dissolution, reformation and change in England under Henry VIII.
When I was at university the story of the dissolution was very much that of professor A.G. Dickens in his 'English Reformation' which told the story of the dissolution of the monasteries as part of an English Reformation that was not something imposed from above as an act of state but as part of a long pre existing rebellion by English men and women against a corrupt Catholic Church which was swept away by the fervour of reform and change. The essential flaw in the argument is the idea that there was a separation and difference between the people of England and the 'Catholic' church when of course there wasn't. The monasteries and religious houses were not an alien institution, they were part of the weft and fabric of English life. An English person looking at his local religious house (and it is often forgotten that England had more religious houses in terms of number and density then anywhere else in Europe) saw something that was part of the rhythm of his religious and community life. James Clark's book is wonderful for the richness of sources which highlight the ordinary, complex and multilayered links between monasteries and their communities. The religious were the brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. of everyone else. The last thing they were was 'foreign'.
When I look back on books like professor Dickens history of the 'English Reformation' I can't help seeing a work that emerged from a particular tradition and view of English history - one that was invested in England forged by the Whig view of history were England's freedoms were forged in the breaking of the chains of the Catholic Church and its supranational institutions. The story of England, for men of Dicken's generation (he was a man educated in the 1920's and 30's) was one of English nationalism forging an identity alone and away from Europe of seeing its freedoms as unique and true and splendid. Waterloo may have been won on the playing fields of Eton, but the battle of Britain was thanks to the freedoms won in 'The Glorious Revolution' which was the culmination of the reformation and the discarding of alien and corrupt forms, practices and ideas (I am amazed how much of the Whig view of history lived in a vulgar, debased and simplified form amongst Brexit supporters).
Of course England's freedoms always looked different when viewed by a colonial subject or an ordinary working Englishman man or woman who did not enjoy the comfort of an aristocratic Whig Palace like Blenheim.
Let me be clear I am no believer, like Augustus Welby Pugin, in a prelapsarian paradise under a wise and benevolent Catholic church. I am enough of an Irish cradle Catholic to find the Anglican establishment, past, present or future - if it has one, of infinite absurdity and impossible to take seriously. I admit I view the Catholic church in a much more serious light but that is because I do not treat it as an absurd joke but an obscenity. One of the most refreshing things about professor Clark's book on the dissolution is that he, and researchers like him, including the many archaeologists who have brought an immense new and important information to our understanding of England's pre-dissolution monasteries, is that they have all moved beyond sectarian positions. Is anybody seriously going to attack Clark's work in the way Eamon Duffy's magisterial and wonderfully thought provoking 'The Stripping of the Alters' was as a trojan horse of Catholic bias and infiltration?
For me professor Clark's book on the dissolution of the monasteries is as important and revelatory as Duffy's book on pre-reformation traditional English religion. It is not because he has found new information (though he has incorporated, as I have mentioned, a vast amount of material from archaeology etc. which has not previously been incorporated into the history of the dissolution) but, like Duffy, looked at what was always there and viewed it free from a huge weight of presumption (I am well aware that all histories are written by historians who are influenced by the times they live in) and works like Clark's, and Duffy's, are from not simply a post religious time but a time when religious belief has ceased not simply to be a norm, but even something people actively bother to reject.
This is a long, detailed, but well written history. It is the sort of book that is best read over time, and by absorbing the various themes. Not being a strict narrative it is not like you will lose track of the story. It is a fascinating book to come back to again and again and to be born in mind as cliches and theories of the past are reencountered.
When I was at university the story of the dissolution was very much that of professor A.G. Dickens in his 'English Reformation' which told the story of the dissolution of the monasteries as part of an English Reformation that was not something imposed from above as an act of state but as part of a long pre existing rebellion by English men and women against a corrupt Catholic Church which was swept away by the fervour of reform and change. The essential flaw in the argument is the idea that there was a separation and difference between the people of England and the 'Catholic' church when of course there wasn't. The monasteries and religious houses were not an alien institution, they were part of the weft and fabric of English life. An English person looking at his local religious house (and it is often forgotten that England had more religious houses in terms of number and density then anywhere else in Europe) saw something that was part of the rhythm of his religious and community life. James Clark's book is wonderful for the richness of sources which highlight the ordinary, complex and multilayered links between monasteries and their communities. The religious were the brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. of everyone else. The last thing they were was 'foreign'.
When I look back on books like professor Dickens history of the 'English Reformation' I can't help seeing a work that emerged from a particular tradition and view of English history - one that was invested in England forged by the Whig view of history were England's freedoms were forged in the breaking of the chains of the Catholic Church and its supranational institutions. The story of England, for men of Dicken's generation (he was a man educated in the 1920's and 30's) was one of English nationalism forging an identity alone and away from Europe of seeing its freedoms as unique and true and splendid. Waterloo may have been won on the playing fields of Eton, but the battle of Britain was thanks to the freedoms won in 'The Glorious Revolution' which was the culmination of the reformation and the discarding of alien and corrupt forms, practices and ideas (I am amazed how much of the Whig view of history lived in a vulgar, debased and simplified form amongst Brexit supporters).
Of course England's freedoms always looked different when viewed by a colonial subject or an ordinary working Englishman man or woman who did not enjoy the comfort of an aristocratic Whig Palace like Blenheim.
Let me be clear I am no believer, like Augustus Welby Pugin, in a prelapsarian paradise under a wise and benevolent Catholic church. I am enough of an Irish cradle Catholic to find the Anglican establishment, past, present or future - if it has one, of infinite absurdity and impossible to take seriously. I admit I view the Catholic church in a much more serious light but that is because I do not treat it as an absurd joke but an obscenity. One of the most refreshing things about professor Clark's book on the dissolution is that he, and researchers like him, including the many archaeologists who have brought an immense new and important information to our understanding of England's pre-dissolution monasteries, is that they have all moved beyond sectarian positions. Is anybody seriously going to attack Clark's work in the way Eamon Duffy's magisterial and wonderfully thought provoking 'The Stripping of the Alters' was as a trojan horse of Catholic bias and infiltration?
For me professor Clark's book on the dissolution of the monasteries is as important and revelatory as Duffy's book on pre-reformation traditional English religion. It is not because he has found new information (though he has incorporated, as I have mentioned, a vast amount of material from archaeology etc. which has not previously been incorporated into the history of the dissolution) but, like Duffy, looked at what was always there and viewed it free from a huge weight of presumption (I am well aware that all histories are written by historians who are influenced by the times they live in) and works like Clark's, and Duffy's, are from not simply a post religious time but a time when religious belief has ceased not simply to be a norm, but even something people actively bother to reject.
This is a long, detailed, but well written history. It is the sort of book that is best read over time, and by absorbing the various themes. Not being a strict narrative it is not like you will lose track of the story. It is a fascinating book to come back to again and again and to be born in mind as cliches and theories of the past are reencountered.
November 2, 2025
It’s been interesting to read a few reviews of this book - for me the refrain of ‘it’s a thematic history’ is not quite enough to convince me that this book isn’t more structurally confusing than it needs to be. I also would not recommend picking it up unless you’re quite hot on the complexities of the late medieval monastic system. I certainly thought I was but this was HUBRIS and I was googling a LOT of terminology. That being said it is an incredibly informative book and I got more into it about a third of the way in. Hard work but it does get rewarded, if this kind of reward you’re looking for in your earthly life.
November 10, 2022
In this extraordinary, impressive and astonishing book James G. Clark charts the dissolution and suppression of the monastic orders under the Tudor reign of Henry VIII. With exceptional scholarship
and impeccable research, we are provided with a deeper insight and understanding of this momentous
decision, with all it`s social and religious consequences.
Prof. Clark, with extreme diligence brings to light the many voices that history has forgotten, the ordinary individuals, both within the monastic communities and the surrounding towns and villages, monks, nuns,friars abbots and abbesses,the common person who`s lives were to become irreversibly altered and changed as the suppression's progressed through the kingdom.
What I feel confident will become a landmark work that many scholars and researches will refer to in the coming years, yet written in an accessible manner and style that many will find of great value in understanding this important moment in English history.
Very highly recommended.
and impeccable research, we are provided with a deeper insight and understanding of this momentous
decision, with all it`s social and religious consequences.
Prof. Clark, with extreme diligence brings to light the many voices that history has forgotten, the ordinary individuals, both within the monastic communities and the surrounding towns and villages, monks, nuns,friars abbots and abbesses,the common person who`s lives were to become irreversibly altered and changed as the suppression's progressed through the kingdom.
What I feel confident will become a landmark work that many scholars and researches will refer to in the coming years, yet written in an accessible manner and style that many will find of great value in understanding this important moment in English history.
Very highly recommended.
November 21, 2022
Imagine waiting to get to the fireworks factory for 350 pages.
Impeccably researched from primary sources but desperately, DESPERATELY, in need of subject headings, of all things. Chapters are LONG, repetitive, cover the same ground, and often feel like deja vu. They jump around in chronology too, meaning you often hear the same stuff about the same people over and over again. The book also seems to repeatedly tell you that the dissolution was a lot less dramatic than it seemed. Then you finally get to the fireworks factory and some Italians load an abbey up with gunpowder and blow it to smother webs (this is the only time this happened, the author notes).
It’s ok not being popular history, but the book seems dead set against talking about anything particularly interesting outside of the first and last few chapters (the final 2-3 being essentially what you’re probably interested in if you’ve only heard of the events through fiction and archeology). There are a LOT of murders, hangings, and rebellions which get mentioned and then moved on from as though nothing happened. Popular figures like King Henry and his wives are treated as meh background subjects, the executions sometimes coming up before anything they did in life. And woe be anyone who doesn’t know the vocabulary because none of it will be explained ever.
Ugh.
As a historical record it does still feel significant but as someone who’s read a lot of dry history recently this one just didn’t do it for me. There’s not even any talk about ghosts!!!
Impeccably researched from primary sources but desperately, DESPERATELY, in need of subject headings, of all things. Chapters are LONG, repetitive, cover the same ground, and often feel like deja vu. They jump around in chronology too, meaning you often hear the same stuff about the same people over and over again. The book also seems to repeatedly tell you that the dissolution was a lot less dramatic than it seemed. Then you finally get to the fireworks factory and some Italians load an abbey up with gunpowder and blow it to smother webs (this is the only time this happened, the author notes).
It’s ok not being popular history, but the book seems dead set against talking about anything particularly interesting outside of the first and last few chapters (the final 2-3 being essentially what you’re probably interested in if you’ve only heard of the events through fiction and archeology). There are a LOT of murders, hangings, and rebellions which get mentioned and then moved on from as though nothing happened. Popular figures like King Henry and his wives are treated as meh background subjects, the executions sometimes coming up before anything they did in life. And woe be anyone who doesn’t know the vocabulary because none of it will be explained ever.
Ugh.
As a historical record it does still feel significant but as someone who’s read a lot of dry history recently this one just didn’t do it for me. There’s not even any talk about ghosts!!!
May 9, 2025
This book is impressively researched and covers just about every aspect of the dissolution, from the fate of monastic sheep and manuscripts to the reuse of building materials, furnishings, and even the repurposing of sacred spaces.
The major drawback, however, is in the book’s organization. As other reviewers have noted, its thematic rather than chronological approach makes it difficult to follow the progression of events leading up to and during the dissolution. This thematic structure does allow for focused explorations into various topics, which is great in spite of leading to the occasional repetition, but unfortunately he often can only skim the surface of these topics because he is trying to cover everything. Ironically, focusing on a particular monastery might have let him explore the repercussions of the dissolution in greater detail. The clearest part of the narrative comes near the end, when Clark switches to a more chronological history of the continuation of the dissolution and the attempts to halt or reverse it under Henry’s successors, especially during Mary’s reign. Still, in spite of these issues, the book is an invaluable resource for pretty much any topic related to the dissolution.
The major drawback, however, is in the book’s organization. As other reviewers have noted, its thematic rather than chronological approach makes it difficult to follow the progression of events leading up to and during the dissolution. This thematic structure does allow for focused explorations into various topics, which is great in spite of leading to the occasional repetition, but unfortunately he often can only skim the surface of these topics because he is trying to cover everything. Ironically, focusing on a particular monastery might have let him explore the repercussions of the dissolution in greater detail. The clearest part of the narrative comes near the end, when Clark switches to a more chronological history of the continuation of the dissolution and the attempts to halt or reverse it under Henry’s successors, especially during Mary’s reign. Still, in spite of these issues, the book is an invaluable resource for pretty much any topic related to the dissolution.
July 14, 2023
I read a good review of this one in History Today. Plus in April I saw Six in London and one of the queens asks the others, 'What else is Henry VIII famous for besides us?' and one of them suggests, 'the dissolution of the monasteries?' at which they all burst out laughing. Oh, and I loved Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy, though these events are only described in the last book. Some of the characters will be familiar.
This book is quite dense and like many non-fiction books, seems to think you've already got substantial foreknowledge of the time and place. I think I was expecting much more of an analysis of why the events happened and what they meant, but instead it was more like a description of the key players and events.
This book is quite dense and like many non-fiction books, seems to think you've already got substantial foreknowledge of the time and place. I think I was expecting much more of an analysis of why the events happened and what they meant, but instead it was more like a description of the key players and events.
March 15, 2023
Wonderfully absorbing and filled with things about the Dissolution which made me realise its depth and its overall effect not just on the course of the monarchy but how we treat religion and how it had a place and such a large impact on the common people. The amount of separation and referencing was thorough, Clark made a great fist of this showing all sides and weighing the sources equally to gain the best and most balanced arguments.
March 12, 2022
Moderately academic in tone but curiously engaging. Liked the many references to places near where I live (Dorset/Somerset) or that I have visited. Some interesting characters emerge after first third of the book. You may need to keep Wikipedia handy if you’re not familiar with the Tudor period or with the functioning of the Catholic church as he stays very focused on the nuts and bolts of the dissolution and its impact on the wider society.
July 28, 2023
Comprehensive and rigorous, but not I feel for the general reader. There is little chronological or narrative framework provided so if you don't know the general picture already you certainly won't leave with one. That said, I don't doubt that for a reader who does have some familiarity already with the material, this will almost certainly be 'the last word' on the subject for years to come.
September 2, 2024
This is a hugely impressive achievement - I now a great deal more about the dissolution of the monasteries than I did. However, I think it would’ve helped to have had a reference list of terminology & a timeline. And I do agree with one of the others here, that a decent editor would have helped, ironing out duplicated information.
May 4, 2023
Detailed, scholarly and comprehensive, this book avoids the lures of partisan taking of sides or of simplified narratives, and instead investigates the myriad fates of individuals caught up in the moving fortunes of kingdoms with diligence and skill.
May 18, 2023
Filled with information - well-researched. The epilogue was my favorite part, but it's worth the journey to get there.
Suggestion to "readers": Read this book, don't listen to it. Too many names, dates, and locations to keep straight otherwise.
Suggestion to "readers": Read this book, don't listen to it. Too many names, dates, and locations to keep straight otherwise.
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February 22, 2024You’d expect a thumping huge volume like this to be thorough, and you’d be right. It takes time and patience to make your way through it, but you’ll come away with a rich sense of the issues, the personalities, and the on-the-ground specifics of this strikingly significant period.
September 11, 2022
didn’t absorb a word of this but i’m willing to accept that’s probably more my fault
March 2, 2023
The narrative often gets lost in a kludge of detail.
September 14, 2023
Not for the general reader.
October 27, 2023
Excellent. Probably the best book on the topic.
March 22, 2024
Worth reading though as is seemingly the way with Yale books on the Reformations, it's in want of a good editor (rather dense and certainly likes to labour a point).
June 25, 2025
If you enjoy reading doctoral dissertations
January 14, 2024
It's entirely unique to write a provisional review when the book has not been closed for good, though I am uneasy about just what side of the wall the author writes from, if indeed he is astride it. Getting to the end though would be much easier if it was written with some gripping prose rather than dullness.
It is not enough to be supremely scholarly when writing a history book if the author and publisher desire a wider readership.
Alas the provision has remained final under a fading star.
It is not enough to be supremely scholarly when writing a history book if the author and publisher desire a wider readership.
Alas the provision has remained final under a fading star.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews