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The Dissolution of the Monasteries

Module description

The Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-40) was a political, social and cultural revolution, the greatest drama of Henry VIII’s Reformation and the largest dispersal of property and displacement of people since the Norman Conquest. As always with such momentous events, its causes, course, and consequences are fiercely contested. In this module we will examine it from a variety of viewpoints using a wide range of evidence, documentary, literary, visual and archaeological. The Dissolution has been left largely at the sidelines of recent Reformation debates and there is an opportunity here to begin a revisionist history.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aim of the module is to introduce students to a variety of evidence – documentary, literary, visual and archaeological – from which a fresh understanding of the Dissolution might be developed. Students will be able to view much of the evidence in its original form, supported where appropriate with transcriptions and translations. As such they will be able to generate their own, independent responses to the record of the causes, course and consequences of these events. They will learn to compare and contrast the strengths and limitations of textual and material sources. They will also develop an understanding of the ways historians deploy different forms of evidence to support their interpretations and to stimulate critical debate. In this way, the module will prepare students for independent research and writing in this and other periods and topics.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Assess the historical importance of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
• 2. Work critically with a range of sources for the history of the Dissolution in particular and the Henrician Reformation in general.
• 3. Assess the sources in relation to the historical debates surrounding the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Identify the problems of using historical sources, e.g. utility, limitations, etc, and compare the validity of different types of sources.
• 5. Answer a question briefly and concisely.
• 6. Present work orally, respond to questions orally, and think quickly of questions to ask other students.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Conduct independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning.
• 8. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment.
• 9. Work with others in a team and to interact effectively with the tutor and the wider group
• 10. Write to a very tight word-length.

Syllabus plan

Over 12 weeks of classes, the module will examine the critical debate surrounding the Dissolution of the Monasteries; the place, purpose and profile of monasteries in early Tudor England; the origins of the impulse for their suppression; the legislation, government bodies and officers that brought about the Dissolution; the experience of Dissolution from the point of view of a) religious b) their employees, tenants and dependents c) provincial society d) crown, government and political nation; the immediate and longer-term effects of Dissolution.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Bernard, G. W. The King’s Reformation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007).
• Clark, J. G. The Religious Orders in Pre-Reformation England (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2002).
• Clark, J. G. ‘Reformation and Reaction at St Albans Abbey’, English Historical Review, 115 (2000), 297-328.
• Youings, J. The Dissolution of the Monasteries (London: Allen and Unwin, 1971).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11925

Key words search

Reformation, Dissolution, Monasteries, Religion, Tudors, Henry VIII, Medieval, Early Modern, Monasticism