- Feb 5, 2002
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A previously unseen historic document giving vital insight into the Dissolution of the Monasteries has been uncovered at the National Archives. Overlooked for almost 500 years, the document details the process of suppressing Furness Abbey, the first of England’s “greater” monasteries to be destroyed.
Submitted by Robert Southwell, commissioner for the dissolution of Furness Abbey and a key figure in Henry VIII’s court, to the newly established Court of Augmentations in late 1537, the detailed financial accounts contain clear evidence that, rather than fleeing for their lives, the monks held out for a better deal. The document imparts a nervousness about the area’s lack of loyalty to Henry VIII, whose religious reforms were far from popular locally, and remarkably the monks were allowed to remain at the abbey for several months before the work of destroying the buildings started. They were eventually given a generous cash handout to leave quietly.
Continued below.
Plan for the Dissolution of the Monasteries discovered - Medievalists.net
Submitted by Robert Southwell, commissioner for the dissolution of Furness Abbey and a key figure in Henry VIII’s court, to the newly established Court of Augmentations in late 1537, the detailed financial accounts contain clear evidence that, rather than fleeing for their lives, the monks held out for a better deal. The document imparts a nervousness about the area’s lack of loyalty to Henry VIII, whose religious reforms were far from popular locally, and remarkably the monks were allowed to remain at the abbey for several months before the work of destroying the buildings started. They were eventually given a generous cash handout to leave quietly.
Continued below.
Plan for the Dissolution of the Monasteries discovered - Medievalists.net
