The Dissolution Of The Monasteries Of King Henry IV

Henry II was educated in England and by the year 1150, he became a duke of Normandy and the counts of Maine, Touraine, and Anjou after his father Geoffrey Plantagenet, who was a wealthy London merchant, died in 1151. Due to his mother’s entitlement to the royal family tree, he claimed the throne and by the High Middle Age, there was a struggle for power between the State and the Church. Moreover, an influx of royal power and crusade expeditions portrayed the seesaw power balance between the two foundations that resulted in the conflict of King Henry II as the King of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, as the head of the Church. The given study brings to light the reforms King Henry II brought during his reign and the impact they had on his rule and the conflict that arose between Thomas Becket because of the reforms the King made.

The Catholic Church during the early 16th Century was rooted throughout Europe. The Church influenced every country and its respective monarchs through the Church’s wealth and power. The Catholic Church placed a tight hold on the general populace with individuals who went against the Church being branded as heretics and excommunicated. The wealth and power of the Church eventually caused the quality of the clergy to deteriorate. Priests became corrupt and subjected to their physical desires. They frequented taverns, gambled and kept mistresses. The reputation of the clergy were horrid as the general populace was relieved that “their priest [kept] a mistress” because it “[secured] their wives from seduction” The knowledge of the clergy degenerated as well as they were no longer required to learn and teach the Holy Scriptures because the Church dictated their actions. The pinnacle of the Church’s corruption was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was the “extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment” sold by priests as a temporary relief from sins. The indulgences were then sold to the general populace for money as the monetization of a priest’s services. Johannes Tetzel was a prominent preacher of indulgences who relied on the money from the sales to subsidize the rebuilding of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The corrupt sales did not go unnoticed as Martin Luther, in an effort to stop the corruption of the Church, posted the 95 Theses on the door of a Castle

It was obvious that the same new measures were needed primarily to save money on the rates but also possibly to tackle the causes of poverty. No solution appeared other than the complete abolishment of the poor allowance, which few wanted. Under the allowance system, one could work and receive outdoor relief in the form of cash payments as long as you resided in the parish of your birth. This system was said to encourage laziness as the poor would have no incentive to work hard or to respect their employers as they knew that their parish would look after them. The allowance system was regarded by the ruling class as an ‘unmitigated evil’.

The needs and wants of the masses were not taken into consideration. In this essay I am going to look at England pre-reformation and reach my own opinion of whether or not England was actually in need of a reformation in 1529.

Those who did not engage in illegal behavior and received aid were seen as lazy and unwilling to work for money, when it could be handed out to them. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, in a 1531 decree to the Netherlands, stated that if begging was universally permitted, "Many errors and abuses will result, [as the poor] will fall into idleness." Only those who were incapable of work should receive aid, the proclamation mandated. The town council of Rouen, France, however, disagreed with the Emperor: "Those who are unwilling to work should indeed be expelled," while those who could work should be given jobs by the civil government. Those who did not work, according to the minutes of the council session, were not to be considered poor, and therefore not helped. William Turner, an English doctor, agreed with this view of the worthlessness of the idle poor: "They would much rather be sick [and idle]...than be well" and work to honestly earn a living. A poorhouse in Suffolk County, England, published regulations in 1588 that advocated the harsh treatment of its residents. "Every strong rouge...shall have 12 stripes with the whip," whilst the younger poor or idlers were to receive six. The poorhouse used repression and physical measures to force the poor into submission, supposedly for their own good.

In a testimony given shortly before his execution, Aske stated that the monasteries that once helped the poor and sick have fallen to ruin, and that “many tenants who were fed and aided by abbeys now can barely live. Traveling strangers and beggars have no help on the roads.” (Document 7). He went on to say that “no hospitality is shown to travelers. Instead, farmers rent out farms and taverns for profit. Any monies earned from abbey lands are now going to the king” (Document 7). In this statement, Aske touches upon the fact that Henry was unfairly taxing poor farmers who could not afford to keep their own land, and by confiscating church lands and closing abbeys and monasteries, he has forced beggars and travelers into the streets, with no way to support themselves.

Over the last century health and social care has changed and developed immensely with the implementation of the NHS and becoming a welfare state. Prior to this health care was only available to a minority of people, those who could afford it. In 1815 the old poor law was passed, it stated that each parish must look after its own poor and those who could not work were provided enough money to help them survive. By 1830 the poor law cost around £7 million, which came from taxing the middle and upper class, causing a sense of resentment towards lower class, unemployed people. In 1834 the new poor law was passed, its aim was to reduce the cost of looking after the poor. Workhouses helped with this, they provided clothes, food and healthcare in return for manual labour. Despite

This act set up local 'parishes' that were responsible for taking care of the poor in their own district. However, the government provided no funds to facilitate this program?the parishes were responsible for levying and collecting taxes to finance their programs. Though it would be considered a very primitive form of welfare by today?s standards, it was a large step toward government-mediated welfare compared to the English system 250 years before that. In 1349, Parliament forbade charity on the grounds that it might encourage laziness. Since then, public attitudes have changed about the responsibility of the citizens and the government to provide for the assistance of the needy. Limited federal assistance was given to war veterans and their families beginning during the Civil War, but large scale assistance to the general needy community was not available for almost 75 more years (Komisar 48). A large contribution toward the assistance of the poor in the United States came during the Progressive movement around the turn of the century. Activist groups championed not only workers rights in the form of unions, but also the right of every citizen to have access to decent living conditions (Komisar 67).

During the mid 15th century to the early 18th century almost half of Europe’s total population could be considered poor and destitute. The attitudes of the clergy and the attitudes of the socially elite toward these people varied from pity to disgust, and their proposed solution to these problems differed. Some suggested helping all of the poor by giving them alms, some warned others to be careful of whom the money was given to and some people believed that being poor was a voluntary decision and if they wanted to get out of that situation, they do so without the help of others. In particular the clergy supported alms giving, government officials and the nobility advocated controlled giving, and some of the middle class were suspicious

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.

The town council of Dijon, France proposed to care for the poor using their own utilities of shelter during the 15th century (doc. 2). The poorhouses of Suffolk County, England required harsh treatment of the poor (doc. 7). Being of England during the height of poverty, the poorhouses of Suffolk County complied with the English Poor Laws, legislation that supported harsher treatment of the poor for their impotence and begging. Jean Maillefer stated that the poor of the seventeenth century have grown independent from higher classes, begging less for the charity of others (doc. 11). Having listened to the poor, Maillefer concluded that their simple life does not need assistance from wealthy merchants such as himself. As the amount of poverty in Europe rose, the care for their well-being dwindled from the volunteered charity of the 15th century humanists, to the institutionalized subsidizing of the 16th century resulted from the growing poverty, to the lack of aid in the 17th century resulted from the independence of the poor away from the care of the upper

King Henry VIII was an important figure in helping to kick start the Reformation in England, even though it was not his intent. His break with the Papacy and his constantly changing ideas on how the new Church of England should be run gave the Protestants the foothold they needed to gain popularity in Europe. Although his intentions were purely politically motivated, he started a change in the way the layman viewed the church and how it should be run.

Prior to the Poor Law Amendment Act there was the Elizabethan Poor Law 1601 which was more generous towards the poor. It was becoming impossible for the government to sustain this law due to the growing costs. Statistics show that in 1802 the expenditure on poor relief was costing the government £4,078,000, this figure continued to

How did events during Henry VIII’s reign cause for a permanent shift in the religious system of England?

This writer focuses on two parts of the question ‘The Tudor Reformation was a method of strengthening absolute monarchy in England.’. The first focus is the word ‘method’ and the second focus is the word ‘strengthening’. The word ‘method’ means a planned way of doing something. In this case, the question can be interpreted as ‘The Tudor Reformation was a planned and intentional affair to achieve strenghtened absolute monarchy. Also, this writer is going to put emphasis on the comparison meaning of the word ’strengthen’. Then this essay has to show how the Tudor Reformation made aboslute monarchy stronger than before and what changes did the Tudor Reformation bring out in comparison with the past. According to these focuses, the question can be understood as ‘The Tudor Reformation was a calculated event and it was to accomplish more powerful abosolute monarchy than before in England.’ However, this writer disagrees with the sentence and thinks that the Tudor Reformation was not an affair that had an intention to reinforce abosolute monarchy. Therefore, in the main body, the essay is going to concentrate on whether it was an intentional or unintentional matter that is related to strengthen absolute royal authority. Moreover, figuring out whether the absolute monarchy was consolidated than before. Finally, this essay will examine how the politics was at that time. At the end, in the conclusion part, it puts this issue aside