An Act was passed, 1 Elizabeth c. xix., which authorized the Queen to take in her hands, on the voidance of any bishopric, so much of the lands belonging to it as should be equal in value to the monastic confiscated rectorial tithes belonging to the Crown in that diocese, and to exchange such tithes for lands. Some of these lands were then given to her ministers and favourites, some were kept by the Crown, and others sold to furnish funds for national purposes, so as to prevent application to Parliament for money. It was in this manner that bishops and cathedral chapters lost so much landed property which the Crown granted as above stated, and the court favourites, soon after they received the grants, sold the estates and parsonages to the highest purchaser. Here then were landed estates, with endowments and advowsons of the churches belonging to such estates freely granted away. Lord Cobham’s to the Cecils, for instance, who almost immediately sold the properties which they freely received from the Crown, and applied the proceeds to their own personal use.
Now, as regards the suppression of the larger monasteries, they were to be carried out, if possible, by voluntary surrender. I shall show that this was purely a sham. The Commissioners, no doubt, tried in every way to persuade them to surrender by promising the abbots and priors good pensions during life, because no charges of immorality could have been preferred against them. In 1536-7, there were but three surrenders. In 1537-8 there were twenty-four. The Commissioners induced those who surrendered to persuade others to follow their example, for it was the King’s policy to let the public see that the surrenders were voluntarily made. When persuasion failed, the Commissioners used threats, and so we read that the monks of the Charterhouse were committed like common felons to Newgate, where five of them died, and five more were on the point of death from the cruel and barbarous treatment they received within the walls of that prison. But the most revolting act of pure despotism on the part of Henry VIII. was the execution of Whiting, abbot of Glastonbury, Coke, abbot of Reading, and Beche, abbot of St. John’s, Colchester. These despotic acts drove terror into those who had not yet surrendered. In 1538-9, one hundred and seventy-four surrendered, and in 1539-40, seventy-six. In April, 1539, a slavish Parliament ratified the surrenders up to that time, and allowed the King to extend the Act to all the other monasteries which had not yet surrendered, by 31 Henry VIII. c. xiii., “An Act for the dissolution of monasteries and abbeys,” by which about 277 monasteries of the value of £200 a year or upwards, were dissolved; and what makes their dissolution more remarkable and important, is that all the property of 193 of them was and is discharged of tithes up to the present time. Over 653 monasteries were dissolved by the Acts of 1536 and 1540, with properties equal to £250,000 per annum. In the preamble of the above Act we do not find those grave charges hurled against monks which appear in the Act which suppressed the smaller monasteries in 1535.
In order to pass the above Acts, some of the nobility were promised estates by free gifts from the King, others obtained them by easy purchase. The members of the House of Commons were also promised large shares, and of course Henry’s agents dangled before the people: “No more subsidies, no fifteenths, no loans, no common aids,” as the wealth of the dissolved monasteries was considered ample to maintain an army of 40,000 men, and so all taxation may in future be dispensed with! The Church was also to be conciliated. There were to be twenty-one bishoprics created, with cathedrals, deans, and chapters all endowed out of the property. This number was, however, reduced to six. Westminster existed only for about nine years. Five now exist. Gloucester and Bristol were united in 1836; but when sufficient funds are collected to endow the Bristol bishopric, they are to be separated.
In 1540, there were 653 monasteries suppressed. In 1546, 90 colleges, 110 hospitals, and 2,347 chantries, with all their properties, were handed over to the King by 1 Edward VI. c. xiv., the preamble of which runs thus: “To convert to good and godly uses the chantries, or in erecting grammar schools to the education of youth in virtue and godliness, and in further augmenting of universities and better provision for the poor and needy.” This provision for the use of the chantry estates lamentably failed. Neither the universities nor the poor were benefited. Like the monastic estates, the hungry and avaricious courtiers who surrounded the young king, had received the property for their own personal use.
The capital value of all the property handed over to Henry VIII., Edward VI. and Elizabeth would equal £200,000,000 at the present time.
The 27 Henry VIII. c. xx. (1536) provides that “all tithes should be paid according to the ecclesiastical laws and ordinances of the Church of England, and after the laudable usages of the parish or place where the party dwelt.”
The 32 Henry VIII., c. vii. s. 5 (1541): “No tithes are to be paid for lands discharged from paying tithes, or are not chargeable in the payment of tithes.”