Why Did Henry Viii Closed Dow the Monasteris Essay Example for Free

Why Did Henry Viii Closed Dow the Monasteris Essay In the 1500’s the king of England was Henry VIII. He had already broken up with the Catholic Church and the Pop. He had made himself head of the Church of England. Also he had divorced with Catherine of Aragon and marred Anna Boleyn. His lifestyle was extravagant and he was also worried that he could be attacked by the Catholic countries of Europe. Under these circumstances he decided to close down the monasteries for the following reasons: * He was greedy and needed more money for his extravagant lifestyle. * He needed lots of money to be prepared in case of a war with enemies * He needed to make sure the nobles of England supported him. * The monasteries had a lot of treasures and valuable parts and land * Monks and nuns lived a sinful life. Hennery VIII did not want to be unpopular to his people, for closing the monasteries, so he needed to justify his actions. For this reason he ordered his minister Thomas Cromwell to send inspectors to report how holy was the life of monks / nuns and how wealthy the monasteries were. The reports said that the monks and nuns were living a sinful life. Using the reports he managed to justify closing down the monasteries. He seized the wealth and the land of the monasteries for his needs (extravagant lifestyle, in case of war). To keep the nobles loyal to him, he gave them money and land. Finally this helped him to break one more link of the Pope with his people. Henry the VIII by closing the monasteries managed to solve his problems and to keep as many people as he could.