Dissolution of the English Monasteries

Timeline

1. 1536Westminster (Parliament) · EnglandParliament passed acts such as the Suppression of Lesser Monasteries Act, citing lax monastic discipline and insufficient finances, authorizing the crown to take over and close monasteries with annual incomes below a set threshold, laying the legal basis for the larger-scale dissolution that followed.
2. 1535–1536Monasteries in the counties of England · EnglandRoyal visitors toured the monasteries in each county, recording discipline, property, and personnel conditions based on the Valor Ecclesiasticus and on-site inspections, providing the basis for phased closures and asset disposal; Cromwell coordinated the visitation network as vicegerent.
3. 1536–1540England · EnglandLesser and greater monasteries were closed in succession; lands, buildings, relics, and movable goods passed to the crown or were auctioned or granted to new nobles and local gentry; by 1540 the last batch of great monasteries was dissolved, essentially ending England's traditional monastic system.