Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to history with me, Mrs Dashwood-Anthony.

Today is our fifth lesson of six lessons, which are focusing on the enquiry question why did Henry VIII make a break with Rome.

Now before we get started I'd like you to check that you got a pen and paper or something to write on and something to write with, and if you can try and find a nice quiet space to work, once you have that sorted, let's begin.

What will we be learning about today? In today's lesson we're going to be having a look at why Henry VIII wanted to close the monasteries in England and how Henry VIII did this.

How did he close the monasteries? Now, before we move on with today's lesson, it's important to make sure we understand what we mean by what was the dissolution of the monasteries.

So today's lesson we're looking at an event.

So we are looking at something that happened after Henry made the break with Rome.

So let's break down what the key words mean.

So dissolution, so dissolution is the act of formerly ending or closing something.

So to stop something.

And then dissolution of the monasteries says the end of the monasteries.

So what is a monastery? It is a religious building where monks and nuns lived and the role of the monastery was to provide education, prayer, and charity.

So the dissolution of the monasteries happened after Henry VII made a break with Rome.

So to start with in today's lesson, we're going to be having a look at what rules the monks had to live by.

And how were these rules being broken.

So monks tend to live by very strict rules to make sure that they have dedicated their lives to God.

These are the rules they should follow.

So live as poor people, not marry or have sex, look after the poor, the sick and the old, give food and shelter to travellers, eat simply and wear simple rough clothes to have a simple life.

So we're now going to have a look at two reports and see how the monks in those monasteries were breaking the rules.

So report one, I found the prior a very virtuous man, but his monks more corrupt than any vices both sexes.

The house is well prepared, but 400 pounds in debt.

I'm sending to you some of their relics.

They cannot say how they got them.

Report two found the prior at that time in bed with a woman, both naked, about 11 o'clock in the morning.

So what I'd like you to do is just pause for a moment, read these reports again, and think about what rules are being broken.

So let's go through them together.

So in the first report, the monastery is described as being well prepared, but 400 pounds in debt.

Now, what is key there is the 400 pounds in debt.

So the monks have been spending and that implies the monks have been spending money to live a nicer life.

So abusing the money that is being given to the church.

Also there highlighted in a yellow is not directly a rule that was mentioned, but it's the word relics.

It says they found some of the relics and they couldn't say where they got them from.

I hope you remember from last lesson that the worship of saints and of relics was something that they were trying to stop.

So this was going against the new rules of the church of England.

So the fact that they had them was something that should not be happening.

Then mainly in report two, it's about this phrase in bed with a woman.

So if you remember from the rules, they were not supposed to have any relationships with anybody else.

Their only relationship was with God.

So that was a clear rule break in that report.

So what I'd like you to do now is to answer the question What have you learned about monasteries from the sources by going through question statements, one, two, three, four, and five, and writing down if that statement was false or true from what we have looked after already.

So number one, monks were meant to live simple lives and not have relationships with other people.

Is that true or false? Number two, monks were very important and should live in luxury to show their power and importance.

Number three, some monks broke the rules by sharing their bed with women.

Number four, some monks break the rules by spending money on making the religious buildings a nicer place to live in.

Number five, all monasteries were following the new instructions, not to have Holy relics.

So what I'd like you to do now is pause this video, write down one, two, three, four and five, and true or false for each question.

Then restart the video once you've finished.

Okay, welcome back well done for giving that a go.

let's go through the answers.

So number one was true.

Monks were meant to live simple lives and not have relationships with other people.

Number two was false.

So, monks were very important and should live in luxury that is false they should have simple lives to show that they're dedicating their life to God.

Number three is true.

Some monks break the rules by sharing their beds with women.

Says that they did have relationships with other people.

Number four, some monks break the rules by spending money on making the religious buildings nicer, a nice place to live in that is true.

And number five, all monasteries were following the new instructions and not to have holy relics.

That is false.

We saw that in report one.

So what did monasteries look like? Now this is an image of a monastery that is not too far from where I live.

It's called Castle Acre in Norfolk.

So, this is what a monastery used to look like.

So before they were formally closed down.

So they often consisted of a group of buildings.

And within these buildings they'd usually have somewhere to worship like a chapel.

There'd be an area for the monks and nuns to sleep.

So sleeping area.

There'd often be a library.

And perhaps perhaps a hospital to provide some kind of support for the local people.

And some of them may include a school such provide some education for local people.

Some monasteries only had one or two people living in them, but some monasteries ended up being hundreds of people.

So they did vary according to where they were in the country.

So this is also an image of Castle Acre, but this is what Castle Acre looks like today.

So you can see that the monastery has been left to deteriorate over time.

So you've only got ruins there, left of it.

Now across the country, there was over eight hundred monasteries and they owned about one quarter of the land in England.

However, by the end of Henry VIII reign, there was not one left.

They had all been closed down.

So when you travel around England or even in your local area, there will often be the ruins of the monastery.

So there are several different places that I can go and visit all within half an hour that are closed down monasteries, there are just the ruins that are left.

So why did this happen? Why did Henry VIII and so why did he stop the monasteries from existing, from running? So why did Henry decide to do this? A key player in the dissolution of the Monasteries was Thomas Cromwell.

So hope you remember that Thomas Cromwell was Henry's main and chief advisor and he was a supporter of positivism.

And after Henry made a break with Rome, he wanted to continue with the process in the reforms. The Protesting changes, which included closing the monasteries.

Now to persuade Henry to do this, Cromwell highlighted to him that the monasteries owned a quarter of the land in England, and that they were full of riches.

Now at this time, Henry needed money.

So you may remember that one of Henry's desires was to be a powerful European ruler.

And to do this, he needed to win the battles and wars in particular with France.

But war was very expensive so Henry needed more money.

As well as this Henry needed money to defend England.

Henry was really worried that England was going to be invaded.

This was because after he made a break with Rome, the Pope wrote a letter.

He never actually issued the letter but he wrote a letter and Henry knew that he wrote a letter telling any Catholic leaders that if they were to invade England and defeat Henry then they would be the legitimate King of that country.

The legitimate leader.

That really worried Henry cos he thought that a Catholic country like France or Spain would then invade.

So he needed extra money to spend on defence, to defend England from any invaders.

So how did he go about doing this? Henry knew that he needed evidence as to why he was going to close the monasteries.

So he organised and Cromwell organised inspections of the monasteries to check and see who was following the rules and who was breaking the rules.

These reports were then sent to Cromwell.

And then after he received the reports, he'd then have enough evidence to close down the monasteries.

And once he closed monasteries down, they could then take their goods and sell their land.

This then lets Henry increasing his income by over 140,000, which was a lot of money at that time.

So Henry massively increased his wealth by closing the monasteries.

So what was the dissolution of the Monasteries? I now want you to find out a bit more in a bit more depth by reading the worksheet and then answering these comprehension questions.

So the questions I would like you to answer are number one, who has believed have persuaded Henry to close the monasteries? Number two, Henry wanted to close the monasteries to get more money.

What are the two reasons for Henry wanting more money? Number three, what monastic rules was some monks breaking? Number four ,what happened to the monasteries when they were closed? And number five, how much did Henry's income increase by? Here you have some sentence starters to help you to write in full sentences if you need them.

So can you now please pause this video, read the slides on the next page and complete the questions.

Unpause once you've finished and we'll go through the answers together.

Welcome back and well done for giving that a go.

So number one, who has believed to have persuaded Henry to close the monasteries? An acceptable answer would be the name Thomas Cromwell.

A good answer would be a full sentence, which is Henry VIII was persuaded by Thomas Cromwell, his chief advisor.

Just adding a bit of information there to close the monasteries.

Number two, Henry wanted to close the monasteries to get the money.

What are the two reasons for Henry wanting money? An acceptable answer would be war and defence.

So he wanted to continue to go to war and to defend England.

A good answer would be the reason why Henry wanted to close the monasteries was to raise money to fight more Wars and to defend England from an invasion by a Catholic country.

Number three, what monastic rules where some monks breaking? So acceptable answer could be sharing their bed with somebody else, spending money and having Holy relics.

So they've actually put three things in there.

A good answer would be full sentences.

So some monasteries we're breaking the monastic rules.

For example, some monks were sharing their bed with women, they kept holy relics and they lived in luxury.

And number four, what happened to the monasteries when they were closed? So an acceptable answer could be gold and silver were taken and land was sold.

A good answer would be when the monasteries were closed, Henry's men were ordered to take the gold and silver from the altars and then the land was sold to local wealthy men.

The monks and nuns were also made homeless as they now had nowhere to go.

So that's a more detailed answer and tells you what happened to the monks as well.

And finally, number five, how much did Henry's income increase by? So the answer is 140,000.

A good answer would be, it is believed that Henry's income increased by 140,000 a year, which meant he had enough money to defend England from invaders and continue his pursuit of being a powerful European ruler.

So if you'd like to have a go at our extension activity, and this is what you need to do.

So why did Henry VIII make a break with Rome? So, 'one of the main reasons why Henry VIII made a break with Rome was to increase his income.

' And quite.

So, your task is to apply the knowledge that you have learnt today and explain why this statement could be accurate.

So how did Henry making a break with Rome, make him richer? A sentence starter that you can use is, this statement could be accurate because.