One of the worst effects of the Dissolution of the Monasteries was the dispersal and destruction of their libraries. i am quite sure we lost, for instance, some unique and valuable Anglo-Saxon MSS. that people at the time did not value.
Oh yeah it was a nightmare for the old libraries, I think a lot of old texts that we do still have access to for the Anglo-Saxons and Old English were used as doorstops or make-shift covers before being rescued by collectors.
Agreed. I read that John Dee, Elizabeth's "seer", ended up with quite a few of them. Heartbreaking, the destruction not only of books, but of chalices, monstrances, statues, rood screens, memorial plaques to the dead which bore Catholic prayers, and more. Some 2/3 of England's tangible religious heritage, wiped out by 16th century Taliban-types. Always interesting to me that the 19th century Oxford Movement in the Church of England brought much of that back.
Indeed, and one of the many reasons for the "Dark Ages" myth. These monasteries and their libraries housed hundreds upon hundreds of valuable documents on various topics, from ancient literature to population censuses. All of which was irredeemably lost following the dissolution of the monasteries during the English reformation, the destruction and pillage of abbeys all over Europe during the religious wars, and, in France, during the French Revolution.
@@historywithhilbert146 But why di the English Clergy, in Saint-Paul's Cathedral in London, when in 1529 Henry VIII asked if they recognized him as THEIR Pope, remain silent (... and the silence was considered "assent") instead of saying by majority: "No, we are remain submissive to the Roman Pontiff... We are English but also faithfull go the Cattolic Church of the Roman Rite"?
I read somewhere - but can't remember names - that Henry VIII, when in union with Rome, endowed a convent of nuns in London to pray for his soul, for as long as their order existed. After the dissolution, the nuns went to France, and - unlike Henry - they kept their part of the agreement. Oh, and a side note: The term "Roman Catholic" was coined by Protestants, to distinguish the church from their own "catholic" church. To this day the Catholic Church only refers to itself as "The Holy Catholic Church" in official documents.
This is a bit too clean and neat. There was real destruction of reliquaries (relics of Saints), places of pilgrimage (wells and springs common especially in Celtic Christianity), destruction of Celtic Crosses because they had images, laws prohibiting pilgrimage and Feastday Celebration.
Yeah absolutely, places like Tintern and Fountains in Yorkshire really make you wonder about what these places did look like in their prime with monks chanting and working around the grounds.
History With Hilbert the site which Tintern is set on is really beautiful too. I find it hard to imagine these were more than just old decaying buildings at some point. I live near Caerleon and it's the same thing there with the old roman town
I haven't been before though it's certainly somewhere I'd like to visit :) Yeah I do know what you mean, but I can conjure up images of what I imagine these old places looked like in the past nonetheless :)
I think this goes to show the power of getting your end away. Henry literally ruined an entire network of hospitals/libraries/safe community places etc just to get some with Anne. Crazy man.
Purgatory was not thought of as just a waiting-room. People there were believed to be punished for their sins, just as they were in hell; the only difference was that eventually one got out of purgatory and went on to paradise. But the more people prayed for you and said masses for your soul, the sooner you got out.
My understanding of the concept is that everyone bar those who didn't commit sin or were totally absolved of them (i.e saints) went to purgatory to work off the sins whereas only the sinless went straight up to Heaven because there had to be a way for the church to make money through chantries and patronage to whittle down the time spent in purgatory. And therefore practically everyone would end up in purgatory for a time before their sins were "worked off" if you will and being pure enough to get into Heaven.
No one knows exactly how much sinning you have to do to end up in purgatory rather than go straight to paradise, but you do not need to be sinless to enter heaven, because, in fact, pretty much none are sinless. Even the great saints and fathers of the church were not without sin. 1 John 1:8-10 "8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." All can be forgiven (and therefore absolved, as you call it) for their sins, but not everyone learns to love God fully during their time on earth. Purgatory is reserved for such souls.
Purgatory was not invented to fund chantries and monasteries. The doctrine of purgatory came first, then the endowment of masses to offset the punishments.
But by Henry's time the system was arguably becoming a real burden on society, because people were expected to leave 1/3 of their wealth to the church when they died for the good of their souls, and hence the endowments for masses were tying up a fair amount of wealth and diverting it from the economy.
Don't forget Indulgences, i.e., Get Out of Purgatory Free card. Pay a little cash, and your sentence is commuted. Indulgences were very expensive, because each was handwritten by the monks. Then, this guy named Gutenberg invented the printing press. Now, hundreds could be printed in a day and sold cheaply (supply and demand, don't ya know). Now even the most base commoner could could buy their relative out of Pergatory. That press made Indulgences so cheaply, the Pope looked at them as a way to finance his latest project, St. Mark's Cathedral in the Vatican. He insisted his monks "sell" Indulgences to their parishioners. One monk took exception, Martin Luther. He questioned the practice, and receiving no answers, posted his 95 Theses (Questions) on the door of the Cathedral at Wittenberg. The rest, is history...
I would love to see videos on the “kings great matter” like you had suggested at the end of this video- as well as the monasteries role in society and also what the effect was once they were gone- would be so helpful, this was a great video!
Also true. Henry was trying to establish his OWN dynasty,to be a true son of Henry V11. Which was how the Wars of the Roses began! And the poor blighter never did manage it, after all his trying. We got Mary and Elizabeth, etc. sigh!
Really cool seeing Lewes get mentioned being from there and living in New Zealand - the Priory in Lewes is super cool, amazing historic town definitely worth a visit 👌
My ancestors benefitted from this. They were given land taken from the monasteries. Can u do a video about the nobles that received wealth? I know this is 2yrs old lol
Land was very valuable then, as land pretty much gave all means of production. But as the industry and commerce increased in importance, land became less profitable, and lots of land owners became speculators to maintain their wealth, using their land as collateral. Of course this is no tenable strategy, and many of the new nobility who profited from the dissolution in the 16th century, were driven off their land upon bankruptcy. Or worse, their often prominent political positions were abused by financiers, a fate which I hope your ancestors did not experience. It is well-established for instance, that Winston Churchill and his ancestors were heavily indebted to financiers, who allowed them to keep their titles, reputation and estates, in exchange for political influence. So nobility often ended up on the street, or they became essentially whores to bankers' interests. Just a reminder that every revolution eventually eats its own children.
Fascinating stuff. Honestly, growing up I'd always been told that Henry VIII just woke up one day and decided to leave the Catholic Church. Interesting to see there was a process to it all.
Thanks Rick :) Haha yeah there was a rather more complicated story behind it and I think Henry remained a Catholic at heart and at the end of his reign the doctrine and his policies even reversed back to Catholicism a bit. The real Protestantism in England came under Edward and his regent Somerset and then again under Elizabeth after the Mary fiasco ;)
One way to solve the Mother in Law problem! In passing when did people stop leaving large amounts to the Church, which must have been where all that wealth originally came from? And was Cromwell any relation to the Civil War and Oliver?
A lot of the handovers were "voluntary" in a way as the heads of the orders were bought off to agree. A bit like buying at a very heavy discount. Using the "carrot" as you like to say :) Another good vid. Cheers
Thank you for your videos! In this one, I noted your reference to the first Norse raid on Skye happening the year after Lindesfarne, and that it is possible they came from their "staging ground" on Orkney (my quotes). I would like to know your sources. I am utterly fascinated with the dark ages in Great Britain and how different the paths of folk in different areas (Eyre, Scotland, Wales & England), depending on who from away managed to conquer what and when. My father's family is of Skye, easily documented to the early middle ages. It is, as I'm sure you know, hard to find much actual history of those times. My progenitor is said to have come to Iona with an entourage accompanying St. Columba who left him behind on Skye to establish a church on his travels to pictland. There is evidence my family was of Skye before the MacDonalds and the MacLeods (though I'm descended through them too) and that there was a strong connection to Munster. peace all
Thank you for watching! I'm about 90% sure that I read this in "Vikings" by Neil Oliver; I would check but since this Tuesday I've lent it to a friend to help her dissertation. Wow, that really is an interesting ancestry you have there! Hmm that's interesting, so maybe some of the northern Dal Riatans with perhaps some Norwegian DNA thanks to the Sea-Kings? If I'm not much mistaken there's rather an interesting history of the MacLeods and MacDonalds on Skye what with the faery flag and the cave incident (the name of which escapes me). Thanks for sharing this information with me :D
Just bought a _beautiful_ metal detector find, a bible clasp from the time of the disillusion - and had to touch up on my history! Many thanks for the video - warmest regards Merry Christmas
+Thomas Sugg Thanks Thomas! They must have been pretty committed then :D I plan to do a whole series on the civil war at some point when I get the time, although I'm rather busy at the moment so I'd rather not tackle a huge topic and not do it justice.
Fascinating stuff! Though I suspect Henry had made up his mind. The Tudors were determined to prevent any possibility of a return to the Wars of the Roses!
Agreed :) I think it's fairly safe to say Henry himself always remained Catholic at heart and the reforms he put into place were only ever Protestant-Lite or even just diluted or Anglo-Catholicism. The real crunch came under Edward and then again under Elizabeth. Though I think this was in the very back of his mind, I think by the time of Henry VIII it wasn't as much of an issue because the lines between Yorkist and Lancastrian had blurred so much. I think it was more to further both England's national interests and Henry's personal goals (i.e getting funky with Anne Boleyn) ;)
History With Hilbert True Now if the pope were to allow Henry to divorce his wife so he could marry again or if Henry could marry multiple wives, most likely United Kingdom would have remained Catholic
Absolutely! I have one or two videos where I mention it which I link below, although I'll be making more in depth videos in the near future :) Who were the Anglo-Saxons Video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bP1eXWIt-rE.html The Gauls Ancient Cultural Analysis: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xaEhZq6CAag.html The Picts Ancient Cultural Analysis: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wp1Bpk89zzM.html The Similarities and Differences between Anglo-Saxon and Norse Paganism: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L1jPjOBhUFw.html Video about an Odin Amulet they found in Denmark: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AN3OMRdXNAU.html Video about how the Vikings used names: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-73gqGyF-3ms.html Video on location at prehistoric sites in Northumberland: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1RdDd1DdCaQ.html Hope these are what you were looking for!
Does anyone know why all thw roofs and windows are missing at all the abbeys? Were they taken down? Woulsnt that be really dangerous? Why dont we see any abbey qith its roof still intact, im just knahine how thwy took the roof down bit by bit, hell of a job
Not bad -- except there was never a question of divorce either before or after the break with the bishop of Rome. It was always annulment. There was no divorce permitted in the Anglican Church under Henry VIII or after.
Bit late to this, secular refers to leaving the monasteries. Not secular in the modern sense, but less connected to a much more religious institution, such as the monasteries, than preaching to the faithful, which is seen as much less "devout" of a career
In the catholic church, there is a division in the clergy between those who are "secular" (who live amongst the people and minister to them, like parish priests, etc.) and the "religious" (those who live apart from the world in communities). "Secular" in our current sense (that is, separated entirely from religion) wasn't really a concept that existed in this time, but as the Protestants worked their warped will over the years and removed any sense of the sacred from the English speaking world the words changed their meaning...
It amazes me how often someone who obviously rejects anything of a spiritual nature feels they are "expert" enough to explain spiritual issues . Your views on Purgatory are so far off .....
I was wondering if you would ever do a series of videos of every king of england. or just highlight videos on notable kings (Casimir III of poland, Valdemar III of denmark, Harald Hardrade of norway etc) just wondering about your thoughts on this this was as always a great video, thank you for the content Hilbert :)
I'll probably make some videos dedicated to different monarchs from history and I'll certainly mention people in passing in related videos :) Thanks for watching Michael :D