Since their earliest days, Christian missionaries arriving in the British Isles had been forming communities in which to live and pray. Originally, such communities were relatively informal - small clusters of huts or cells, possibly centred around the presence of some holy man or hermit. This early form of monasticism changed quickly into something far more organised and impressive.

When Christianity first emerged in Britain, a belief in spiritual reality was very profound, and the favour of the church was therefore considered something of very tangible value. Nobles, warlords and kings were accordingly quick to make grants of land and money to protogenic abbeys seeking to establish themselves as self-sufficient, independent communities, in the hope of prayers, dedications or indulgences that might ease their time in the afterlife. There were also other motivations for the abbeys' benefactors - positions for lesser noble children in the church, for example - but the end result was the same - the money and the wealth kept on trickling into Christ's coffers. By the middle ages, the abbeys were amongst the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in Britain.

By Tudor times, there can be no doubting that many churchmen had fallen victim to the allure of secular living. Wealth and power were spent and exercised as the threat of purgatory retreated in the light of the approaching Age of Reason. The great abbeys were in a state of religious decline, with many of them half empty after the turbulence of the 14th Century. Nevertheless, their wealth needed managing, so the remaining brethren found themselves increasingly forced to deal with more secular concerns.

No fewer than 30 abbots held seats in the House of Lords, and they lived a lifestyle befitting that honour - hunting, travelling, sumptuous dining, living in luxurious accommodation away from their lesser brethren. They had become medieval lords in all but name. Additionally, many important governmental positions were reserved for the clergy.

Unfortunately for the abbots, their wealth was very obvious. As they displayed less concern with spiritual conviction than with the trappings of secular wealth, so too did the nobility come to adopt a more pragmatic attitude towards their dealings with the church. None more so than Henry VIII, who showed little sign that he feared his time in purgatory.

Henry came to the English throne against the backdrop of the spreading Protestant Reformation movement in Europe. This movement was intent on reforming what it saw as the teaching of false doctrine and the corrupt and anti-Christian practices prevalent within the church - particularly the selling of indulgences. This provided an important social context for Henry's eventual actions once he came into conflict with the Pope.

The spark that lit the fuse of the Dissolution was Anne Boleyn. We do not know when she first came to Henry's attention, but we do know that his passion for her was very real. It was assumed at first that she would simply become his mistress, but it became apparent that he would settle for nothing less than marriage - which one might cynically assume was not entirely unrelated to Anne's withholding of sexual favours, refusing him the privilege of her body outside of the bridal chamber.

In 1527, Henry began to seek an end to his marriage to Catharine of Aragon, requesting an annulment from the Vatican on the grounds that she had provided no male heir. The Pope rejected this request.

By 1529 and after extensive political manoeuvring on either side, Henry was finally coming to realise that the Pope might never grant him a divorce. He was therefore receptive to those voices arguing against ultimate Papal authority, and in favour of the monarch as head of the church.

Throughout this time, Anne Boleyn was exerting a tremendous political influence. Far from being a simple mistress waiting to warm the monarch's bed, she was actively promoting her supporters in their appointment to key posts. She encouraged the rise of Thomas Cromwell (who would later spearhead the dissolution) as one of the king's favoured advisers, but more importantly perhaps, she saw her family chaplain, Thomas Cranmer, appointed to the office of Archbishop of Canterbury. This was a powerful play, since it was Cranmer who advised the king that the case for his divorce should be heard by the Doctors of Divinity at the Universities, for as Biblical students, they were better placed than Rome to adjudicate on such matters. This would ultimately provide Henry with the excuse he needed to annul his marriage and break with Rome.

By 1530, Cromwell was already attempting to close smaller monasteries and sequester their wealth for the crown. The king's advisers were selecting Doctor's at Oxford and Cambridge to judge on the matter of his marriage. Despite strong opposition to an annulment, he was able to obtain his desired decree: the marriage was invalid. This was based on a passage from Leviticus forbidding a man from marrying his brother's widow.

By this stage, Henry was already living openly with Anne Boleyn, and it was this that prompted the Pope to respond to the Doctors' judgement by issuing a decree ordering Henry to desist from his relationship with Anne. He re-affirmed Papal support for the marriage to Catharine, and further decreed that any children born outside that marriage would be considered illegitimate, and therefore unable to inherit the throne.

Henry responded by striking his first serious blow against Papal authority, having Parliament (despite great resistance) vote for his election to the position of Supreme Head and Sole Protector of the Church in England. In 1532, he forced Parliament to support a limitation on the church revenues passing to Rome. These were capped at 5%, and the king personally intervened to intimidate Parliament into supporting him, entering the House of Commons and demanding that all those for and against the measure separate to opposing sides of the chamber. This was typical of the brutal efficiency with which Henry went about manipulating the political scene and achieving his desired goals.

1533 was a decisive year. Henry and Anne were married in secret. Within months, Anne had fallen pregnant. "The Act of Restraint in Appeals" was passed, abolishing all Papal authority to intervene in any appeal regarding matters spiritual or temporal. Final legal authority now rested with the crown. This was the crucial moment, representing what would later become known as "The Break With Rome". It also served the necessary function of closing off Catharine's constitutional right of legal appeal to the Pope. Thomas Cranmer could now convene a special court, and declare the king's marriage to Catharine void. Shortly afterwards, his marriage to Anne was declared legitimate. That summer, Catharine was stripped of her title, and Anne was crowned as Queen.

Finally , the "Act of Supremacy" was passed. This made Henry the "supreme head in earth of the Church of England" and disregarded any "usage, custom, foreign laws, foreign authority [or] prescription". With this act, the English reformation was essentially complete.

1534 saw Henry's eye turn towards the monasteries. Whilst primarily he was coveting their wealth (which he had great need of to finance his foreign wars), he was also undoubtedly aware that despite the abbots having sworn their loyalty to the crown, the religious houses still fostered strong Papal sympathies. Given their independence and wealth, Henry must have viewed them as an enemy.

Visitations to the monasteries were normally the preserve of ruling clergy, but an act was passed delegating this authority to the crown. Thomas Cromwell was commissioned to undertake this task - ostensibly to instruct the institutions in their new responsibilities under Henry rather than the pope, but the covert purpose of these visits was to carry out valuations of the abbeys and their property.

In 1535, Cromwell set up his "Commission of Visitors" to conduct the visits on his behalf, and the "Visitation of the Monasteries" commenced. At the same time, "preachers" and "railers" were dispatched around the churches of the land, with the aim of undermining any popular support for the monasteries. These men delivered sermons from the pulpits of churches, arguing that the abbots and monks were corrupt and depraved, engaging in many kinds of sin whilst living a life of luxury. It was argued that the monasteries contributed to the poverty of the people, and that if the king were to receive the wealth of these institutions, the people would never again need to be taxed.

It must be noted that the wealth of the monasteries had already contributed towards resentment amongst the populace, and Cromwell's lackeys were undoubtedly playing to a receptive audience. Nobles and wealthy commoners saw their chance to grab cheap land, and Parliament saw the opportunity to raise revenue without the need to increase taxes. Despite pockets of support, the mood of the people was set against the religious houses.

In the closing months of 1535, Cromwell was reporting back the king with stories of sexual scandal and financial corruption. This laid the groundwork for Parliament to pass a bill in March of 1536, authorising the closure of all monasteries with an income of less than £200 per year. Some 376 religious houses were earmarked for dissolution, and that work began immediately and in earnest.

However, dissolution was an expensive business, and this first round of closures failed to raise the revenue that Henry had anticipated. Therefore in 1539 a new Act of Parliament was passed, and remaining religious houses were granted to the crown.

The dissolution must have been a uniquely grim and depressing experience for those affected. Dissolving a monastery wasn't a quick business, generally taking around six weeks from start to finish. The process is best described in the Catholic Encyclopaedia of 1911:

The dissolution wasn't entirely unopposed. The most noteworthy opposition to the process became known as the "Pilgrimage of Grace". In the north economic discontent met with religious grievance. Combined with the popularity of Catharine of Aragon - the queen whom Henry had cast aside - there was sufficient bad feeling to drive people towards open revolt.

A solicitor, Robert Aske, gathered a band of up to 40,000 rebels and marched on York. With the support of the Archbishop, they occupied the city, returned expelled brethren to their houses, and drove out the king's tenants.

Henry moved quickly to quash the rebellion. However, England had no standing army, and such troops as he was able to raise were loathe to fight their countrymen. Aske's rebels proceeded to Doncaster, where the king's men eventually met them. Rather than engage a superior force, the Duke of Norfolk negotiated with the rebels, eventually securing a peaceful resolution. They were promised a full pardon, and a special parliament at York to hear their demands. The rebels dispersed.

Initially, Aske and the other rebel leaders were treated well. They met with the king in London, and granted all hospitality. However, another uprising was to take place a few months later, and despite attempting to defuse it, Aske was held accountable. He was arrested and executed along with 250 other suspected rebels, and his remains hung in chains from the walls of York Castle. The north of England was placed under martial law, and no further popular opposition to the dissolution ever took hold.

The closure of the abbeys had a devastating effect on many communities. The religious houses were often the largest employers in an area, and they undoubtedly generated much business and wealth from which local townsfolk would benefit. In places like Glastonbury, the town had sprung up effectively to service the monastic community and its visitors, and the loss of that community would leave such a town struggling to survive.

The abbeys were also places of pilgrimage, and the loss of business from visiting pilgrims was felt not only in the towns adjacent to and near the abbeys, but also all along the pilgrim routes, where businesses had sprung up to service their needs.

Abbeys were also major centres of learning, possessing some of the greatest libraries in the land. The books from these libraries were often scattered, if not destroyed. Many important and irreplaceable texts are known to have been lost during the dissolution.

Writing of Glastonbury's library in his book "Abbeys" (GWR, 1925), M R James has this to say:

Abbeys also acted as patrons to many crafts, creating a demand for a huge variety of artistic talent. The abbeys also provided charity and medical care to their local communities. No other institutions arose to fill the gaps the abbeys left behind.

Those who faired best were the abbots and their monks, who - with a few notable exceptions - were pensioned off at a generous rate. The lay brethren (those common-born monks who undertook the more menial work of the abbeys) were offered no such consideration. They were cast adrift without home or income.

On March 23rd 1540, Waltham Abbey became the last abbey to be dissolved. Henry had successfully split the English church from Rome and crushed all opposition. In seizing the wealth of the abbeys, he had put an end to a tradition of monastic life that could trace its origins back to the very earliest days of Christianity on England's shores. He had destroyed great centres of spirituality, learning and art, the likes of which would never be seen again. But in doing so, he had secured England's independence from Rome, and broken the power of a church that had once wielded an authority greater than the crown's. However history judges him, for better or for worse, Henry had changed the face of England forever.