The dissolution of the monasteries in England was carried out by Henry VIII between 1535 and 1539. This was an attack on Church property for three reasons. First, the monks were the main supporters of the Papal authority in England, and they were members of orders which were spread over Europe. It had proved possible to separate the English bishops and clergy from allegiance to the Pope; this was not possible with the monastic orders, which were international, not insular, institutions. The second reason was the wealth of the monasteries, which was the result of the pious bequest of many centuries. The cry against monastic wealth had been raised many times previously in English history, particularly by John Wycliffe and others from the time of Edward III and Richard II. The courtiers of Henry VIII and the rising middle class were greedy for land, and Henry VIII saw that by ministering to their greed he could make his new nobility and their new property a firm support of his Reformation. The third reason for ending the monasteries was
the reason given to Parliament: that the monks had outlived their day of usefulness and were abandoned to idleness and vice. There were over 600 religious houses in England, and no doubt there was some truth in this charge. Zealous churchmen had long known that all was not well with these ancient institutions. In Henry VII's reign the Oxford Reformers had rebuked monkish follies, and CardinalMorton had noted the 'incurable uselessness' of many of the smaller houses where the monks were idle and ignorant. CardinalWolsey had obtained a Papal Bull to visit the monasteries, and had begun to suppress some, intending to use their revenues for the benefit of education and the New Learning and to found new bishoprics. One of them, St. Frideswide's Priory at Oxford, he converted into Cardinal College (later Christ Church).
In 1535 Henry VIII made Thomas Cromwell his Vicar-General, 'with power to visit any monastery in England'. The character of Cromwell was sufficient guarantee that the visitation would not be conducted fairly. He knew what was expected of him; he was to be 'The Hammer of the Monks'. His agents hurried through England, visited some of the monasteries, and drew up an evil report. This report unfortunately no longer exists. Our only information is derived from Cromwell's note-books and from the letters of his agents, from which we may gather something of their methods. For example, Dr. Layton, vicar of Harrow-on-the-Hill, dashed through southern England from Gloucestershire to Rent between August and October 1535. He condemned monasteries wholesale, on insufficient evidence, although at the same time he did not scruple to accept bribes from some, or to help himself to plate and jewels from others.
However, Parliament was satisfied, and the country squires, anxious for the 'goods of the Church', shouted ' Down with them!' The Act dissolving 276 of the lesser monasteries of England in 1536 was the last important Act of the Reformation Parliament. In dissolving the smaller monasteries first, Henry VIII had cautiously tested his power. But his violent measures had by 1536 caused grave discontent, especially in the west and north, and in Parliament itself. His wholesale destruction of the smaller monasteries was followed by two popular uprisings. The first occurred in Lincolnshire, where the rebels were crushed by a military force under the Duke of Suffolk. The second rising, in Yorkshire in 1536, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, was much more serious. The following year the famous shrine of Becket at Canterbury was attacked. Thomas Becket was declared in April 1538 'a false saint and a traitor to the Supreme Head of the Church'; his bones were burnt; his shrine pillaged and its offerings confiscated.
Then Henry VIII was ready to turn his attention to the greater monasteries, although Parliament had saved them earlier because of their good conduct. Cromwell and his agents in 1539 began a persecution of the abbots: many were induced to surrender their abbeys to the king; others could only be reduced by methods of terror. The Abbots of Reading and Colchester were tried for treason; the Abbot of Glastonbury for felony. All three were executed. The odious methods of Cromwell are well shown in some notes left in his own handwriting: 'To see that the evidence be well sorted and the indictments well drawn against the said abbots. The Abbot of Reading to be sent down to be tried and executed at Reading with his accomplices. The Abbot of Glaston to be tried at Glaston, and also executed there with his accomplices.' The last Abbot of Glastonbury, a pious, venerable man beloved in the countryside, was executed with two of his brethren on GlastonburyTor, after a mock trial in November 1539. These ferocities had the desired effect: many less brave spirits gave in, and soon there were no monasteries left. The dissolution of 616 religious houses was the greatest revolution in the ownership of land in England since the Norman Conquest. The monastic income has been variously estimated at between one-fifth and one-third of the total rental of England.
This newly acquired wealth the king might have used in developing public works, such as education. Some of it was spent in re-building the Navy; but the king's own greed and the greed of courtiers swallowed most of the spoil. A thousand newly enriched families became the nobility on which Henry in future relied for support. The 'Abbey' where the descendants or successors of these Tudor families now live is a name to be found in many an English village. But sad indeed was the fate of the original buildings. Some, like the great church at Tewkesbury, have been preserved in the form of parish churches; others have been partly preserved to form cathedrals. But the greater number were ruthlessly destroyed by their new possessors, their roofs despoiled for the valuable lead, their walls made quarries for new buildings, their treasures scattered, and their ruins left desolate. Whatever defence may be made for the suppression of the monastic orders, no excuse can be offered for this orgy of destruction, which deprived England of some of her noblest monuments.
It is probable that at least 15000 persons were cast adrift. These people went to swell the already large number of the unemployed, for whom Tudor statesmanship could find no better relief than the savage punishments inflicted on thieves and vagabonds. Some of the monks were given benefices or pensioned by the Government, but the pensions were not always paid; the occupants of the lesser houses fared worse than those of the greater. The hospitality which the monks had always given to the poor was now removed. There was nothing to take its place, and many monks and nuns joined the ranks of those who had formerly subsisted on their charity. Many gaps were left in national life, for the abbeys, said Aske 'were one of the beauties of this realm to all men and strangers passing through the same; all gentlemen much succoured in their needs with money, and in nunneries their daughters brought up in virtue. And such abbeys as were near the danger of seabanks were great maintainers of sea-walls and dykes, builders of bridges and highways, and such other things for the commonwealth.' Research Dissolution of the Monasteries
Eschatology is a term used primarily in Christian and Jewish theology to refer to the 'last things', including the ultimate fate of the world and the individual soul. However, almost all religions of the world have eschatological features, which may be divided into those based on mythological explanations of the origins and end of the world and those based on historical explanations. The biblical accounts of the history of the Jewish people and the teaching and parables of Jesus are examples of historical eschatology, leading to millenarian expectations of the coming of the Messiah among Jews, and of the Second Coming among Christians. Contrasting with such views is the expectation of the apocalyptic or cataclysmic intervention of God in history. In both Hinduism and Buddhism, eschatological beliefs focus on the longing for release from the cycle of birth and rebirth. Research Eschatology
The Cistercians are a religious order named from its original convent, Citteaux (Cistercium), not far from Dijon, in Eastern France,
where the society was formed in 1098 by Robert, abbot of Molesme, under the strictest observance of the rule of St Benedict. The Cistercians led a severely ascetic and contemplative life, and having freed themselves from episcopal supervision, formed a kind of spiritual republic under a high council of twenty-five members, with the abbot of Citeaux as president. Next to Citeaux the four chief monasteries were La Forte, Pontigny, Clairvaux (founded by the celebrated St Bernard in 1115), and Morimond. In France they called themselves Bernardines in honour of St Bernard. Among the fraternities emanating from. them the most remarkable were the Barefooted monks, or Feuillants, and the nuns of Port Royal, in France; the Recollets, or reformed Cistercians; and the monks of La Trappe. There were a hundred Cistercian houses in England at the dissolution of monasteries. The general fate of religious orders during the French revolution reduced the Cistercians to a few convents in Spain, Poland, Austria, etc. There are still two or three houses in the British Isles. The Cistercians wear white robes with black scapularies. Research Cistercians
Conon was an Athenian general. He commanded the fleet of 413 BC which was intended to prevent the Corinthians from relieving Syracuse during their war with Athens, and after various services, succeeded Alcibiades in 406. When the Athenian fleet was surprised and defeated by the Spartans under Lysander in 405, shortly before the end of the Peloponnesian war, Conon escaped to Cyprus with eight vessels, and afterwards joined the Persians against the Spartans, being appointed to the command of a Persian fleet in 397. In 394, in concert with the Persian commander, Pharnabazus, he defeated the Spartan admiral Pisander off Cnidus, and in 393 he returned to Athens to restore the walls and fortifications, a work in which he employed the crews of his vessels, rousing great enthusiasm among the Athenians, his countrymen. But having been sent by the Athenians to counteract the effects of Spartandiplomacy upon the Persians, he was thrown by the latter into prison, and his subsequent fate is unknown, some believing that he was put to death, others that he escaped and died in Cyprus. Research Conon
Eugene de Beauharnais was Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince of Eichstadt,and Viceroy of Italy during the reign of Napoleon. He was born in 1781 and died in 1824. He was the son of Alexandre Beauharnais and Josephine, afterwards wife of Napoleon and Empress of France. After his father's death he joined Hoche in La Vendee, and subsequently studied for a time in Paris. He accompanied Napoleon to Egypt in 1798; rose rapidly in the army; was appointed viceroy of Italy in 1805; and married a daughter of the King of Bavaria in 1806. He administered the government of Italy with great prudence and moderation, and was much beloved by his subjects. In the Russian campaign he commanded the third corps d'armee, and greatly distinguished himself. To him and to NeyFrance was mainly indebted for the preservation of the remains of her army during the retreat from Moscow. After the battle of Ltitzen of May the 2nd, 1813, where, by surrounding the right wing of the enemy, he decided the fate of the day, he went to Italy, which he defended against the Austrians until the deposition of Napoleon. After the fall of Napoleon he concluded an armistice, by which he delivered Lombardy and all Upper Italy to the Austrians. He then went immediately to Paris, and thence to his father-in-law at Munich, where he afterwards resided. Research Eugene de Beauharnais
George Westinghouse was an American inventor and the founder of the Westinghouse Corporation. He was born in 1846 at Central Bridge, New York and died in 1914. He patented a powerful air brake for trains in 1869, which allowed trains to run more safely with greater loads at higher speeds. In the 1880s he turned his attention to the generation of electricity.
Unlike Thomas Edison, Westinghouse introduced alternating current (AC) into his power stations. Westinghouse helped to standardize railway components, including the development of a completely new signalling system. He also developed a system of gas mains. In the 1880s Westinghouse got his engineers to design equipment suitable for a new high-tension AC system. He also secured the services of the Croatian physicist Nikola Tesla. In 1895 the Westinghouse Electric Company harnessed Niagra Falls to generate electricity for the lights and trams of the nearby town of Buffalo. Resentful that AC current was chosen as the standard for domestic electricity supply, Edison, who supported DC current transmission, coined the term 'Westinghoused' to describe the fate of someone who had been executed by electric chair. Research George Westinghouse
Gladiators were combatants who fought at the public games in Rome for the entertainment of the spectators. The first instance known of gladiators being exhibited was in 264 BC, by Marcus and Decimus Pirutus at the funeral of their father. At first gladiators were prisoners, slaves, or condemned criminals; but afterwards freemen fought in the arena, either for hire or from choice; and latterly men of senatorial rank, and even women, fought.
The regular gladiators were instructed in schools known as ludi, and the overseer known as the lanista purchased the gladiators and maintained them. Men of position sometimes kept gladiatorial schools and lanistae of their own. The gladiators fought in the schools with wooden swords. In the public exhibitions, if a vanquished gladiator was not killed in the combat, his fate was sometimes decided by the people. If they wished his death, perhaps because he had not shown sufficient skill or bravery, they held up their thumbs; the opposite motion was the signal to save him. The victor received a branch of palm or a garland.
The gladiators were classified according to their arms and mode of fighting; thus there were retiarii who carried a trident and a net in which they tried to entangle their opponent; Thracians, who were armed with the round Thracianbuckler and a short sword; secutores, who were pitted against the retiarii; etc. Research Gladiator
Hereward the Wake was an English patriot. After the Norman conquest he held out at the head of the English resistance for about a year in the Isle of Ely, until William penetrated into the marshes by building a causeway. Hereward escaped, but his fate after that is unknown. Research Hereward the Wake
Baron Jean Baptiste Cloots was a singular character well known during the revolutionary scenes in France under the appellation of Anacharsis Cloots. He was born in 1755 at Cleves and died in 1794. He was brought up in Paris. He became possessed of a considerable fortune, which he partly dissipated in fantastic schemes for the union of all peoples and races in one democratic brotherhood. The outbreak of the French Revolution afforded him the kind of career he sought. In 1790, Jean Cloots presented himself at the bar of the national assembly, accompanied by a considerable number of enthusiastic followers of various nationalities, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Arabians - or Parisians dressed up as such. He described himself as the orator of the human race, and demanded the right of confederation, which was granted him. His enthusiasm for radical reforms, his hate of Christianity and of royalty, and a gift of 12,000 livres on behalf of the national defence, gained him election to the national convention in 1792, in which he voted for the death of Louis XVI in the name of the human race. But becoming an object of suspicion to Robespierre, he was arrested and guillotined on the 24th of March, 1794. He was reported to have met his fate with great indifference. Research Jean Cloots
Jean Jacques Regis de Cambaceres, Duke of Parma, was a French jurist. He was born in 1753 at Montpellier and diedin 1824. He was trained a lawyer, and by his talents soon attracted the notice of the Convention, and was appointed to various judicial offices. In the discussion relative to the fate of the king he declared Louis guilty, but disputed the right of the Convention to judge him, and voted for his provisory arrest, and in case of a hostile invasion, death. For a time he had the management of foreign affairs; and when Bonaparte was first consul, Cambaceres was chosen second. After the establishment of the empire, Cambaceres was created arch-chancellor, grand officer of the Legion of Honour, and ultimately Duke of Parma. He was banished on the second restoration of Louis XVIII, but was subsequently permitted to return. Research Jean de Cambaceres
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Abbreviations
Research Dissolution of the Monasteries
