The Later Middle Ages and the Dissolution of the Monasteries


Desert Hermits Eastern Monasticism Benedictine Monasticism Irish Monasticism Anglo-Saxon Monasticism Merovingian and Carolingian Monasticism and Mixed Rules Medieval Monastic Women Cluny and other reforms of the Central Middle Ages The Cistercians The Military Orders The Franciscans The Dominicans Later Middle Ages Through the Dissolution of the Monasteries Monasteries Online General Resources Virtual Tours Syllabus Medieval Monasticism Main Page Dr. Vess's home page	The Late Middle Ages and the Dissolution of the Monasteries Late Medieval Spirituality Wycliffe: On the Sacrament of Communion Condemnation of Wycliffe by Pope Gregory XI and Wycliff'e Reply The Web Site of Unknowing on the fourteenth-century English Mystics Richard Rolle: The Fire of Love (Incendium Amoris) The Cloud of Unknowing Walter Hilton: The Ladder of Perfection; Treatise Written to a Devout Man; The Song of Angels Thomas à Kempis: The Imitation of Christ W.R. Inge: Light, Life, and Love (selections from the German Mystics) Tauler: The Inner Way Meister Eckhart quotations from Eckhart's works Marsiglio of Padua: Defensor Pacis Renaissance and Reformation Critiques of Monasticism and/or Medieval Spirituality and Theology Petrarch: Ascent of Mont Ventoux Dante: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisio Boccaccio's Decameron at the Decameron Web Jan Hus: Final Declaration Erasmus: The Praise of Folly Erasmus Text Project Thomas More: Utopia Project Wittenberg many resources here on Luther, including many primary source texts. Martin Luther: 95 Theses; Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation; On the Freedom of a Christian; Letter to several nuns; German Mass and Order of Divine Service; Letter to the Archbishop of Mainz on Indulgences For many more links and, in particular, to texts of Reformation figures besides Luther and Erasmus, see The Reformation Guide and Paul Halsall's Reformation Page at Fordham. The Dissolution of the Monasteries The dissolution of the monasteries almost completely obliterated monasticism in England. Several Benedictine cathedral priories built during the Norman period were converted to cathedrals with a dean and a chapter of canons in the English Reformation. These include Gloucester Cathedral, built in the late fourteenth century; Ely Cathedral (see also the City of Ely's web site), begun in 1090; Chester Cathedral (no photos on the web site), from the late thirteenth century; Durham Cathedral, begun in 1093 to house the relics of St. Cuthbert; Norwich Cathedral, begun in 1096 (see also http://www.norwich.gov.uk/tourism/churches/cathedral.html and The Mapping Margery Kempe database which charts her travels to Norwich described in the Book of Margery Kempe); St. Albans Cathedral, begun in 1077; Perterborough Cathedral, begun in 1117 and which houses the tomb of Catherine of Aragon; and Winchester Cathedral, which houses the relics of Cnut. Letter of Thomas Cranmer on the Divorce of Henry VIII Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy The Suppression of the English Monasteries Under Henry VIII From the Catholic Encyclopedia Supression of Glastonbury Abbey Dissolution of the monasteries and chantries: sources in the public records office; see also Sources of history for religious houses and their lands Dissolution of the Monasteries See also Dr. Vess's virtual tours of monasteries for accounts of the dissolution of these communities. Dissolution of the Monasteries on the Continent: Zwingli's Reformation Fate of monastic libraries in central Europe 1780-1810. Dissolution of the Continental Monasteries Catholic Encyclopedia Article Suppression of the English Monasteries Catholic Encyclopedia Article New Religious Orders The Spiritual Exerrcises of St. Ignatius Loyola
	Below: The bell tower at Glendalough, Ireland. Photo by Dr. Vess.