The dissolution of the monasteries, also known as the suppression of the monasteries, was a set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541, by which Henry VIII disbanded all Catholic
King Henry VIII c. 1537 by Hans Holbein the Younger. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid.
Desiderius Erasmus by Holbein; Renaissance humanist and influential critic of religious orders. Louvre, Paris.
Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein: Chief Minister for Henry VIII and Vicegerent in Spirituals; created the administrative machinery for the Dissolution. Frick Collection, New York City
Stogursey Priory in Somerset. An alien priory dissolved in 1414 and granted to Eton College
Thomas Wolsey
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Thomas Wolsey was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the
Dissolution of the monasteries
…towards Protestantism stalled when Henry VIII expressed his support for the Six Articles of 1539, which remained in effect until after his death. Cardinal Wolsey had obtained a papal bull authorising some limited reforms in the English Church as early as 1518, but reformers (both conservative and radical) had…
Portrait at Trinity College, Cambridge, c. 1585–1596
Heraldic banner of Wolsey as Archbishop of York, showing the arms of the See of York impaling his personal arms, with a cardinal's hat above. The griffin supporter holds the Lord Chancellor's mace.
Thomas Wolsey by an unknown artist c. 1520 held in the National Portrait Gallery, London
Queen Catherine of Aragon, by an unknown artist