levo

The English Reformation c.1520–c.1550

Cromwell, the Valor Ecclesiasticus and the dissolution of the monasteries

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

Cromwell as Vicegerent in Spirituals, the Valor Ecclesiasticus and why the Crown wanted it, the Visitation of the Monasteries and its reports, the Court of Augmentations, the stripping of closed houses, and the Suppression Acts of 1536 and 1539.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

How did Thomas Cromwell prepare the ground for the dissolution of the monasteries in 1535 and 1536?

Numbers

What office made Thomas Cromwell the king’s deputy over the whole English church?

Numbers

What was the Valor Ecclesiasticus?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What office made Thomas Cromwell the king’s deputy over the whole English church?

    Model answer

    Vicegerent in Spirituals, which he was given in 1535.

  2. 2

    What was the Valor Ecclesiasticus?

    Model answer

    The great survey of 1535 that valued the income of every monastery, bishopric and parish in England and Wales for the Crown.

  3. 3

    Why did the Crown want church income valued in 1535?

    Model answer

    Because taxes once paid to Rome now went to the king, and the figures showed exactly how much wealth the religious houses held.

  4. 4

    Who carried out the Visitation of the Monasteries, and when?

    Model answer

    Cromwell’s commissioners, chiefly Richard Layton and Thomas Legh, who toured the houses in 1535–36.

  5. 5

    What did the visitors’ reports claim to have found in the monasteries?

    Model answer

    Idleness, immorality and false relics used to cheat pilgrims — findings collected to justify closing the houses.

  6. 6

    What was the Court of Augmentations?

    Model answer

    The department set up in 1536 to take in the monastic lands and revenues and to sell or lease them for the Crown.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750
China 1950–1981: The People and the State
Germany 1925–1955: The People and the State
International Relations: The Changing International Order 1918–1975

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

John presided.
BradshawLambertPym

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AFactories switched from consumer goods to weapons.
BCar plants turned out tanks, aircraft and jeeps.
CProduction outstripped that of every enemy.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Whigs means party given almost every office by George I after 1714.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in The English Reformation c.1520–c.1550, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.