Just read about the Valor Eccleasiasticus and the dissolution of the monasteries in History Today. I was fascinating that such a huge set of documents has been largely ignored for the past 500 years...I'm a huge fan of the Hilary Mantel books, but having read Diarmid MacCulloch, I know that those books gloss over the vast majority of his life and his work, especially as related to the church and his manifold reasons for closing the monasteries. I am interested in this as a writer because yes, I'm tired of seeing those stories play out in fiction. I think what attracted me to the Mantel books was this more human view. No longer quite the Great Man view of history but including lots of side characters and people who felt real as characters in a novel. I want to read about Thomas Cromwell's cook and his barge man and maybe the lives of the people he interacted with before he was in that more rarified company. I find original source documents to be so beautiful and inspiring. Thank you for taking the time to make this introduction. It's very useful.
An excellent and very informative episode, thank you. Looking forward to the next episodes. Interested in how those monasteries that surrendered before dissolution, such as Norwich, were treated differently from those that did not.
It must have been truamatic for the ordinary folk. But the monastic system wouldn't have been so vulnerable to hostile forces if they hadn't lost their moral integrity.
Just read about the Valor Eccleasiasticus and the dissolution of the monasteries in History Today. I was fascinating that such a huge set of documents has been largely ignored for the past 500 years...I'm a huge fan of the Hilary Mantel books, but having read Diarmid MacCulloch, I know that those books gloss over the vast majority of his life and his work, especially as related to the church and his manifold reasons for closing the monasteries. I am interested in this as a writer because yes, I'm tired of seeing those stories play out in fiction. I think what attracted me to the Mantel books was this more human view. No longer quite the Great Man view of history but including lots of side characters and people who felt real as characters in a novel. I want to read about Thomas Cromwell's cook and his barge man and maybe the lives of the people he interacted with before he was in that more rarified company. I find original source documents to be so beautiful and inspiring. Thank you for taking the time to make this introduction. It's very useful.
An excellent and very informative episode, thank you. Looking forward to the next episodes. Interested in how those monasteries that surrendered before dissolution, such as Norwich, were treated differently from those that did not.
Enjoyed this perspective.
It must have been truamatic for the ordinary folk. But the monastic system wouldn't have been so vulnerable to hostile forces if they hadn't lost their moral integrity.