Editing Dissolution of the monasteries (section)

==Ireland {{anchor|Irish}}<!-- Dissolution of the Irish monasteries redirects here-->==
[[File:Quin abbey drab.jpg|right|thumb|[[Quin Abbey]], a Franciscan Friary built in the 15th century and suppressed in 1541 ]]
The dissolutions in Ireland followed a very different course from those in England and Wales. There were around 400 religious houses in Ireland in 1530—many more, relative to population and material wealth, than in England and Wales. In Ireland, the houses of friars had flourished in the 15th century, attracting popular support and [[financial endowment]]s, undertaking many ambitious building schemes, and maintaining a regular conventual and spiritual life. Friaries constituted around half of the total number of religious houses. Irish monasteries, by contrast, had experienced a catastrophic decline in numbers, with few having more than six monks,<ref name=scott/> such that by the 16th century only a minority maintained the daily observance of the Divine Office. 

=== Henrican phase===
Henry's direct authority, as [[Lord of Ireland]] and, from 1541, as [[King of Ireland]], only extended to the area of [[the Pale]] immediately around [[Dublin]]. Outside this area, he could only proceed by tactical agreement with clan chiefs and local lords.

[[File:Ballintubber Abbey East Range 2007 08 12.jpg|left|thumb|[[Ballintubber Abbey]], An Augustinian priory founded in the 13th century, suppressed in 1603 and burned in 1653; but continually re-occupied and used for Catholic services, and re-roofed in the 20th century]]
Henry was determined to carry through a policy of consolidation and dissolution in Ireland—and in 1537 he introduced legislation into the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] to legalise the closure of monasteries. The process faced considerable opposition, and only sixteen houses were suppressed. In 1539, he introduced a bill to close nine named monasteries: it was the only royal bill that year not passed.<ref name=Bottigheimer>{{cite journal |last1=Bottigheimer |first1=Karl S. |title=The Reformation in Ireland Revisited |journal=Journal of British Studies |date=1976 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=140–149 |doi=10.1086/385689 |jstor=175136 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/175136 |issn=0021-9371}}</ref>{{rp|143}} Henry remained resolute, and from 1541 as part of the [[Tudor conquest of Ireland]] he continued to press for more. For the most part, this involved making deals with local lords, under which monastic property was granted away in exchange for allegiance to the [[Kingdom of Ireland|new Irish Crown]]. Henry acquired little (if any) of the wealth of the Irish houses. 

Apart from taking land, plate and buildings, the dissolution effort involved considerable [[iconoclasm]]. Some monks and vestments from dissolved English monasteries found their way to Ireland. Some dissolved communities kept together, hiding in the country and mountains or discretely re-possessing the former monastery, and appearing under the reign of [[Mary I]].<ref name=scott/>

=== Elizabethan phase===
By the time of Henry's death (1547) around half of the Irish houses had been suppressed. Many continued to resist dissolution until the reign of [[Elizabeth I]], which saw re-confiscations and also closures beyond [[the Pale]] in the Gaelic part of Ireland.  According to historian Brenden Scott, vast tracts of property and land exchanged hands.<ref name=scott/>

Catholics opened some new quasi-monastic communities to take in dissolved and would-be nuns. Several popular monasteries were saved by the local population.<ref name=scott/> Some houses in the West of Ireland remained active until the early 17th century.

=== Puritan phase===
In 1649, [[Oliver Cromwell]] led a Parliamentary army to [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland|conquer Ireland]], and systematically sought out and destroyed former monastic houses. Subsequently, sympathetic landowners housed monks or friars close to several ruined religious houses, allowing them a continued covert existence during the 17th and 18th centuries, subject to the dangers of discovery and legal ejection or imprisonment.