Editing Dissolution of the monasteries (section)

===Reports and further visitations===
[[File:Altarpiece fragments late 1300 early 1400 destroyed during the English Dissolution mid 16th century.jpg|thumb|Altarpiece fragments (late 1300 – early 1400) destroyed during the dissolution, mid-16th century.]]
In the autumn of 1535, the visiting commissioners were sending back to Cromwell their written reports, enclosing with them bundles of purported miraculous wimples, girdles and mantles that monks and nuns had been lending out for cash to the sick, or to mothers in labour. The commissioners appear to have instructed houses to reintroduce the strict practice of common dining and cloistered living, urging that those unable to comply should be encouraged to leave; and many appear to have been released from their monastic vows. The visitors reported the number of professed religious persons continuing in each house. In the case of seven houses, impropriety or irreligion had been so great, or the numbers remaining so few, that the commissioners had felt compelled to suppress it on the spot; in others, the abbot, prior or noble patron was reported to be petitioning the King for a house to be dissolved. Such authority had formerly rested with the Pope, but now the King would need to establish a legal basis for dissolution in statutory law. Moreover, it was by no means clear that the property of a surrendered house would automatically be at the disposal of the Crown; a good case could be made for this property to revert to the heirs and descendants of the founder or other patron. 

Parliament enacted the [[Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535]] ("Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries Act") in early 1535, relying on the reports of "impropriety" Cromwell had received, establishing the power of the King to dissolve religious houses that were failing to maintain a religious life, consequently providing for the King to compulsorily dissolve monasteries with annual incomes declared in the {{lang|la|Valor Ecclesiasticus}} of less than £200 (of which there were potentially 419) but also giving the King the discretion to exempt any of these houses from dissolution at his pleasure. All property of the dissolved house would revert to the Crown. Many monasteries falling below the threshold forwarded a case for continuation, offering to pay substantial fines. Many such cases were accepted, so that only around 330 were referred to suppression commissions, and only 243 houses were actually dissolved at this time. The choice of a £200 threshold as the criterion for general dissolution under the legislation was suspect, as the preamble refers to numbers rather than income. Adopting a financial criterion was likely determined pragmatically; the Valor Ecclesiasticus data being both more reliable and more complete than those of Cromwell's visitors.{{citation needed| date= October 2019}}

[[File:DorchesterAbbey Interior Nave&EastWindow.JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[Dorchester Abbey]] in Oxfordshire; a smaller house with a net income below £200-year, dissolved in 1536 and purchased for a parish church]]
The smaller houses identified for suppression were visited during 1536 by more local commissions, one for each county, charged with creating an inventory of assets and valuables, and empowered to obtain co-operation from monastic superiors by granting pensions or bribes. In practice, few houses immediately surrendered. A two-stage procedure was applied, the commissions reporting back to Cromwell for a decision as to whether to proceed with dissolution. These commissioners often supported the continuation of a house where they found no serious problem; arguments that Cromwell appears to have accepted. Around 80 houses were exempted. Where dissolution was determined, a second visit would affect the arrangements for closure of the house, disposal of its assets and endowments and provisions for the future of its members. Otherwise, the second visit would collect a fine. In general, these commissioners were less inclined to report faults in monastic observance within the smaller houses than the earlier group had been, although this may have been coloured by an awareness that monks and nuns with a bad reputation would be difficult to place elsewhere. The 1536 Act established that, whatever the claims of founders or patrons, the property of the dissolved smaller houses reverted to the Crown. Cromwell established a new government agency, the [[Court of Augmentations]], to manage that. Although the property rights of lay founders and patrons were legally extinguished, the incomes of lay holders of monastic offices, pensions and annuities were generally preserved, as were the rights of tenants of monastic lands. 

Ordinary monks and nuns were given the choice of secularisation (with a cash gratuity but no pension), or of transfer to a continuing larger house of the same order.  However, former monks and nuns were still banned from marriage, having taken a vow, making their life precarious.<ref name=heritage>{{cite web |title=What Became of the Monks and Nuns at the Dissolution? |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/dissolution/ |website=English Heritage}}</ref>  The majority of those then remaining chose to continue in the religious life. In some areas, the premises of a suppressed religious house were recycled into a new foundation to accommodate them, and rehousing those seeking a transfer proved much more difficult and time-consuming than appears to have been anticipated. 

At least two houses, [[Norton Priory]] in Cheshire and [[Hexham Abbey]] in Northumberland, attempted to resist the commissioners by force, actions which Henry interpreted as treason. He wrote personally to demand the brutal punishment of those responsible. The prior and canons of Norton were imprisoned for several months and were fortunate to escape with their lives; the canons of Hexham, who made the mistake of becoming involved in the [[Pilgrimage of Grace]], were executed.