Table of Contents

Preface; List of abbreviations; Part I. The Tudor Scene: 1. The reign of Henry VII; 2. Some monastic activities; 3. The Cistercians; 4. The Premonstratensians; 5. The friars in the early sixteenth century; 6. Sixteenth-century visitations; 7. Monastic personalities; 8. Humanism at Evesham; 9. William More, prior of Worcester, 1518–36; 10. Butley and Durham; Part II. The Gathering Storm: 11. Erasmus; 12. Reform and suppression under Wolsey; 13. European precedents; 14. Acceptance of the royal supremacy; 15. Elizabeth Barton; Part III. Suppression and Dissolution: 16. Before the dissolution; 17. The end of the Observants; 18. Syon; 19. The London Charterhouse and its sister houses; 20. The economy of the monasteries in 1535; 21. Servants, almsgiving and corrodians; 22. The visitation of 1535–6; 23. The Act of Suppression and the case for the defence; 24. The dissolution of the lesser houses; 25. The Northern Rising; 26. The last phase; 27. The attack on the greater houses; 28. The suppression of the friars; 29. The cankered hearts; 30. The transformation of the buildings; 31. The new cathedrals and colleges; 32. The disposal of the lands; 33. The treatment of the dispossessed; Part IV. Reaction and Survival: 34. The Marian restoration; 35. The old and the new; 36. Epilogue; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

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Dom David Knowles surveys the monastic life and activities in the early Tudor period.