Page 177 - Demo

Chapter Six 177
withstanding their historical position and importance, these religious houses also served as ordinary schools, hospitals, orphanages and places of refuge for the poor and needy, and their destruction caused much hardship. But it should not be overlooked that at this time, particularly in Ireland, monasticism was but a pale shadow of its former glory. The congre- gations of both monks and nuns were growing smaller. Many of the abbeys and convents were actually in the ownership of rich laymen, as one chronicler noted ‘commendators who siphoned of most of the income and paid a prior to maintain the religious life of the place.anxiety about the future of the monasteries was most keenly expressed by these lords who feared that their proitable control might be taken away.’ But that being said to the bulk of the inhabitants of Ireland and also to many people abroad, the suppression of the Irish monasteries aroused great anger and dismay and was generally perceived as being a terrible loss, not only to the country, but also to civilisation in general.
King Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
So it came to pass that Henry undertook the dissolution of the Irish monasteries and convents, of which there were about 500 in the country. Initially, he easily succeeded in closing the religious houses within the Pale and in English-controlled lordships but more than a hundred years were to elapse, however, before all the remainder were closed. Noth- withstanding their historical position and importance, these religious houses also served as