The Dissolution of the Monasteries The Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII was seen by many as a disaster for the people and benefited only the king and the crown. However new research has contradicted this claim, suggesting that the dissolution affected fewer people, less dramatically, going so far as to suggest that the dissolution was a brilliant opportunity for many people across the country. It is this change of opinion that pushes people to question the facts about the impact of closures on people during the 15th century. The Dissolution has many potential problems that have been disputed among historians. Catholic writers believe that cultural and religious vandalism took place needlessly by destroying medieval art and architecture as well as entire libraries of knowledge because their contents were "temporarily out of fashion", so traditions and ideas dating back many centuries were eliminated . Although this is accepted as fact, to some extent modern historians now believe that there is a great exaggeration in these cries. The effects on people were initially seen as enormous in scale, indicating that many people were displaced and forced to become accustomed to a lower standard of living. life. Monks and nuns were often the ones portrayed starving on the streets, their orderly lifestyles suddenly ending after they were cast out into a turbulent and rapidly changing world. In reality only 1500 monks out of 8000 were unable to find alternative paid employment within the church with which to supplement their pension. It was the nuns who made... middle of paper... an onarchy freer from violent revolutions. In conclusion I don't think that the dissolution of the monasteries was a disaster for so many people, it undoubtedly put greater strain on the country from an economic point of view, and it also slightly worsened the problem of poverty, leading future rulers to address the problem , but in the long term most people could have found alternative jobs and financing. A key statistic to prove this fact was that only 1,500 monks out of 8,000 could not find work. elsewhere. I also don't think it was a golden opportunity for many, if you look at the population of England in 1540 and compare it to the number of people who were raised to a higher social rank, it's not realistic to say that this happened to a very high percentage of people. . I think “many” and “few” are the two extremes of the situation.