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Page 10 of 10

• 1. Anglo-Saxon Church
• 2. Normanisation
• 3. Statements of power
• 4. Gothic origins
• 5. English Gothic
• 6. Architecture as power
• 7. Architecture for worship
• 8. Building a cathedral
• 9. Church as landholder
• 10. A way of life ends
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A way of life ends

Art and architecture were very vibrant in the early 16th-century Church - the construction of Prince Arthur’s fine cage chantry at Worcester Cathedral at that time is a good example of this.

In addition, Renaissance ideas were finding expression in secular buildings, such as Hampton Court Palace. But this well ordered and very Norman world was about to come to an abrupt end. By the dawn of the 16th century there were increasing reports of great laxity in many monastic institutions.

'... the powerful position of the Church was also attracting the attention of the Crown ...'

At Wigmore Abbey, Herefordshire, records show that the house was constantly in need of sorting out. Buildings were allowed to fall into disrepair, lodgings for travellers were not maintained, canons conducted trade with the outside world as though they were secular men, others ‘despoiled’ local women, and one canon was forced to leave ‘because he feared death’ from one of his brothers. Although Wigmore was a particularly bad example, the abuses were seized upon by an increasingly vocal element in society who clamoured for reform.

As if that was not bad enough, the powerful position of the Church was also attracting the attention of the Crown and, in particular, a king who was very short of money, and who was in dispute with the Church in Rome over his need for a divorce.

Both problems were resolved in a single cataclysmic act - the Dissolution of the Monasteries. What followed had dramatic implications for the future relationship between Church and state and sent shock waves throughout continental Europe.

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Published: 2005-02-02