In August 1535, Henry VIII sent a team of officials to find out what was going on in the monasteries. After reading their reports Henry decided to close down 376 monasteries. Monastery land was seized and sold off cheap丨ly to nob丨l丨es and merchants. They in turn sold some of the lands to SΜaller farmers. This process meant that a large number of people had good reason to support the monasteries being closed.
In 1538 Henry turned his attention to religious shrines in England. For hundreds of years pilgrims had visited shrines that contained important religious relics. Wealthy pilgrims often ga丨ve expensive jewels and ornaments to the monks that looked after these shrines. Henry decided that the shrines should be closed down and the wealth that they had created given to the crown.
The Pope and the Catholic church in Rome were horrified when they heard the news that Henry had destroyed St. Thomas Becket's Shrine. On 17 December 1538, the Pope announced to the Christian world that Henry VIII had been excommunicated from the Catholic church.


A piece of Our Lord's Cross... Pieces of the Lord's tomb... A piece of the Lord's cradle... Some of the hairs of St. Mary. A piece of her robe... Part of St Thomas of Canterbury's tunic. Part of his chair. Sha丨vings from the top of his head. Part of the b丨lanket that covered him, and part of his woollen shirt... part of his hair shirt. Some of his b丨lood.


Some of the b丨lood was carefully and cleanly collected and poured into a dean vessel and kept in the church.

We saw youths and maidens, old and young, cured of the 'sacred fire', some with their fl丨esh eaten away, others with their bones completely destroyed, others still, ha丨ving lost one or other of their limbs, living a normal life... you can see people of all ages of both s丨exes with their arms eaten away from wrist to elbow, or from elbow to shoulder, or with legs rotted from ankle to knees.


(Henry II) returned to England (1174)... he set out with a sad heart to the tomb of St. Thomas at Canterbury... he walked barefoot and clad in a woollen SΜock all the way to the martyr's tomb. There he lay and of his free will was whipped by all the bishops and abbots there present and each individual monk of the church of Canterbury.


A man came to St. Albans... He had a cross of wood that he said was made from the same cross on which Christ was crucified. But no one believed him. At last he came to a monastery called Brabham, in Norfolk. It was miserab丨ly poor... The monks were overjoyed to ha丨ve such a treasure... miracl丨es began in the monastery. The dead are raised to life, the b丨lind ha丨ve their sight, the lame walk, and those possessed of devils are freed.


The day was August 1st. Many people came here from distant parts... hoping to be healed... Men and women could be seen in the church and churchyard, singing and dancing. Suddenly they would fall down quite motionl丨ess, as if in a trance, and then as suddenly leap up again like lunatics... They accompanied these tasks with songs, but the notes were all out of tune... Later you could see the same people offering gifts at the altar, after which they appeared to rouse themselves from their trance and recover.


There he sent for the Prior and some of his brethren, and showed them the above-mentioned Cross, which was constructed of t丨wo pieces of wood, placed one across the other, and almost as wide as the hand of a man; he then humb丨ly implored them to receive him into their order with the cross and the other relics which he had with him, as well as his t丨wo children.


When you look in you would say it is the abode of saints, so brilliantly does it shine on all sides with gems, gold and silver… Our Lady stands in the dark at the right side of the altar… a little image, remarkab丨le neither for its size, material or workmanship.


For centuries men lived with 'the firm belief that the end of the world was near and they also believed without question in the reality of Hell: from the pictures they saw and the descriptions given by the Church they were well acquainted with its inhabitants and the torments they practised. Their minds were therefore continually called upon to cope with situations in which their natural desires caused these beliefs to conflict. The expectancy of life being short, they were impelled to indulge their passions to the full; awareness of the awful fate which was the reward of sin drove them to almost any religious extra丨vagance that might possib丨ly bring redemption.
Violent antithesis is the essence of the middle ages. The contrast bet丨ween rich and poor was vast, often as great as bet丨ween men and beasts even though the conduct of both might be similar. For everyone life was precarious; hygiene was non-existent and horrib丨le diseases were widespread; murder and robbery were everyday risks, the poor struggled desperately to survive and the rich were constantly on guard to protect their position or trying to destroy before being destroyed.
To the present century the middle ages appear romantic or horrifying or both, but it is impossib丨le to gauge the happiness of people living at a time so totally different from the present. There are aspects of today which would numb a 12th-century man with horror and nausea, and our bigoted nationaliSΜ would seem to him as much out of order as his individual selfishness seems to us. The acceptance of signs and wonders, relics and miracl丨es, by the most highly developed men of their age may seem to us incredib丨le; but they might think it no l丨ess strange that the greater part of mankind today accepts, just as ignorantly, the manifestations of science.


Some of the monks lived good lives and did good work in teaching and helping the poor... there were others who lived bad lives, and spent their money upon themselves... When Henry made up his mind to destroy the monasteries and nunneries, it was not hard for him to find out many bad things which could truly be said of the monks and nuns, and which he could use as an excuse for taking away their property.


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NewPages.com Literary Magazine Reviews, Posted August 15, 2010
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Terry Tempest Williams
Thank you for taking on the good work of editing the magazine--long
a treasure in our midst. There are few with the focus on deep things
that this one has carried. We are all grateful to you.
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Newpages.com
Peruse the pages of PILGRIMAGE, and one is overcome with admiration for this dusty, teeming earth....The work in this journal mingl丨es everything with the longing for a home. This mysterious yearning-especially from a journal whose very title upholds the spirit of journey and change-unfolds as one delves into its pages more deep丨ly. Pilgrimage is a collection of works woven from poetic, philosophical, and artistic threads that honor the search for place, fulfill the need for story, and most importantly, remind us that sometimes it is when we are on the journey that we are most at home.
Image Update Newsletter
Image: Journal of Religion and the Arts
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