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What were they all about?
- Monasteries were places where
groups of men or women could live together and worship God. There were
lots in London. The men
were called monks and the women were called nuns. They belonged to
different groups called 'orders,' like the Benedictines or the
Carthusians.
- Some monasteries
had canons (priests) living there. Sometimes they were called colleges or
'collegiate churches'.
- Some monasteries
had monastic knights living there. They helped pilgrims.
- There were similar places called
friaries where preachers called 'friars' lived.
- A monastery is sometimes called
an 'abbey' or a 'priory'. Monasteries for women are also sometimes
called 'nunneries' or 'convents'.
- Monasteries always had a big
church surrounded by lots
of other buildings for the monks, canons or nuns to live
and work
in.
- If there was room around the City, they grew food & looked after farm animals.
- They made metalwork, needlework
& decorated books
for their churches.
- They ran hospitals, guesthouses and
schools (for very rich children).
- They looked after relics
and pilgrims.
- They prayed for the souls of
rich people who gave them money.
- They owned lots of land and
rented it out to farmers & merchants.
- A wall around the outside formed
an enclosure. Monastery buildings within an enclosure are called the
'enclave'.
- When King
Henry VIII made
himself head of the Church in England in 1534, the monasteries would
not accept him as their new leader. They wanted to stay as Roman Catholics.
- So two years later, he started
closing them all down, pulling them down and taking all their money.
This is called the Dissolution
of the Monasteries.
- A few monasteries were set up
again in Victorian times when you were again allowed to be a Catholic
if you wanted.
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