James G. Clark's New History of the Dissolution of the Monasteries

Over on his blog, Matthew Lyon has posted an extended version of his review of The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History by James G. Clark. His review was first published in History Today. The review raises some intriguing notes about Clark's analysis of the story of how, in just four years (1536-1540) Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell destroyed the monastic movement in England after it had been present in England for almost a thousand years. For instance, in medias res:

. . . It has suited both Protestant and Catholic historiography to believe that the dissolution was part of a great struggle, that it was a considered, decisive and strategic blow by the new order against the old. But, as Clark makes clear, there was no grand plan. It may be a dismal thought that a thousand years of history, faith and culture can be swept away so easily by mere carelessness and incompetence, yet, on this reading, that seems to be the case. Certainly the Reformation account of monasticism, which Clark describes as “compelling in its perfect alignment of cause and effect”, is thoroughly picked apart. At no point, even in monasticism’s last months, does there seem to be a crux at which a final decision was made.

In Clark’s hands, then, the dissolution itself dissolves as a single event; instead it becomes a long, complex series of decisions and indecisions, with consequences both intended and unintended, and with individuals from the king down behaving in ways that are inconsistent and irreducible to generalisation. Not only is it not possible to say how monasticism responded to Henry’s reformation, it’s not possible to say how different orders or different houses responded. Just as profession was ultimately an individual choice, so was reaction to change. . . .

And toward the end of the review:

. . . Clark pursues his arguments through the meticulous accumulation of detail, much of it new. Every page is packed with it. But this is not detail for detail’s sake: it supports an argument against the dominant, ideological interpretations of the dissolution, presenting instead a profoundly nuanced portrait of individuals and institutions grappling with complex problems in a time of great turmoil and change. This is messy, granular stuff, and readers hoping for broad brushstrokes and the glories of a grand narrative may find it hard going; but it is glorious nonetheless – thrilling in its mastery of the sources and both provocative and persuasive in the richness and subtlety of its thought. . . .

I do think--even though I haven't read the book, just the available excerpts--that Lyons is correct to have wished that Clark had included more detail about "the spiritual and religious life of English monasticism in what turned out to be its final decades". Yes, the buildings were gone and the monks and nuns (what about the friars?) were pensioned off, but what about the prayers, the Masses, the praise of God seven times a day, and the rhythm of their days of work, charity, and hospitality--all that was lost from English culture and life? 

Perhaps that's the even greater loss that resulted from the dissolution of the monasteries, beyond the reach of a historian.