The dissolution of the monasteries (1536-40) was one of the most critical transformations wrought by the English Reformation. It was also perhaps the most visible manifestation of the idea that Henry VIII’s break with Rome was also a break with the medieval past. Yet despite this, historians have paid little attention to how the dissolution was remembered by those who experienced it or to the evolution of this memory in later generations. This thesis probes the nature of the diverse afterlives of the dissolution between 1536 and c. 1700. On one hand, it seeks to account for the persistence of the narratives of monastic corruption and the expediency of suppression propagated by the Henrician regime in the 1530s, which have continued insidiously to shape its modern historiography. On the other, it examines the development of alternative traditions which challenged and interacted with this orthodoxy, highlighting the multivocal and polyvalent character of a memory culture that was dynamic rather than static. The first chapter examines the attempts of the Henrician government to shape the memory of the dissolution in the 1530s and 1540s, and undertakes a re-assessment of the sources that have conventionally been used by historians of the dissolution. It highlights a triumphant Henrician narrative of monastic corruption and iniquity that the remainder of the thesis sets out to test, complicate, and unravel. The second chapter explores the relationship between the dissolution and early modern senses of time, chronology, and history. It asks both how perceptions of the dissolution shifted over time and how the protracted and complicated four-year long process of suppression came to be remembered as the historical event that we know as ‘the Dissolution of the Monasteries’. The third chapter turns away from the temporal dimensions of the memory of the dissolution to explore its material, visual, and spatial aspects. It argues that historians have been preoccupied with an emergent ‘nostalgia’ for the monasteries at the expense of a gentry antiquarian culture that instead promoted a powerful culture of amnesia. It focuses particularly on the neglected subject of converted religious houses, which quite literally embodied efforts to forget the dissolution and the monastic past. The final chapter focuses on local traditions of memory. It deploys evidence of oral culture mediated through antiquarian writing to question previous work on a purely secular, socio-economic memory of the dissolution. It argues that the concept of sacrilege and the emergence of a folklore of the dissolution are key to recovering the religious dimension of local memory cultures. If the thesis begins with an account of Henrician attempts to shape the legacies of the dissolution, it concludes by demonstrating how, by 1700, these memory-making processes were starting to be exposed. This thesis thereby demonstrates the value of exploring the dissolution in terms of its long afterlives. It also argues that the dissolution is a powerful case study of historical memory, raising larger questions about the relationship between contemporary memorialising practices and the models of periodisation inherited by modern scholarship, as well as making a significant contribution to the emergent interest in the memory of the English Reformation.

Les établissements pour personnes âgées, les centres pénitentiaires et les monastères, trois univers à priori très différents. Et pourtant, nous y avons constaté des similarités qui nous ont amenés à réfléchir sur la problématique suivante : Quelles dynamiques psychiques interagissent dans une institution totale (Goffman, 1968) qui accueille des personnes sur le long terme, d’une part selon que le mode d’entrée principal y soit choisi, contraint ou forcé, et d’autre part selon que le sujet ait la capacité de quitter librement l’institution ou non ? Cette question nous permet de penser les liens mouvants et interdépendants entre le sujet, l’institution et la société. Dans cette étude, c’est à la rencontre de l’humain que nous allons, qu’il soit âgé et dépendant, prisonnier, soignant, surveillant ou moine. Leurs témoignages nous amènent à repenser lesquestions de l’ego, de la paix, de la liberté et de l’amou / Retirement homes, detention centers and monasteries : at first sight, these three institutions seem to be very different. Nevertheless, we noticed similarities which led us to ask ourselves the following question: What are the psychic dynamics involved in a total institution (GOFFMAN, 1968) which receives persons on a long-term basis, depending on whether the main admission mode is chosen, constrained or forced, or whether the subject has the ability to leave the institution freely or not ? This question allow us to think about the shifting and independent links between people, institution and society. This study is about meeting differents humans whether they are old and dependant, prisoner, nurse, prison warder or monks. Their testimonies invite us to reconsider the question of ego, peace, freedom and love.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--Faculty of Architecture, University of Sydney, 2003. / Bibliography: leaves 231-239. Also available in print form.

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Thesis (M.A.). / Written for the Dept. of Art History and Communication Studies. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/07/24). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-134).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-134).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, IL, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-134).

Thesis (Th. M.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 392-395).

Thesis (Th. M.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 392-395).