Henry dissolved the monasteries for many reasons such as for money, the running of the church and religious reasons. Another reason was that King Henry VIII wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon.

Churches were very wealthy e.g. Fountains Abbey had many windows and decorations along with a great deal of land. Another monastery was in Worstershire and owned at least 1500 hectares of arable land

2000. cottages
8. Windmills

(1 Hectare is nearly an acre.)

These would have been very expensive to own. This land would have had to be watered and vegetables would have been grown on the land, people would have rented the cottages, and the church would have sold the flour they ground in the windmill.

Henry realized that by selling monasteries and land he could become strong, powerful and an extremely wealthy king. (He wanted the money so he could fight expensive wars against Catholic powers in...