Why Was Land Given To Monasteries And Abbeys?

[Sellergarth]

Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 the Abbeys of England were very wealthy, owning vast areas of land. Why was so much of this land gifted to them?

[bert_h]

Monarchs, or large landowners, curried favour with the Pope by giving land to be the property of a new abbey or monastery. They usually threw in a hefty donation with it.

[Old_Geezer]

I would guess that you don't get on the wrong side of Gods and their agents here on earth, especially if you wish to retain your divine right to rule ! It might get passed to someone else.

[Mosaic]

Bert is spot on and so is the reverse side of OG's point - namely that the monks would pray in constant 24-hour shifts for your immortal soul so you would get both the VIP lounge AND priority boarding in Purgatory.
If I may say so, a very appropriate response for an Ash Wednesday.

[atalanta]

Land was cheap before the conquest, so devout donors could earn themselves lots of heavenly brownie points by giving ( or most likely bequeathing) land and other valuables to religious houses. The pre-conquest houses were all much bigger and richer than the post-conquest foundations. The choir monks and choir nuns could not earn money, as they spent their time in singing and praying. They needed the income from the farms ( etc) to live on. Sometimes a rich person entering a religious house would more or less buy his or her way in. A widow, for instance, could retire to a convent and take her property ( her husband's bequest ) with her to donate to the House. Houses were not supposed to charge an "entrance fee" but they all did. Choir monks and choir nuns were recruited from the top levels of society, and lay brothers and lay sisters were from lower classes. These did the spade work, cooking, cleaning, probably. In fact, the abbeys owned so much land that there was a favourite mediaeval joke which went "if the Abbess of Shaftesbury could marry the Abbot of Glastonbury, thier heir would own more land than the King of England". It would have been true, too.

[Peter Pedant]

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devising land by will (leaving land in a will) was only enabled by Act of Parliament in 1540 surprisingly
so the majority was gifted as the q asks.

Just to take up Atalanta's point - the last abbot of glastonbury was one of the very few to refuse the oath under the Act of Supremacy -so duly lost his head. There were only two others Thomas More - once Lord Chancellor and the Bishop of Rochester. The others went under.

[atalanta]

1540 was the end of the dissolution of the monasteries. There were then hardly any religious houses left to which bequests could have been made anyway. When Abbeys and Priories were set up, they were often set up by royalty, and were given land which was to provide an income. Bequests were certainly included. There are whole volumes of wills available to study. Nuns and monks received bequests from families which after their deaths belonged to the Houses. Endowments were left in order to pay for monks and nuns to pray perpetually for the souls of the donors. Special rations were provided for certain feast days by generous bequests.
If there is any doubt about this, read "Mediaeval English nunneries " by Eileen Power.

[Peter Pedant]

Oh I wasnt saying that you couldnt make bequests by will

I was saying you couldnt leave land by will until 1540 and so yes because 1540 is after 1536 this would mean if I were correct that the land was mostly gifted .

The term “devise” is properly restricted to real property, and is notapplicable to testamentary dispositions of personal property, which are properly called”bequests” or “legacies.” But this distinction will not be allowed in law- to defeat thepurpose of a testator;

Read more: What is DEVISE? definition of DEVISE (Black's Law Dictionary)

[Sellergarth]

Thank you all for taking the time to answer my question. It