Henry VIII
Henry VIII ended centuries of Hospitaller wealth and power in
England when he seized all their property.
In the middle ages Christians throughout Europe gave
money and land to the Hospitallers so they could carry out
God’s work.
The Order divided their European estates into 25 regional
priories to fund their hospitals and military role.
The English Priory was set up at Clerkenwell, just north of the
city of London. Visitors to St John’s Gate can still see the
wonderful 12th century crypt of its first
church.
The Order was a major power in medieval England and
by the 14th century was one of the greatest religious
landowners in the country. Priors were advisors to the king and
often held high government positions.
This was not always to their advantage – Prior
Robert Hales, Treasurer of England, was beheaded during the
Peasants’ Revolt in 1381.
In 1511 the young King Henry VIII was named
Protector of the Order, a role he did not uphold. When he
established the Church of England he
dissolved all the Roman Catholic Orders and took
their estates for the crown.
The Hospitallers were
the last order to be dissolved in 1540 and the King granted Prior
Weston the huge pension of £1000, which he did not live to
enjoy.
Although briefly restored by Queen
Mary Tudor, the dissolution of 1540 was really the end of
the medieval Priory in England.