[ClearCase_guy]

Complex stuff, and I don't want to be too simplistic about it, but ...

Enclosure really became a big thing during the Tudor period, so it coincides with Henry's seizure of church land. England had been a farming society, with much land owned by the Church, with an understanding that "the commons" could be used to support local residents. The Acts of Enclosure took the lands from the Church and gave it to wealthy landowners. They decided that sheep were better than crops. Wool could be sold for cash across the Channel, so "the commons" disappeared and the landowners became far wealthier. The people suffered. The only recourse became government assistance.

As I said at the beginning, enclosure and the English Reformation are separate topics, but one feeds upon the other to some extent.

[ClearCase_guy]

I moved a little too fast -- Henry VIII weakened the church through the "Dissolution of the Monateries" and this largely took land out of church control and gave it to wealthy landowners. As a secondary step, the Acts of Enclosure helped to change the use to which the land was being put, and thereby reduced "the commons".

In my earlier post, I indicated that the Acts of Enclosure took land away from the Church, and that is not an accurate statement.