When Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries and Church holdings, he gave them to his friends and relatives. The same thing happened in Spain, when the left took over in the 19th century...the properties owned by the Church during the time of the “Desamortizacion” (”Disentailment”) were distributed to friends and relatives of the government.
The bad thing for the average Englishman or Spaniard was that the monasteries were big economic centers and maintained many families around them. It was paternalistic, but there would have been a transition to a different system as the trade fairs and banking brought by them had an impact.
The result in Spain was massive emigration, but that was during the 19th century. I’m not sure what happened in Wales, although it had major emigration to Argentina and the US in the 19th century.
"proudly posting without reading the entire thread since 1998."
When Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries and Church holdings, he gave them to his friends and relatives.
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Coming soon to a church near you....
The left is doing the same today in America.