Rents and Reformation

We test the hypothesis that the sale of Catholic monastic lands following the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-1540) cemented Protestantism post-Reformation England. Drawing on a newly compiled dataset of 16th and 17th century members of Parliament (MPs), we first establish that borough constituencies with a higher proportion of monastic lands had MPs who were more likely to support Protestantism during the reign of Mary I (r. 1553-1558). Furthermore, individuals MPs with connections to monastic lands were more likely to support Protestantism and opposed Mary I. We go on to show that these attitudes persisted into the late 17th century. MPs representing boroughs with monastic lands were more likely to support the exclusion of the Catholic future James II from the throne in 1679-1681.

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