Note 39 — Chapter II

The monks were also probably poorer at the beginning of the sixteenth century than they had been in times past, and were so less able to give relief. Father Gasquet quotes several cases in which the revenues of the monasteries had been diminished by the demands made upon them by those in power. He quotes a letter from the son of the Duke of Buckingham, showing that in some cases they seem to have been expected to provide free board and lodging for the poor relations of wealthy families. "And because," the writer says, "he hath no dwelling place meet for him to inhabit (he was) fain to live poorly at board in an Abbey this four years day with his wife and seven children." Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries, Gasquet, I. p. 34 n. See also p. 29. The revenues of the monastic bodies also largely consisted of payments of fixed amounts, and would be unfavourably affected by the rise in prices, which was especially great after the alteration of the coinage in 1527.