Well, it was like nothing in England, where monastic houses had been suppressed yb King Henry VIII after his split with Rome. "The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed of their assets and provided for their former members." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries