If the power of deposition was quietly abandoned by Elizabeth, the abandonment was due not so much to any deference for the religious instincts of the nation as to the fact that the steady servility of the bishops rendered its exercise unnecessary.
[Sidenote: The Religious Houses] A second step in Cromwell's policy followed hard on this enslavement of the episcopate.

Master of Convocation, absolute master of the bishops, Henry had become master of the monastic orders through the right of visitation over them which had been transferred by the Act of Supremacy from the Papacy to the Crown.

The monks were soon to know what this right of visitation implied in the hands of the Vicar-General.

As an outlet for religious enthusiasm monasticism was practically dead.

The friar, now that his fervour of devotion and his intellectual energy had passed away, had sunk into a mere beggar.