It is estimated that the monastic lands Henry seized were worth three times the land he already owned. By 1551, the Venetian ambassador, Giacomo Soranzo, wrote of London that it was "disfigured by the ruins of a multitude of churches and monasteries".
Henry's seizure of ecclesiastical properties is thought to have equaled three times his pre-existing landholdings. By 1551, the Venetian ambassador Giacomo Soranzo observed that London was scarred by the ruins of many churches and monasteries.