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What happened to the monks, their orders and the communities they served after Henry VIII's break with Rome in 1536? In THE LAST OFFICE Geoffrey Moorhouse reveals how the Dissolution of the Monasteries affected the great Benedictine priory at Durham, drawing for his sources on material that has lain forgotten in the recesses of one of our great cathedrals. The quarrel between Henry VIII and the papacy not only gave birth to the Church of England but heralded the destruction of the 650 or so religious houses that played a central role in the spiritual and economic life of the nation. Durham proved to be the exception. On New Year's Eve 1539, the monks sang the last compline. Next morning the priory and its community were surrendered into the hands of the King's commissioners. But then nothing happened. An interregnum lasted 16 months before the priory was reborn as the new cathedral church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin, part of the new Church of England. The Prior became the Dean and 12 monks were retained as prebendaries. In Geofrey Moorhouse's original and absorbing study, one of the great catalytic events of our past comes alive through the personalities and events at one key monastery. Geoffrey Moorhouse was 'one of the best writers of our time' (Byron Rogers, The Times), 'a brilliant historian' (Dirk Bogarde, Daily Telegraph) and 'a writer whose gifts are beyond category' (Jan Morris, Independent on Sunday). He wrote over twenty books, on subjects ranging from travel and spirituality to cricket and rugby league. In 1982 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His To the Frontier won the Thomas Cook Award for the best travel book of its year in 1984. More recently he concentrated on Tudor history, notably with THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE and, in 2005, GREAT HARRY'S NAVY. He died in November 2009.