Abbey, or Abby [fr. abbatia, Lat.], a place or house for religious retirement, governed by an abbess where nuns are, and by an abbot where monks reside. No fewer than 190 abbeys were dissolved by Henry VIII., the yearly revenue of which amounted to 2,853,000/. Per annum (an almost incredible sum, considering the value of money in those days), a great part of which went to Rome, the governors and governesses of several of the richest among them being foreigners resident in Italy. See 27 Hen. 8, c. 28, and 31 Hen. 8, c. 13, printed in supplement to vol. 16 of the 2nd ed. of the Statutes Revised.
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