Funny thing about the word 'nunnery' is that Hollywood must be behind on this definition, because after you guys told me it was a Shakespearian way of saying Brothels, I was watching the "Tudors". King Henry and Anne were having a discussion about sending his first wife Catherine (or was it his daughter Mary) to a nunnery. I can't imagine him seriously considering sending either of those two to a brothel (Anne, yes, but not Henry).
Actually this 100% works. The equation of nunnery with brothel is a post-reformation thing. Henry VIII was a good Catholic until his dieing day, even if he declared himself superior to the pope and all, he never could stomach letting priests marry and probably rolled over in his grave when Edward VI allowed such. So Henry VIII would never use nunnery to mean "brothel", but by the time of Shakespear they had rejected Catholicism, fully embraced the Reformation, and would speak of Catholic things with full derision.
Likewise Henry VIII may have allowed his agents to pillage Catholic institutions in England, but he passed severe laws to punish those who broke the vows of chastity to enter orders. He would never have spoken ill of the institutions of the Church. Henry VIII is not shakespearing, and would have had no truck with using "nunnery" for anything other than the literal meaning.
