The organization of the Company was not in itself sufficient to secure the desired control of the industry. As has already been pointed out, an immense flood of printed matter was being brought out on account of the bitter religious and political controversies of the time. Most of it was very poor printing. The end desired was to get it out as quickly as possible and as cheaply as possible. Much of it was objectionable to the government and the organization of the Company was immediately followed up by repressive legislation. In 1558 Queen Elizabeth laid the foundation of legislation for the control of the press by issuing “injunctions” which required that every book should be licensed either by the Queen or by the members of the Privy Council, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, by the Chancellor of one of the two universities, or by other authorities specified in the act. Frequent proclamations and orders show that the injunctions were not obeyed. It may be laid down as a fundamental principle in the study of history that the frequent repetition of legislation on any one subject shows that the subject is considered very important by the government and that the legislation is not effective. So seriously was this matter regarded by the government that very extreme measures were adopted in dealing with offending printers. One William Carter, for instance, who had been several times punished for breach of the printing regulations, finally printed a seditious book, “a treatise of schisme,” for which he was tried for high treason, condemned to death and hanged, disembowelled, and quartered according to the ghastly custom of that time. By way of further tightening of the regulations a Star Chamber decree was issued in 1586 much more strict than any preceding order. By the provisions of this decree all presses then working had to be reported in the same way as already provided. No presses whatever were allowed outside of London, excepting one each at Oxford and Cambridge. Previous to the charter of the Company provincial presses had been started at Oxford, York, Cambridge, Abingdon, Tavistock, St. Albans, Bristol, Ipswich, Canterbury, and Norwich, in the order named. These, of course, were all swept away by this act excepting those of Oxford and Cambridge. No more presses were to be permitted until the number in use had been reduced to a number which should be pronounced sufficient for the needs of the kingdom by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London. Vacancies in the number of licensed printers were to be filled by three stationers (members of the Company) who would be nominated by the Company and licensed by an ecclesiastical commission. The censorship, both ecclesiastical and lay, was developed and enforced by further provisions of the act.