As bearing upon the social condition of the people, it may be noted that at the Herald's visitation of Lancashire in 1533 only forty-seven families entered their descent, and even these furnished very meagre genealogical particulars. This may in a great measure be accounted for by the fact that the visitation was made at a time when the King was struggling with the Pope for religious supremacy, and that the growing feeling in favour of the Reformers had not yet made much progress in this county, and consequently the Herald, though armed with a royal warrant, was received with coldness, some families point-blank refusing even to speak with him, whilst others, having granted an audience, dismissed him "with the utmost rudeness."[122] The Herald appears to have taken his revenge in full, and recorded of one well-known knight (Sir Richard Houghton) that he "hath putt away his lady and wife, and kepeth a concobyne in his house"; and he adds, "he gave me nothing nor made me no good chere, but gave me proude woordes"; of another gentleman (Robert Holt of Stubley) he reported "that he married an olde woman, by whom he hedd no yssue, & therefore he wold not have her name entered"; as for Sir John Townley of Townley, near Burnley, he "sogt hym all day rydinge in the wylde countrey, & his reward was ijˢ of wʰ the guyde hedde the most p'te," and he winds up with, "I hed as evill a jorney as evʳ I hedd"; in addition to all this, Sir John refused to tell him the name of his first wife, and asserted that there were no gentlemen in Lancashire but Lord Derby and Lord Monteagle.