The doctrines associated with Wycliffe seem to have made great progress among the teachers of the time. This is not a matter for surprise. Facilities for education were abundant and education was free. Either by means of begging, or by exhibitions, or through social interest, a student might be maintained without expense to himself until his course was completed. What happened then? Owing to the system of patronage prevailing in the Church, the clerk found that all the lucrative positions were usually given to men who on account of their social connections could command influence, regardless of their merits or demerits. This is brought out clearly when we consider the presentees to benefices by patrons whom Bishop Grosseteste refused to institute. One presentee was refused by the bishop because he was a "boy still in Ovid";[749] another on the ground that the young man was practically illiterate;[750] in answer to a request of the papal legate, to institute a son of Earl Ferrers to a living, the bishop asks to be excused; when pressed, he suggests that the son of Earl Ferrers should simply draw the revenues of the living and appoint a vicar to discharge the spiritual duties.[751] It is not a matter of wonder that the views of Wycliffe found ready supporters among those of the clergy who were of a low social origin. They considered themselves qualified for ecclesiastical positions which they had little hope of ever filling; hence they drifted to the teaching profession, and in their bitterness of feeling would use the opportunity they possessed to propagate among their scholars the new ideas they had acquired. It is on an hypothesis of the kind which we have outlined that it is possible to interpret the legislation against Lollard teachers which was enacted in the fifteenth century. In 1400, an Act was passed which provided that:-- "None of such sect and wicked doctrines and opinions shall make any conventicles, or in any wise hold or exercise schools."[752] Any offender against this Act or anyone who in any way assisted or supported an offender, "shall before the people in an high place be burnt." In 1406 a petition was presented to the king by the Prince of Wales which drew attention to the propagation of teaching against the temporal possessions of the clergy by certain teachers in "lieux secretes appellez escoles,"[753] and prayed that no man or woman of any sect or doctrine which was contrary to the catholic faith should hold school. The rigour with which this commission was enforced is illustrated by the commission which was issued to the prior of St. Mary's, Coventry, and to the mayor and bailiffs of that city ordering them to arrest and imprison all offenders found there.