(4) If a man became ordained, his services would be lost to the manor.[759] These reasons do not appear to be very conclusive. The first implies an opposition between the clergy and laity which was non-existent; the second and the third are contradictory. If the development of education fostered Lollardism (which is probable, though it has not yet been demonstrated) it could scarcely be regarded as equally favourable to Rome. Further, the desire of limiting the jurisdiction of the Church could have been gratified more simply by the abolition of the "privilege of clergy." His fourth reason is a more plausible one but it must be noted that the consent of the lord of the manor was required before children could be sent to schools and before ordination.[760] For this reason, legislation would scarcely be necessary to effect this purpose. The more probable reason for this petition of the commons is that the diminution of the supply of labour had caused employers to become fearful of future possibilities, and that they were afraid that the result of sending children to school would be that the number of those who would be prepared to act as "hewers of wood and drawers of water" would be seriously diminished. We have just referred to the custom that villeins were not allowed to send their children to school without the consent of their lords. This custom was abolished by a statute of 1406 which provided that "chascun homme ou femme de quele estate ou condicion qil soit, soit fraunc de mettre son fitz ou file dapprendre lettereure a quelconque escole que leur plest deinz le Roialme."[761] The same statute provided that labourers could not apprentice their children to trades and manufactures in the towns unless they owned land worth L1 a year, probably about L40 a year now. It is difficult to understand the reasons for this legislation. The Feudal System was already crumbling and its complete collapse was not far off. It cannot therefore be assumed that the Act was passed merely to remove a grievance, because the grievance itself was probably lightly felt. It is just possible that the Act might have been intended to facilitate the process by which it was sought to make good the deficiency of priests occasioned by the Black Death. The reference to "daughters," however, makes this suggestion improbable. There is also the possibility that the phrase "dapprendre lettereure" meant an education which would provide for "godly and virtuous living," which, as we have shown in the preceding chapter, was becoming recognised as a part of the educational ideal.