The years 1446-7 are important in the history of education in England. In 1446 the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London petitioned the king for permission to erect two new grammar schools in London; the permission was granted and the Letters Patent duly issued.[762] In 1447, a petition was similarly sent to the Commons by four London Rectors for permission to set up four new grammar schools.[763] As we have already considered these petitions in the chapter dealing with the question of the monopoly of school keeping,[764] it will not be necessary for us to deal further with the topic here. We have now brought to a close our exposition of the educational administration in England in the Middle Ages. Until comparatively recently it was generally believed that the educational provision available in this country could not be traced back further than to the efforts of the Reformers of the Church in the sixteenth century, and to the influence of the Renaissance. We are now able to realise that the two centuries preceding the Reformation, at least, were a period in which facilities for education in England were widespread and practically open freely to all. The educational effect of the Reformation--even though undesigned--was to remove from the great mass of the people the opportunities for attending school which had previously been available for them. It is also extremely probable that the significance of the Renaissance upon the educational development of this country has been considerably exaggerated; this, however, is a question which still awaits investigation. APPENDIX. WORKS CONSULTED. A.--SOURCES. Aelfric: _Homilies_ (with translation by B. Thorpe), 2 vols., Lond., 1844-6. Alcuin: _Opera Omnia Patrologiae Cursus Complexus_, ed. Migne, vols. C., CI., 1851. Aldhelm: _Opera_, ed. J. A. Giles, Oxon., 1844. Alfred the Great: _Preface to Gregory's Pastoral Care_, ed. H. Sweet (Early English Text Society), 50. _Ancient Laws and Institutes of England_, ed. B. Thorpe, (Rec. Com.) Lond., 1840. _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, The_, ed. B. Thorpe, 2 vols. (R. S.), Lond., 1861. _Annales Monastici_, ed. H. R. Luard, 5 vols. (R. S.), Lond., 1864-6-9. _Asserius de Rebus Gestis Alfredi_, ed. W. H. Stevenson, Lond., 1904. Bacon, Roger: _Opera Inedita_, ed. J. S. Brewer (R. S.), Lond., 1859. Basil, St.: _Opera_, 3 vols., Paris, 1839. _Becket, Thomas a, Materials for a History of_, ed. J. C. Robertson, J. B. Sheppard (R. S.), 7 vols., Lond., 1885. Bede: _Opera Historica_, ed. C. Plummer, 2 vols., Oxon., 1876. _Beverley Minster, Memorials of_, ed. A. F. Leach (Surtees Society), Durham, 1898. Cardwell, E.: _Synodalia_, 2 vols., Oxon., 1842. Cardwell, E.: _Documentary Annals of the Church of England_, 2 vols., Oxon., 1844. _Charters and Documents illustrating the History of the Cathedral City of Sarum_, 1100-1300, ed. W. D. Macray (R. S.), 1891. Chaucer, Geoffrey: _Complete Works_, ed. W. W. Skeat, Oxon., 1894-7.