Although Wolsey was no more, his works followed him. He it was, and not Henry, who first conceived the idea of church reform, towards which some steps had been taken in Wolsey’s lifetime. It was left for Henry to carry out the design of his great minister. When the king laid his hand on the monasteries, he only followed the example set by the cardinal in 1525, when some of the smaller religious houses in Kent, Sussex and Essex were suppressed for his great foundation of Oxford. To assist him in carrying out his design he turned to parliament. Relieved as they now were of the oppression of the great nobles, the Commons were ready to use their newly-acquired independence against the clergy, who exacted extravagant fees and misused the powers of the ecclesiastical courts. Acts were passed regulating the payment of mortuary fees and the fees for probate, whilst another Act restricted the holding of pluralities and the taking of ferms by church-men.(1152) The clergy threatened to appeal to Rome, but were warned that such action would be met with pains and penalties as opposed to the royal prerogative.(1153) (M608) In the city the question of tithes payable to the clergy had been always more or less a vexed question. Before the commencement of the thirteenth century the city clergy had been supported by casual dues in addition to their glebe land. These casual payments were originally personal, but subsequently became regulated by the amount of rent paid by parishioners for their houses. A question arose as to whether the citizens were also liable to pay personal tithes on their gains, and it was eventually decided that they were so liable.(1154) On the 31st August, 1527, a committee, which had been specially appointed to enquire into matters concerning the city’s welfare, reported, among other things, upon the tithe question as it then stood in the city.(1155) The "curates," they said, had purchased a Bull of Pope Nicholas, on the 6th August, 1453, and this Bull had been confirmed by Act of Common Council on the 3rd March, 1475. Not only was the amount of the tithe payable fixed by the Bull, but the Bull itself was to be publicly read by the curates four times a year, so that no doubt should exist in the minds of the parishioners. This the curates had failed to do, and had caused their parishioners heavy legal expenses in disputing demands for tithes. One man was known to have spent as much as £100 in his own defence. The committee suggested that the whole question should be referred to the Bishop of London, and that a translation of the Bull should be exhibited in every church. The citizens were the more aggrieved because many parsonages and vicarages were let to ferm.(1156) (M609)