Such work as that which has been described--work on a small scale by Bishops Smythe and Blythe, and on a larger scale by Wolsey--became of very great historical importance. It revived the memory of the destruction of the Knights Templars and the confiscation of the Alien Priories, and familiarised public opinion in the earlier years of the sixteenth century with the idea of monastic dissolutions. That no suspicion of personal cupidity or of self-interest could be laid against any of the authors was in itself of great value to the men who afterwards followed in their footsteps with very different motives. The genuine disinterestedness of purpose which prompted these earlier “reformers” went far to blind the public to the real objects of the later. And Wolsey’s dissolutions did much more. They not only supplied contemporary examples and revived old precedents; they not only gave practical effect to the tendency of the New Learning to disparage old forms of religious life; they actually trained up experts in the work of suppressing religious houses. Thomas Cromwell made, as Wolsey’s secretary, his first essays in the art which was afterwards to gain for him the name of the “Hammer of the Monks.” We have seen him busy in the case of both the Staffordshire houses which were dissolved by the Cardinal. Richard Strete, too, we shall soon meet again. Cromwell, even at this early stage of his career, earned a reputation for unscrupulous harshness, and susceptibility to bribery; but on the whole it is evident that these suppressions were accomplished with the least possible friction. The interests of all who were involved--patrons, monks, servants, tenants, were considered and recognised. And the general results to learning were undoubtedly good. CHAPTER III AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL SUPPRESSION When the assembly, which has gained for itself the name of the Reformation Parliament, met, the air was full of rumours of attacks upon the clergy. The French Ambassador reported: “it is the intention, when Wolsey is dead or destroyed, to get rid of the Church and spoil the goods of both.” Parliament assembled on November 3rd, 1530, and to the Convocation which was called at the same time the heads of the following religious houses in Staffordshire were summoned: Burton, Rocester, Dieulacres, Hulton, Croxden, Tutbury, Stone, St. Thomas (Stafford), Trentham, Ronton, Calwich, and Dudley. Sandwell and Canwell had, of course, disappeared recently. The Bishop of the diocese was Geoffrey Blythe. Archdeacon Strete was one of the Proctors for the clergy. The Prior of Calwich, who was summoned, died just at this juncture, and the dispute which arose as to the appointment of a successor enabled the Crown to assert its supremacy at the expense of all parties concerned.