‘but afterwards,’ adds Bartholomew of Pisa[191], ‘he had reason for regret, when he saw the friars bestowing their time on frivolities and neglecting needful things; for one day when he wished to see what proficiency they were making, he entered the schools whilst a disputation was going on, and hearing them wrangling and questioning, _Utrum sit Deus_, he cried: “Woe is me, woe is me! Simple brothers enter Heaven, and learned brothers dispute whether there is a God at all!” Then he sent 10_l._ sterling to the Court to buy the Decretals, that the friars might study them and give over frivolities.’ Agnellus rendered the greatest service to his Order by persuading Robert Grostete, the foremost scholar of his time, and the most influential man at Oxford, to accept the post of lecturer to the friars[192]. The exact date at which he undertook these duties is uncertain. He resigned the archdeaconries of Northampton and Leicester in 1231, but he may have been lecturer to the Franciscans some time before this; certainly he was closely connected with their house at Oxford[193]. He was resident in the University in 1234[194], and according to both Eccleston[195] and the Lanercost Chronicle[196], he gave up his lectureship only to accept the bishopric of Lincoln in 1235. He was succeeded by Master Peter[197], who afterwards became a bishop in Scotland. The third reader was Master Roger Wesham[198], who afterwards (namely in or before 1239) was made Dean of Lincoln, and then (1245) Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. The fourth was Master Thomas Wallensis, who, ‘after he had lectured laudably at the Friars’ in the same place, was appointed (in 1247) to the bishopric of St. David’s in Wales[199].’ Thomas was made Archdeacon of Lincoln by Grostete in 1238, at which time he was lecturing in Paris[200]; he was then young[201] and it is probable that he was already archdeacon when he lectured to the friars at Oxford. All these men were seculars, not friars: it was important at a time when, as Roger Bacon says[202], ‘the Order of Minors was new and neglected by the world,’ to secure the services of men of recognised position and ability. Of Master Peter nothing further is known. The other two were certainly close friends of Grostete[203]. Matthew Paris bears testimony to the high character and learning, the kindness and tact, of Roger Wesham[204]. Bacon ranks Thomas Wallensis among ‘the wise men of old[205],’ who studied foreign languages and knew the value of philology; and even Paris admits that this enemy of monks[206] was a man of lofty purpose, and accepted the bishopric of St. David’s, though it was the poorest see, ‘because it was in his native country, Wales, and he desired to console his wretched fellow countrymen by his presence, advice, and help[207].’