ABSTRACT
At first sight the state of the clergy appears less alarming than the anxiety of Colet and the vituperation of Tyndale would suggest. Far from perfection though most of the parish clergy undoubtedly were, their ignorance, negligence, indiscipline and avarice have been crudely magnified by commentators; to a large degree the Church seemed to be keeping the distance which separated the clergy from the ideal as narrow as society and history would permit.
