The level of literacy amongst the parochial clergy of the sixteenth century is a matter sometimes neglected and sometimes misunderstood, for the evidence is not wholly clear beyond dispute and still far from complete. Estimates of the general condition may have been affected greatly and unduly by the Tudor convention of overstatement. When Archbishop Lee declared to Cromwell in 1535, in referring to the clergy of his diocese, that no learned man would take the livings there because of the poverty of the livings, and that he did not know more than twelve secular priests in his diocese that could preach, it would be prudent to discover if possible whether this statement is due to overstatement or to some prejudice, or whether it is not far from a true appraisal of the situation. Yet definite evidence of the required nature, free from overstatement or bias, or where overstatement or bias may be detected on sure grounds, is not always easy to find, and beyond all this lies the need for appreciation soundly based of the general position of the clergy in relation both to the Church and to society, which must not be lost to view.