 On the succession of Elizabeth, these former monks and friars (happily reunited both with their wives and their pensions) formed a major part of the backbone of the new Anglican church, and may properly claim much credit for maintaining the religious life of the country until a new generation of ordinands became available in the 1560s and 1570s.In the medieval church, there had been no seminaries or other institutions dedicated to training men as parish clergy.Aspiring candidates for ordination, having acquired a grammar school education and appropriate experience, would have been presented to the bishop's commissary for examination; typically sponsored in this by an ecclesiastical corporation which provided them with a 'title', a notional patrimony assuring the bishop of their financial security.