Page "St Paul's School, London" Paragraph 5

Colet was an outspoken critic of the powerful and worldly Church of his day, a friend of Erasmus and Sir Thomas More.

Erasmus wrote textbooks for the school and St Paul's was the first English school to teach Greek, reflecting the humanist interests of the founder.

Colet distrusted the Church as a managing body for his school, declaring that he " found the least corruption " in married laymen.

For this reason, Colet assigned the management of the School and its revenues to the Mercers ' Company, the premier livery company in the City of London, with which his father had been associated.

In 1876 the company were legally established as trustees of the Colet estate and the management of the school was assigned to a Board of Governors consisting of the Master, Wardens and nine members of the company, together with three representatives each of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London.

The Mercers ' Company still forms the major part of the School's governing body, and it continues to administer Colet's trust.