In the fourteenth century, the Berkeley lords played an important part in enabling education and in promoting the use of written English. They probably sponsored the education of the Cornish boy John Trevisa. He studied at Oxford and later became priest to the Berkeley family. John Trevisa was encouraged to translate many works from Latin into English, and Thomas Berkeley was able to pass these to other members of the aristocracy and to the educated and more affluent members of the public on his London visits.