To reach the hearts of the poor and humble he instituted a reform of preaching, instructing his friends to purge their homilies of the more grossly superstitious elements and of the scholastic theology.

Instead of this they were to preach Christ simply with the aim of touching the heart, not of dazzling the mind.
Like-minded men gathering around Lefevre formed a new school of thought.

It was a movement of revival within the church; its leaders, wishing to keep all the old forms and beliefs, endeavored to infuse into them a new spirit.

To some extent they were in conscious reaction against the intellectualism of Erasmus {189} and the Renaissance.

On the other hand they were far from wishing to follow Luther, when he appeared, in his schism.
Among the most famous of these mystical reformers were William Briconnet, Bishop of Meaux, and his disciple, Margaret d'Angouleme, sister of Francis I.