el
was in the days of Henry IV. the spokesman of the clergy.

[Illustration: Thomas Cranley, Archbishop of Dublin, 1397-1417: from
his brass at New College, Oxford. Showing the archiepiscopal
mass-vestments and the cross and pall. Date, about 1400.]

4. =The Statute for the Burning of Heretics. 1401.=--In =1401= the
clergy cried aloud for new powers. The ecclesiastical courts could
condemn men as heretics, but had no power to burn them. Bishops and
abbots formed the majority of the House of Lords, and though the
Commons had not lost that craving for the wealth of the Church which
had distinguished John of Gaunt's party, they had no sympathy with
heresy. Accordingly the statute for the burning of heretics (_De
haeretico comburendo_), the first English law for the suppression of
religious opinion, was passed with the ready consent of the king and
both Houses. The first victim was William Sawtre, a priest who held,
amongst other things, "that after the words of consecration in the
Eucharist the bread remains bread, and nothing more." He was burnt by
a special order from the king and council even before the new law had
been enacted.

5. =Henry IV. and Owen Glendower. 1400--1402.=--If Henry found it
difficult to maintain order in England, he found it still more
difficult to keep the peace on the borders of Wales. In =1400= an
English nobleman, Lord Grey of Ruthyn, seized on an estate belonging
to Owen Glendower, a powerful Welsh gentleman. Owen Glendower called
the Welsh to arms, ravaged Lord Grey's lands, and proclaimed himself
Prince of Wales. For some years Wales was practically independent.
English townsmen and yeomen were ready to support Henry against any
sudden attempt of the nobility to crush him with their retainers, but
they were unwilling to bear the burden of taxation needed for the
steady performance of a national task. In the meanwhile Henry was
constantly exposed to secret plots. In =1401= he found an iron with
four spikes in his bed. In the autumn of =1402= he led an expedition
into Wales, but storms of rain and snow forced him back. His English
followers attributed the disaster to the evil spirits which, as they
fully believed, were at the command of the wizard Glendower.

6. =The Rebellion of the Percies. 1402--1404.=--The Scots were not
forgetful of the advantages to be derived from the divisions of
England. They had amongst them some one--whoever he may have
been--whom they gave out to be King Richar