[2] This right of originating “Money Bills” had been claimed as early as the reign of Richard II, but was not fully and formally recognized until 1407.  See Taswell-Langmead’s “English Constitutional History,” p. 260, and Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, p. xii, S13.

He had no clear title to the throne, and he had no means to buy military support.  In addition to these difficulties, he had made an enemy of Sir Henry Percy.  He had refused to ransom his brother-in-law, a Mortimer,[3] whom Glendower had captured, but whom the King wished well out of the way with others of that name.

[3] Sir Edmund Mortimer:  He was uncle to the Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, who was heir to the crown.  See Bailey’s “Succession to the English Crown.”

Young Percy proved a dangerous foe.  His hot temper and impetuous daring had got for him the title of the “Hotspur of the North.”  He was so fond of fighting that Shakespeare speaks of him as “he that kills me osme six or seven dozen of scots at a breakfast, washes his hands, and says to his wife, Fie upon this quite life!  I want work."[1] This “fire eater,” with his father, his uncle (the Earl of Worcester), the Scotch Earl of Douglas, and, last of all, Owen Glendower, now formed an alliance to force Henry to give up the throne.

[1] Shakespeare’s “Henry IV,” Part I, Act II, scene iv.

282.  Battle of Shrewsbury (1403).

At Shrewsbury, on the edge of Wales, the armies of the King and of the revolutionists met.  A number of Henry’s enemies had sworn to single him out in battle.  The plot was divulged, and it is said that thirteen knights arrayed themselves in armor resembling the King’s in order to mislead the assailants.  The whole thirteen perished on that bloody field, where fat Sir John Falstaff vowed he fought on Henry’s behalf “a long hour by Shrewsbury clock."[2]

[2] Shakespeare’s “Henry IV,” Part I, Act V, scene iv.

283.  Persecution of the Lollards; Statute of Heresy; the First Martyr (1401).

Thus far Henry had spent much time in crushing rebels, but he had also given part of it to burning heretics.  To gain the favor of the clergy, and so render his throne more secure, the King favored the passage of a Statute of Heresy.  The Lords and bishops passed such a law (to which the House of Commons seems to have assented).[3] It punished the Lollards (S255) and also all others who dissented from the essential doctrines of Rome with death.

[3] See Stubb’s “Constitutional History of England,” III, 32.

William Sawtrey, a London clergyman, was the first victim under the new law (1401).  He had declared that he would not worship “the cross on which Christ suffered, but only Christ himself who had suffered on the cross.”  He had also openly denied the doctrine of transubstantiation, which teaches that the sacramental bread is miraculously changed into the actual body of the Saviour.  For these and minor heresies he was burned at Smithfield, in London, in the presence of a great multitude.