Still the clergy were not satisfied. The ecclesiastical courts could condemn men as heretics, but they had no power to burn them. Accordingly, a statute was passed this year (1401), known as the statute of heresy (_de hæretico comburendo_), authorising the ecclesiastical courts to hand over to the civil powers any heretic refusing to recant, or relapsing after recantation, so that he might pay the penalty of being publicly burnt before the people.(738) It was the first English law passed for the suppression of religious opinion, and its first victim is said to have been one William Sautre, formerly a parish priest of Norfolk.(739) (M393) Henry had other difficulties to face besides opposition from the nobles. France had refused to acknowledge his title to the crown, and demanded the restoration of Richard’s widow, a mere child of eleven. The Scots(740) and the Welsh were on the point of engaging in open insurrection. Invasion was imminent; the exchequer was empty, and the Londoners appealed to could offer no more than a paltry loan of 4,000 marks.(741) (M394) As time went on, Henry had to try new methods for raising money. The parliament which met at the opening of 1404, granted the king a 1_s._ in the pound on all lands, tenements and rents, besides 20_s._ for every knight’s fee. The money so raised was not, however, to be at the disposal of the king’s own ministers, but was to be placed in the hands of four officials to be known as treasurers of war (_Guerrarum Thesaurarii_). The names of the treasurers elected for the purpose are given as John Owdeby, clerk, John Hadley, Thomas Knolles, and Richard Merlawe, citizens of London.(742) Three of these were citizens of note. Hadley had already served as mayor in 1393, Knolles had filled the same office in 1399, and was re-elected in 1410, whilst Merlawe was destined to attain that honour both in 1409 and 1417. (M395)