h
angry words upon them. In the madness of their wrath they struck him
to the ground and slew him as he lay.

19. =Popular Indignation. 1171.=--Archbishop Thomas did not die as a
martyr for any high or sacred cause. He was not a martyr for the
faith, like those who had been thrown to the lions by the Roman
emperors. He was not a martyr for righteousness, like Archbishop
AElfheah. He was a martyr for the privileges of his order and of his
see. Yet if he sank below the level of the great martyrs, he did not
sink to that lowest stage at which men cry out for the preservation of
their own privileges, after those privileges have ceased to benefit
any but themselves. The sympathy of the mass of the population shows
the persistence of a widespread belief that in maintaining the
privileges of the clergy Thomas was maintaining the rights of the
protectors of the poor. This sentiment was only strengthened by his
murder. All through Europe the news was received with a burst of
indignation. Of that indignation the Pope made himself the mouthpiece.
In the summer of =1171= two Papal legates appeared in Normandy to
excommunicate Henry unless he was able to convince them that he was
guiltless of the murder. Henry was too cautious to abide their coming.
He crossed first to England and then to Ireland, resolved to have
something to offer the Pope which might put him in a better humour.

20. =State of Ireland.=--In the domain of art, Ireland was inferior to
no European nation. In metal-work, in sculpture, and in the skilful
illumination of manuscripts it surpassed them all. It had no mean
school of music and song. In political development it lagged far
behind. Ireland was still in the tribal stage, and had never been
welded into unity by foreign conquerors, as Gaul had been welded into
unity by the Romans, and as England had been welded into unity by the
Normans. Tribe warred with tribe and chief with chief. The efforts of
chiefs to attain supremacy over the whole island had always ended in
partial or complete failure. The Danes had made settlements in Dublin,
Wexford, Waterford, Cork, and Limerick, but though the native Celtic
population was not strong enough to expel them, neither were they
strong enough to conquer the Celts. The Church was as disorganised as
the State, and there was little discipline exercised outside the
monasteries. For some time the Popes and the Archbishops of Canterbury
had been anxious to establish a better reg