e flower of the princes of his world," in
contemporary eyes; but it was as an autocrat he would rule. Against this
autocracy Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, protested, and the
protest cost him five years of exile, and finally his life. The manner of
his death earned for the Archbishop the title of martyr, and popular
acclamation required him to be canonised as a saint,[7] and his name to be
long cherished with deep devotion by the English people. Both Henry and
Thomas stand out honourably, but the former would have brought all England
under one great centralised authority, with the Crown not only predominant
but absolute in its supremacy, and the Archbishop contended for the great
mass of poor and needy people to mitigate the harshness of the law, and to
maintain the liberties of the Church against the encroachments of
sovereignty. "Nothing is more certain," as the old writer put it, "than
that both strove earnestly to do the will of God, one for the sake of his
realm, the other on behalf of his Church. But whether of the two was
zealous in wisdom is not plain to man, who is so easily mistaken, but to
the Lord, Who will judge between them at the last day."

Becket was the first English-born Archbishop of Canterbury since the Norman
Conquest. Henry, on his accession, clove to him in friendship, made him
Lord Chancellor in 1155, and on Archbishop Theobald's death, the monks of
Canterbury at once accepted Henry's advice and elected him to the vacant
see. Becket himself knew the King too well to desire the appointment, and
warned Henry not to press the matter, and prophesied that their friendship
would be turned to bitter enmity. But Henry's mind was made up. As
Chancellor, Becket had shown no ecclesiastical bias. He had taxed clergy
and laity with due impartiality, and his legal decisions had been given
without fear or favour. Henry counted on Becket to act with the same
indifference as Archbishop, to be the King's vicegerent during the royal
absence in France. And here Henry, wise as he was in many things, mistook
his man. As Chancellor of England Becket conceived his business to be the
administration of the laws: as Archbishop he was first and foremost the
champion of the Christian religion, the protector of the poor, and the
defender of the liberties of the Church. All unwilling, like his great
predecessor, St. Anselm, to become archbishop, from the hour of his
consecration to the See of Canterbury, in 1162, Be