cket was as firm as
Anselm had been in resisting the absolutism of the King. To the King's
extreme annoyance the Chancellorship was at once given up--the only
instance known of the voluntary resignation of the Chancellorship by layman
or ecclesiastic,[8] and all the amusements of the Court and the business of
the world were laid aside by the new archbishop. The care of his diocese,
the relief of the poor and the sick, and attendance at the sacred offices
of the Church were henceforth the work of the man who had been Henry's
best-loved companion, and within a year of his enthronement friendship with
the King was broken.

The first point at issue was whether there should be one common
jurisdiction in all the land, or whether the Church courts should still
exist. These Church courts had been set up by William the Conqueror and
Lanfranc, in order that the clergy should not be mixed up in ordinary law
matters, and should be excluded strictly from the common courts. No penalty
involving bloodshed could be inflicted in the Church courts, and all the
savage barbarities of mutilation, common enough as punishments in the
King's court, were forbidden. Henry II., apart from his strong desire for
centralisation in government, wanted these Church courts abolished, because
every clerk who offended against the law escaped ordinary punishment, no
matter what the charge might be. Archbishop Thomas saw that in the Church
courts there was some protection, not only for the clergy, but for all
minor ecclesiastics, and for widows and orphans, against the horrible legal
cruelties of the age. "It must be held in mind that the Archbishop had on
his side the Church or _Canon Law_, which he had sworn to obey, and
certainly the law courts erred as much on the side of harshness and cruelty
as those of the Church on that of foolish pity towards evil doers."[9]

Before this dispute had reached its climax Thomas had boldly taken measures
against some of the King's courtiers who were defrauding the See of
Canterbury; and he had successfully withstood Henry's plan for turning the
old Dane-geld shire tax, which was paid to the sheriff for the defence of
the country and the up-keep of roads, into a tax to be collected by the
Crown as part of the royal revenue. Thomas told the King plainly that this
tax was a voluntary offering to be paid to the sheriffs only "so long as
they shall serve as fitly and maintain and defend our defendants," and said
point blank