IV.

Archbishop

When Theobald died in 1161, the king decided to make his chancellor Archbishop of Canterbury, the most important ecclesiastical officer in England. Much to Henry's surprise and annoyance, Thomas resigned the chancellorship almost as soon as he was consecrated archbishop in 1162. No open break between the king and the archbishop occurred, however, until 1163, when they quarrelled over the relations of Church and State. Then, at a council at Clarendon on January 13, 1164, Henry set forth 16 written articles of law, the so-called Constitutions of Clarendon, which he claimed represented the customs of the realm in relation to the Church in the days of his grandfather, Henry I, and which affected Church privileges, especially benefit of clergy (immunity of clergy to prosecution in lay courts). The king wanted Thomas and his fellow bishops to accept these articles, but Thomas, although he at first acquiesced, later repudiated them as contrary to canon law as it had developed.

Deeply angered, the king determined to break Thomas, and charged him with various offences. Thomas fled the court and, disguised, made his way circuitously to France, to begin an exile of six years, while the conflict between archbishop and king divided more and more of the Western world.