Rumours spread that there were to be other changes besides that of “holy living.”  The see of Canterbury under the new primate was to win back all lands and privileges lost during the civil wars, at whatever cost to the interests of the whole court party, of barons who found their rights to Church appointments and Church lands questioned, and of clerks of the royal household who trembled for their posts and benefices.  There was soon no lack of enemies at court, old and new, ready to carry to Henry whispers that would appeal most subtly to his fears,—­whispers that the royal dignity itself was in danger; that he must look to himself and his heirs, or the story of Stephen’s time would be told over again, and that man alone would in future be king, whom the clergy should elect and the archbishop approve.  Henry’s bitter anger was aroused when Thomas resigned the chancellorship, “not now wishing to be in the royal court, but desiring to have leisure for prayers, and to superintend the business of the Church.”  The king retorted by forcing Thomas to resign his archdeaconry with its rich fees; and at his landing in January 1163 he received the archbishop, who came to meet him, “with averted face.”  Thomas, on his part, added another grievance by refusing on ecclesiastical grounds to allow Henry to marry his brother to Stephen’s daughter-in-law, the Countess of Warenne; and on the general question of the relations of Church and State, he hastened to define his views with sharp precision in an eloquent sermon preached before the king.  “Henry observing it word by word, and understanding from it how greatly Thomas put the ecclesiastical before the civil right, did not receive this doctrine with an equal mind, for he perceived that the archbishop was far from his own view, that the Church had neither rights nor possessions save by his favour.”  The attitude of Thomas was yet further strengthened and defined when, in May 1163, he went to attend a great Council held at Tours, where he was brought more immediately under the influence of the ecclesiastical movement of the day.  There he sought, with a meaning that Henry must clearly have understood, to procure the canonization of Anselm from Pope Alexander, who, however, was far too politic amid his own difficulties, and in his need for Henry’s help, to commit himself either by consent or by refusal.

The inevitable controversy declared itself soon after the return of Thomas from Tours.  Throughout July and August one question after another was hurried forward for settlement between king and primate.  On July 1 the king proposed a change in the collection of the land tax, which would have increased the royal revenues at the expense of the revenues of the shire.  Since the Conquest there had never been a single instance of an attempt to resist the royal will in matters of finance, but Thomas showed no hesitation.  He flatly refused consent to an arbitrary act of this kind.  He made no objection to the payment of the