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, Becket was as firm as Anselm had been in resisting the absolutism of the King.