The crime sent a thrill of horror throughout the realm. The Pope
proclaimed Becket a saint with the title of Saint Thomas. The mass of
the English people looked upon the dead ecclesiastic as a martyr who
had died in the defense of the Church, and of all those--but
especially the laboring classes and the poor--around whom the Church
cast its protecting power.
The great cathedral of Canterbury was hung in mourning; Becket's
shrine became the most famous in England. The stone pavement, and the
steps leading to it, still show by their deep-worn hollows where
thousands of pilgrims coming from all parts of the kingdom, and from
the Continent even, used to creep on their knees to the saint's tomb
to pray for his intercession.
Henry himself was so far vanquished by the reaction in Becket's favor,
that he gave up any further attempt to formally enforce the
Constitutions of Clarendon (S165), by which he had hoped to establish
a uniform system of administration of justice. But the attempt,
though baffled, was not wholly lost; like seed buried in the soil, it
sprang up and bore good fruit in later generations. However, it was
not until near the close of the reign of George III (1813) that the
civil courts fully and finally prevailed.