As soon as this was done he went to Normandy, in March, 1166, and stayed away until March, 1170. During this time little or nothing but the ordinary business of justice and taxation is recorded in English authorities. The Becket quarrel was the all-engrossing subject, the sole question of public interest. Abroad the view is only diversified by negotiation and border warfare with Lewis VII., and by the carrying out of Henry’s plan for securing possession of Brittany by the marriage of his third son, Geoffrey, with the heiress of the count. Having spent nearly four years in this way he returned, in order to look after business at home, and in particular to see his eldest son, who was fifteen, crowned as his associate and successor in the kingdom. The importance of the former acts comes into prominence in the later history of the reign. The coronation was the first of a series of events which sealed Becket’s fate. It was solemnized the 14th of June, at Westminster. The Archbishop of York, Roger of Pont l’Eveque, an old rival of Thomas Becket, placed the crown on the boy’s head, in contravention of the right of Canterbury, and in the absence of the little Queen Margaret. Lewis was exasperated by this act of neglect or disrespect shown to his daughter; Becket was maddened by the contempt shown for his authority. The storm began to rage; Lewis went to war; Thomas, and the counts whom he made his friends, besieged the Pope with prayers, and at last he sent or promised to send a definitive legation to place Henry’s dominions under interdict, and compel him to recall the archbishop. [Sidenote: Reconciliation of Henry and Becket. ] [Sidenote: Becket’s return. ] [Sidenote: Henry’s rash words. ] Then Henry gave way. Crossing to Normandy a few days after the coronation, he met Becket at Freteval in July, and there consented to the return of his great enemy. Three months, however, intervened before Becket started for home, and during that time he had several meetings with the king, in which he behaved, or his behaviour was interpreted, in a way very prejudicial to his reputation for sincerity. At last he reached England, early in December, and as soon as he landed began to excommunicate the bishops who had crowned the boy Henry. At London and at Canterbury he was received with delight. Henry had become unpopular: the archbishop’s popularity had been increased by his absence, and the multitude does occasionally sympathize with a man who has been oppressed. The news of his rash, intemperate conduct reached Henry at court, at Bur, near Bayeux, where he had established himself after a very severe illness in the autumn. In high passion the king spoke words which he would have recalled at once, but which laid on him a life-long burden: “Would all his servants stand by and see him thus defied by one whom he had himself raised from poverty to wealth and power? Would no one rid him of the troublesome clerk?” [Sidenote: