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 in the territories of Hugh Bigod (d. 1176 or 1177) [q. v.], and was hospitably entertained by the earl at Framlingham in Suffolk, where three bishops and many nobles visited him. The king was reconciled to him, and he took off the interdict; he received the submission of the bishops and removed the sentence of suspension, but had no power to deal with the case of Bishop Henry, though personally Theobald was reconciled to him (, c. 19). He was brought to Canterbury with rejoicing. In the following spring the monks of St. Augustine's made submission to him; they had appealed to the pope, and it is alleged in their excuse that, though Theobald had published the interdict in virtue of his legatine authority, they did not know that he was legate, and thought that he was acting simply as ordinary (, u.s.). Eugenius decided against them. The prior and sacristan were absolved after receiving a flogging, and the convent was also absolved by the archbishop after a period of suspension of divine service in their church.

While Theobald was at Rheims he must have met with John of Salisbury [q. v.], who, in or about 1150, came to him with a letter of introduction from Bernard of Clairvaux (Ep. 361); he became the archbishop's secretary, and transacted his official business. As Ireland was without any real archiepiscopal authority, Irish bishops-elect sometimes sought consecration from the archbishops of Canterbury, who claimed that Ireland was under their primatial jurisdiction, and in 1140 Theobald consecrated and received the profession of a bishop of Limerick. In 1152, however, Armagh was made the primatial see of Ireland—a step which was held in England to be a diminution of the rights of Canterbury (, c. 24;, i. 212; Annals of Waverley, ii. 234; , Ireland and the Celtic Church, pp. 317, 319, 325, 345–7). In Lent 1151 Theobald, as papal legate, held a council in London, at which many appeals were made to Rome ( viii. c. 31). A new attempt was made by the monks of St. Augustine's to shake off the archbishop's authority after the death of Abbot Hugh. The prior, Silvester, was chosen to succeed him. Theobald objected to the election, and refused Silvester's demand that the benediction should be given him in the church of his monastery as contrary to the rights of Christ Church. Silvester went to Rome, and returned with an order for his benediction by the archbishop in St. Augustine's. Theobald, while going to the abbey as though to perform the ceremony, was met, it is said by arrangement, by the prior of Christ Church, who forbade him to give the benediction except in Christ Church, and appealed to Rome. In July 1152 Eugenius ordered that the archbishop should give the benediction in St. Augustine's without requiring a profession of obedience. Theobald complied with this order, but made further appeals, and the matter was settled later (, cols. 1810–14;, pp. 400–1, 404–6; , i. 76, 147–8). Meanwhile he had a quarrel with the monks of Christ Church. As the convent was in pecuniary difficulties, he had at their request taken the administration of their revenues into his own hands. When, however, he began to insist on retrenchments, the monks declared that he was using their revenues for the support of his own household, and had broken the agreement made with them. The dispute waxed hot; Theobald imprisoned two monks sent by the convent to appeal to the pope, suspended the performance of divine service in the convent church, and set guards to keep the gates of the house shut. Finally he deposed the prior, Walter the Little, and sent him under a guard to the abbey of Gloucester, bidding the abbot keep him safely; so he was kept there until Theobald's death, and a worthier prior was chosen in his place (ib. i. 143–6, ii. 386–8, must be read as a violent ex parte statement on the convent's side).

In the spring of 1152 Stephen held a great council in London, at which, the earls and barons having sworn fealty to his son Eustace, he called upon Theobald and the bishops to crown his son king. Theobald had procured a letter from Eugenius forbidding the coronation, and thus repeating the prohibitions of his predecessors Celestine and Lucius. Theobald therefore refused the king's demand. Stephen and his son shut him and his suffragans up in a house together, and tried to intimidate them. Theobald remained firm, though some of his suffragans withdrew their support from him; he escaped down the Thames in a boat, sailed to Dover, and thence crossed over to Flanders. The king seized the lands of the archbishopric. Eugenius ordered the English bishops to excommunicate him and lay the kingdom under an interdict. On this Stephen recalled the archbishop, who returned to Canterbury before 28 Sept. (ib. i. 151, ii. 76;, Ep. 250; viii. c. 32; Vita Theobaldi, p. 338). When Henry, duke of Normandy, was in England in 1153, Theobald laboured to bring about a peace between him and the king. He was successful, and the treaty between the king and the duke was proclaimed at Westminster before Christmas