Editing Stigand (section)

===Ecclesiastical affairs===
The [[Archbishop of York|diocese of York]] took advantage of Stigand's difficulties with the papacy and encroached on the suffragans, or bishops owing obedience to an archbishop, normally subject to Canterbury. York had long been held in common with [[Bishop of Worcester|Worcester]], but during the period when Stigand was excommunicated, the see of York also claimed oversight over the sees of [[Bishop of Lichfield|Lichfield]] and [[Bishop of Lincoln|Dorchester]].<ref name=Barlow27>Barlow ''Feudal Kingdom'' p. 27</ref> In 1062 [[papal legate]]s of Alexander II came to England. They did not depose Stigand, and even consulted with him and treated him as archbishop.<ref name=Walker127>Walker ''Harold'' p. 127</ref> He was allowed to attend the council they held and was an active participant with the legates in the business of the council.<ref name=Walker148>Walker ''Harold''  pp. 148–149</ref>

Many of the bishops in England did not want to be consecrated by Stigand.<ref name=Chibnall39>Chibnall ''Anglo-Norman England'' p. 39</ref> Both [[Gisa, Bishop of Wells|Giso of Wells]] and [[Walter of Lorraine|Walter of Hereford]] travelled to Rome to be consecrated by the pope in 1061, rather than be consecrated by Stigand.<ref name=Huscroft51>Huscroft ''Ruling England'' p. 51</ref> During the brief period that he held a legitimate pallium, however, Stigand did consecrate [[Æthelric II|Aethelric of Selsey]] and [[Siward, Bishop of Rochester|Siward of Rochester]].<ref name=Walker136>Walker ''Harold''  pp. 136–138</ref> Abbots of monasteries came to Stigand for consecration throughout his time as archbishop. These included not only abbots from monastic houses inside his province, such as [[Æthelsige]] as abbot of [[St Augustine's Abbey]] in Canterbury, but also [[Baldwin (abbot of Bury St Edmunds)|Baldwin]] as [[Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds]] and Thurstan as [[List of bishops of Ely|Abbot of Ely]].<ref name=Brooks307/> After the Norman Conquest, Stigand was accused of selling the office of abbot, but no abbot was deposed for buying the office, so the charge is suspect.<ref name=1000Church113>Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' pp. 113–115</ref>

Stigand was probably the most lavish clerical donor of his period when great men gave to churches on an unprecedented scale.<ref name=ASA230>Dodwell ''Anglo-Saxon Art'' pp. 230–231</ref> He was a benefactor to the Abbey of Ely,<ref name=Conquest46/> and gave large gold or silver crucifixes to Ely, St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, [[Bury St. Edmunds Abbey]], and to his [[Cathedral|cathedral church]] at Winchester.<ref name=Piety576>Smith, et al. "Court and Piety" ''Catholic Historical Review'' p. 576</ref> The crucifixes given to Ely, Bury and Winchester all appear to have had about life-size figures of Christ with matching figures of the Virgin and [[John the Evangelist]], as is recorded in the monastic histories, and were probably permanently mounted over the altar or elsewhere. These would have been made with thin sheets of precious metal over a wooden core.<ref name=ASA220>Dodwell ''Anglo-Saxon Art'' pp. 211–213, 220 n. 39</ref> No comparably early [[rood]] crosses with the side figures of Mary and John seem to survive, though we have large painted wooden crucifixes like the German [[Gero Cross]] of around 980, and the [[Volto Santo of Lucca]] (renewed with a later figure) which is known to have inspired Leofstan, Abbot of Bury (d. 1065) to create a similar figure, perhaps covered in precious metal, on his return from a visit to Rome.<ref name=ASA211>Dodwell ''Anglo-Saxon Art'' p. 211</ref>{{efn|No early large metal examples have survived, though for example [[Charlemagne]] is known to have had one in his chapel at Aachen. For further information on the evolution of the large crucifix, see Schiller, ''Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I'', pp. 140–149, {{ISBN|0-85331-270-2}}.}} To Ely he gave gold and silver vessels for the altar, and a [[chasuble]] embroidered in gold "of such inestimable workmanship and worth, that none in the kingdom is considered richer or more valuable".<ref name=ASA181>Dodwell ''Anglo-Saxon Art'' pp. 181 and 205</ref> Although it does not appear that Stigand ever travelled to Rome, there are indications that Stigand did go on pilgrimage. A 12th-century life of Saint [[Willibrord]], written at the [[Abbey of Echternach]] in what is now [[Luxembourg]], records that "to this place also came Stigand, the eminent archbishop of the English". In the work, Stigand is recorded as giving rich gifts to the abbey as well as relics of saints.<ref name=Piety575>Smith, et al. "Court and Piety" ''Catholic Historical Review'' p. 575</ref>