Editing Stigand (section)

==Final years and legacy==

===Norman Conquest===
[[File:KingHarold Coronation BayeuxTapestry.PNG|thumb|250px|''HIC RESIDET HAROLD REX ANGLORUM. STIGANT ARCHIEP(I)S(COPUS)''. "Here sits Harold King of the English. Archbishop Stigand". Scene immediately after the crowning of Harold by (according to the Norman tradition) Stigand. Detail from the [[Bayeux Tapestry]].]]
[[Image:William1.jpg|thumb|upright|250px|[[William the Conqueror]], shown here from the Bayeux Tapestry, at first accepted Stigand's position, but later allowed papal legates to depose him.|alt=A seated man in robes holding a sword upright in one hand and pointing with his other hand. Behind the seated figure is a standing man pointing in the same direction as the seated figure.]]

King Edward, on his deathbed, left the crown to his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson, the son of Earl Godwin.<ref name=Thomas18/> Stigand performed the funeral services for Edward.<ref name=Rex197>Rex ''Harold II'' p. 197</ref> Norman writers claimed that Stigand crowned Harold as king in January 1066.<ref name=Chibnall21>Chibnall ''Anglo-Norman England'' p. 21</ref> This is generally considered false propaganda, as it was in William's interest to portray Harold as uncanonically crowned. If Harold was improperly crowned, then William was merely claiming his rightful inheritance, and not deposing a rightful king.<ref name=Higham175>Higham ''Death of Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 175–180</ref> The [[Bayeux Tapestry]] depicts Stigand at Harold's coronation, although not actually placing the crown on Harold's head.<ref name=Rex151>Rex ''Harold II'' p. 151</ref>{{efn|The Tapestry also depicts Stigand wearing a pallium, which Norman sources usually claimed he had no right to wear.<ref name=Owen124>Owen-Crocker "Image Making" ''Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church'' p. 124</ref>}} The English sources claim that Ealdred, the Archbishop of York, crowned Harold, while the Norman sources claim that Stigand did so, with the conflict between the various sources probably tracing to the post-Conquest desire to vilify Harold and depict his coronation as improper.<ref name=Walker136/> Current historical research has shown that the ceremony was performed by Ealdred, owing to the controversy about Stigand's position.<ref name=Huscroft48/><ref name=Chibnall39/><ref name=Walker136/> However, one historian, [[Pauline Stafford]], theorises that both archbishops may have consecrated Harold.<ref name=Stafford83>Stafford ''Unification and Conquest'' p. 83</ref> Another historian, Frank Barlow, writing in 1979, felt that the fact that some of the English sources do not name who consecrated Harold "tip(s) the balance in favour of Stigand".<ref name=1000Chuch60>Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' p. 60 footnote 4</ref>

Stigand did support Harold, and was present at Edward the Confessor's deathbed.<ref name=Barlow249>Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' pp. 249–250</ref> Stigand's controversial position may have influenced Pope Alexander II's support of [[William the Conqueror]]'s [[Norman conquest of England|invasion of England]].<ref name=ASE586>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 586</ref><ref name=Loyn98>Loyn ''English Church'' p. 98</ref> The reformers, led by Archdeacon Hildebrand, later Pope [[Pope Gregory VII|Gregory VII]], opposed the older type of bishop, rich and installed by the lay powers.<ref name=Rex208>Rex ''Harold II'' pp. 208–209</ref>

After the death of Harold at the [[Battle of Hastings]], Stigand worked with [[Edwin, Earl of Mercia|Earl Edwin]] and [[Morcar of Northumbria|Earl Morcar]], as well as Archbishop Ealdred of York, to put Edgar the Ætheling on the throne.<ref name=Walker183>Walker ''Harold'' pp. 183–185</ref> This plan did not come to fruition, however, due to opposition from the northern earls and some of the other bishops.<ref name=Douglas204>Douglas ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 203–206</ref> Stigand submitted to William the Conqueror at [[Wallingford, Oxfordshire|Wallingford]] in early December 1066,<ref name=Huscroft18>Huscroft ''Ruling England'' pp. 18–19</ref><ref name=BatesWC94>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 94</ref> and perhaps assisted at his coronation on Christmas Day, 1066,<ref name=DNB/> although the coronation was performed by Ealdred.<ref name=BatesWC96>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 96</ref> William took Stigand with him to [[Normandy]] in 1067,<ref name=Knowles104>Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 104</ref> although whether this was because William did not trust the archbishop, as the medieval chronicler William of Poitiers alleges, is uncertain.<ref name=Conquest11>Williams ''English and the Norman Conquest'' p. 11</ref> Stigand was present at the coronation of William's queen, [[Matilda of Flanders|Matilda]], in 1068, although once more the ceremony was actually performed by Ealdred.<ref name=BatesWC100>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 100–101</ref>

===Deposition and death===

After the first rebellions broke out in late 1067 William adopted a policy of conciliation towards the church. He gave Stigand a place at court, as well as giving administrative positions to Ealdred of York and [[Æthelwig]], Abbot of [[Evesham Abbey|Evesham]].<ref name=Barlow57>Barlow ''English Church 1066–1154'' p. 57</ref> Archbishop Stigand appears on several royal charters in 1069, along with both Norman and English leaders.<ref name=ASE623>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 623–624</ref> He even consecrated [[Remigius de Fécamp]] as Bishop of Dorchester in 1067.<ref name=DNB/> Once the danger of rebellion was past, however, William had no further need of Stigand.<ref name=FeuBarlow87>Barlow ''Feudal Kingdom'' p. 87</ref> At a council held at Winchester at Easter 1070,<ref name=Huscroft60>Huscroft ''Ruling England'' pp. 60–61</ref> the bishops met with papal legates from Alexander II.<ref name=Handbook590>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 590</ref> On 11 April 1070 Stigand was deposed<ref name=Handbook214/> by the papal legate, [[Ermenfrid]], [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Sion|Bishop of Sion]] in the Alps,<ref name=BHOArchCant/><ref name=Blumenthal148>Blumenthal ''Investiture Controversy'' pp. 148–149</ref> and was imprisoned at Winchester. His brother Æthelmær, Bishop of Elmham, was also deposed at the same council. Shortly afterward Aethelric the Bishop of Selsey, [[Ethelwin]] the [[Bishop of Durham]] and [[Leofwin]] Bishop of Lichfield, who was married, were deposed at a council held at Windsor.<ref name=Douglas324>Douglas ''William the Conqueror'' p. 324</ref><ref name=Barlow93>Barlow ''Feudal Kingdom'' p. 93</ref><ref name=ASE659/> There were three reasons given for Stigand's deposition: that he held the bishopric of Winchester in plurality with Canterbury; that he not only occupied Canterbury after Robert of Jumièges fled but also seized Robert's pallium which was left behind; and that he received his own pallium from Benedict X, an anti-pope.<ref name=DNB/><ref name=Lords33>Powell and Wallis ''House of Lords'' pp. 33–34</ref> Some accounts state that Stigand did appear at the council which deposed him, but nothing is recorded of any defence that he attempted. The charges against his brother are nowhere stated, leading to a belief that the depositions were mainly political.<ref name=ASE659/> That spring he had deposited his personal wealth at Ely Abbey for safekeeping,<ref name=Conquest46/> but King William confiscated it after his deposition, along with his estates.<ref name=Brooks309>Brooks ''Early History'' p. 309</ref> The king appointed [[Lanfranc]], a native of Italy and a scholar and abbot in Normandy, as the new archbishop.<ref name=Thomas123>Thomas ''Norman Conquest'' p. 123</ref>

King William appears to have left the initiative for Stigand's deposition to the papacy and did nothing to hinder Stigand's authority until the papal legates arrived in England to depose the archbishop and reform the English Church. Besides witnessing charters and consecrating Remigius, Stigand appears to have been a member of the royal council, and able to move freely about the country. But after the arrival of the legates, William did nothing to protect Stigand from deposition, and the archbishop later accused the king of acting with bad faith.<ref name=ASE623/> Stigand may even have been surprised that the legates wished him deposed.<ref name=Loyn69>Loyn ''English Church'' p. 69</ref> It was probably the death of Ealdred in 1069 that moved the pope to send the legates, as that left only one archbishop in England; and he was not considered legitimate and unable to consecrate bishops.<ref name=ASE659>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 659–661</ref> The historian George Garnett draws the parallel between the treatment of King Harold in the ''Domesday Book'', where he is essentially ignored as king, and Stigand's treatment after his deposition, where his time as archbishop is as much as possible treated as not occurring.<ref name=Garnett107>Garnett "Coronation and Propaganda" ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' pp. 107–108</ref>

Stigand died in 1072<ref name=BHOArchCant/> while still imprisoned,<ref name=BatesWC168>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 168–169</ref> and his death was commemorated on 21 February or 22 February.<ref name=BHOArchCant/> Sometime between his deposition and his death the widow of King Edward and sister of King Harold, [[Edith of Wessex]], visited him in his imprisonment and allegedly told him to take better care of himself.<ref name=Godwins161>Barlow ''Godwins'' p. 161</ref> He was buried in the [[Old Minster, Winchester|Old Minster]] at Winchester.<ref name=DNB/>

At King Edward's death, only the royal estates and the estates of Harold were larger and wealthier than those held by Stigand.<ref name=Emma>Stafford ''Queen Emma and Queen Edith'' p. 123 footnote 136</ref> Medieval writers condemned him for his greed and for his pluralism.<ref name=DNB>Cowdrey "Stigand" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> [[Hugh the Chanter]], a medieval chronicler, claimed that the confiscated wealth of Stigand helped keep King William on the throne.<ref name=Rex79>Rex ''Harold II'' p. 79</ref> A recent study of his wealth and how it was earned shows that while he did engage in some exploitative methods to gain some of his wealth, other lands were gained through inheritance or through royal favour.<ref name=Smith211>Smith "Archbishop Stigand" ''Anglo-Norman Studies 16'' p. 211</ref> The same study shows little evidence that he despoiled his episcopal estates, although the record towards monastic houses is more suspect.<ref name=Smith213>Smith "Archbishop Stigand" ''Anglo-Norman Studies 16'' p. 213</ref> There is no complaint in contemporary records about his private life and the accusations that he committed simony and was illiterate only date from the 12th century.<ref name=1000Church80>Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' pp. 80–81</ref>

Although monastic chroniclers after the Norman Conquest accused him of crimes such as perjury and homicide, they do not provide any evidence of those crimes.<ref name=Smith217>Smith "Archbishop Stigand" ''Anglo-Norman Studies 16'' p. 217</ref><ref name=Emma151>Stafford ''Queen Emma and Queen Edith'' p. 151</ref> Almost 100 years after his death, another Archbishop of Canterbury, [[Thomas Becket]], was taunted in 1164 by King [[Henry II of England|Henry II]]'s barons with Stigand's fate for daring to oppose his king.<ref name=Rumble180>Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" ''Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church'' p. 180</ref> Modern historians views tend to see him as either a wily politician and indifferent bishop or to see him purely in terms of his ecclesiastical failings. The historian [[Frank Stenton]] felt that his "whole career shows that he was essentially a politician".<ref name=ASEQ466>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 466</ref> Concurring with this, the historian [[Nick Higham (historian)|Nick Higham]] said that "Stigand was a seasoned politician whose career had been built on an accurate reading of the balance of power."<ref name=Higham219>Higham ''Death of Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 219–220</ref> Another historian, [[Eric John]], said that "Stigand had a fair claim to be the worst bishop of Christendom".<ref name=John174>John ''Reassessing Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 174</ref> However, the historian Frank Barlow felt that "he was a man of cultured tastes, a patron of the arts who was generous to the monasteries which he held".<ref name=1000Church79/> Alexander Rumble argued that Stigand was unlucky in living past the Conquest, stating that it could be said that Stigand was "unlucky to live so long that he saw in his lifetime not only the end of the Anglo-Saxon state but also the challenging of uncanonical, but hitherto tolerated, practices by a wave of papal reforms".<ref name=Rumble179>Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" '' Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church'' p. 179</ref>