STIGAND

'Stigand' (died 1072) was an English churchman of pre-Conquest England.

Contents

Early Life

Bishop of Elmham and Winchester

Bishop of Winchester

Archbishop of Canterbury

Legacy

Notes

References

Further reading

External Links

Early Life

He is first mentioned in 1020. He was then chaplain to Canute, being appointed to the church that Canute built at Ashingdon to honor the souls of those killed in Canute's coming to power in 1016.Hill ''The Road to Hastings'' p. 61 After Canute's death he served Canute's son, Harold Harefoot. His name was Norwegian, and he was born in East Anglia, possibly born a native of Norwich.Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 59 He was definitely of mixed English and Scandanavian stock. After the death of Harthacanute, Stigand appears to have acted as the chief adviser of Canute's widow, Emma mother of both Harthacanute and Edward the Confessor.

Bishop of Elmham and Winchester

Shortly after Edward the Confessor's coronation, Stigand was appointed to the see of Elmham, almost assuredly on Emma's advice. Elmham was the diocese that covered East Anglia. On April 3 1043Powicke ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 210 he was consecrated bishop.Powicke ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 223 However, Edward deposed Stigand in late 1043 and deprived him of his wealth. The deposition was short lived, as Edward returned Stigand to the episcopal chair by 1044.Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 77

Bishop of Winchester

In 1047 he was translated to the see of Winchester.Powicke ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 258 However, he retained at Elmham until 1052.Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 87 Some have held that he supported Earl Godwin of Wessex in his quarrel with Edward the Confessor,Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 123 others hold that he was neutral.Walker ''Harold'' p. 49 Whatever the case, in 1052 arranged the peace between the earl and the king.

Archbishop of Canterbury

In 1052 the archbishop of Canterbury, Robert of Jumieges, having been outlawed and driven from England, Stigand was appointed to the archbishopric. This was either a reward from Godwin for siding with Godwin's family in the crisis of 1051–1052; or was a reward from King Edward for sucessfully negotiating a peaceful conclusion to the situation in 1052 when Godwin returned. Pope Leo IX and his two successors refused to recognize him, regarding Robert as the rightful archbishop. Stigand released Elmham to his brother Æthelmaer, but retained the bishopric of Winchester at the same time he was archbishop. He was the first non-monk to be named to either the Arcbishopric of Canterbury or of York since before the days of Dunstan.Knowles ''Monastic Order in England'' p. 66 He was later accused of simony, or the buying of ecclesiastical office, but all such accusations date to after 1066, and are thus suspect due to the post-Conquest desire to villify Stigand and the English Church as corrupt and backward.Huscroft ''Ruling England 1042-1217'' p. 46-47
Stigand may have been behind the effort to locate Edward the Atheling and his brother Edmund after 1052, possibly to secure a more acceptable heir to King Edward.Walker ''Harold'' p. 75
In 1058, however, Benedict X gave him the pall, but this pope was deposed in the following year. At this time, there was a growing movement in the church to reform itself, and being a pluralist, or the holding of more than one benefice at the same time, came under scrutiny. Because Stigand retained Winchester, he definitely was a pluralist, which Pope Nicholas II had in 1061 declared to be uncannoical unless approved by the pope, when he declared the Aldred of Worcester must give up Worcester in order to be consecrated Archbishop of York.Huscroft ''Ruling England 1042-1217'' p. 62 Five successive popes excommunicated Stigand for holding both Winchester and Canterbury at the same time. Not only did Stigand hold Winchester along with Canterbury, but he held the abbey of Gloucester and the abbey of Ely and maybe others.Knowles ''The Monastic Order in England'' p. 72 His position was such that even bishops in England were leery of being consecrated by him.Chibnall ''Anglo-Norman England 1066-1166'' p. 39 Both Giso of Wells and Walter of Hereford travelled to Rome to be consecrated by the Pope in 1061 rather than be consecrated by Stigand.Huscruft ''Ruling England 1042-1217'' p. 51 The position of Stigand as head of the church in England was used to good effect by the Normans in their propaganda before, during and after the Conquest.Douglas ''William the Conqueror'' p. 170 During the brief period that he held a pallium, however, Stigand did consecrate Aethelric of Selsey and Siward of Rochester.Walker ''Harold'' p. 136-138
Because of Stigand's issues with the papacy, the diocese of York was able to encroach on the suffragen bishops normally subject to Canterbury. York had long been held in common with Worcester, but during the period when Stigand was excommunicated, the see of York also claimed Lichfield and Dorcester as part of its archiepiscopal diocese.Barlow ''The Feudal Kingdom of England'' p. 27 However, in 1062, papal legates of Alexander II came to England. They did not depose Stigand, and even consulted with him and treated him as archbishop.Walker ''Harold'' p. 127 He was allowed to attend the council they held, and was an active participant with the legates in the business of the council.Walker ''Harold'' p. 148-149
Stigand is said by Norman writers to have crowned King Harold II in January 1066Chibnall ''Anglo-Norman England 1066-1166'' p. 21 and is depicted at that coronation in the Bayeux tapestry; but it is now probable that this ceremony was performed by Aldred, Archbishop of York due to the controversy about Stigand's position. Stigand did support Harold, and was present at Edward the Confessor's deathbed.Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 249-250 The English sources claim that Aldred crowned Harold, and the Norman sources claim that Stigand did so, with the conflict between the various sources probably tracing to the post-Conquest desire to villify Harold and depict his coronation as unlawful.
After the death of Harold, Stigand worked with Earl Edwin and Earl Morcar, as well as Archbishop Aldred of York, to put Edgar Atheling on the throne.Walker ''Harold'' p. 183-185 However, this plan did not come to fruition, as the northern earls and some of the other bishops were against it.Douglas ''William the Conqueror p.203-206 Stigand submitted to William at Wallingford in early December of 1066,Huscroft ''Ruling England 1042-1217'' p. 18-19 and assisted at his coronation on Christmas Day, 1066. William took Stigand in his train to Normandy in 1067.Knowles ''The Monastic Order in England'' p. 104 After the first rebellions broke out, William adopted a policy of conciliating the church and gave Stigand a place at court, as well as giving administrative positions to Aldred of York and Aethelwig, abbot of Evesham.Barlow ''The English Church 1066-1154'' p. 57 However, once the danger of rebellion was past, William had no further need of Stigand.Barlow ''The Feudal Kingdom of England'' p. 87 At a Council held at Winchester at Easter,Huscroft ''Ruling England 1042-1217'' p. 60-61 the bishops met with papal legates from Alexander II.Powicke ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 549 On April 11, 1070 he was deposed by the council and was imprisoned at Winchester. Deposed along with him were his brother Aethelmaer bishop of Elmham, Aethelric bishop of Selsey, Ethelwin bishop of Durham, and Leofwine bishop of Lichfield, who was married.Douglas ''William the Conqueror'' p. 324Barlow ''The Feudal Kingdom of England'' p. 93 The reasons for Stigand's deposition were given as three - one, that had held the bishopric of Winchester in plurarity with Canterbury; two, that he had not only occupied Canterbury after Robert of Jumièges fled but had also seized Robert's pallium which had been left behind; and three, he had received his own pallium from Benedict X.Powell ''The House of Lords in the Middle Ages'' p. 33-34

Legacy

Stigand died, on February 22, 1072, probably at Winchester. He had been an avaricious man and a great pluralist, holding the bishopric of Winchester after he became archbishop of Canterbury, in addition to several abbeys.

Notes

References

★ Barlow, Frank ''Edward the Confessor'' Berkeley, California: University of California Press 1970 ISBN 0-520-01671-8

★ Barlow, Frank ''The English Church 1066-1154'' New York: Longman 1979 ISBN 0-582-50236-5

★ Barlow, Frank ''The Feudal Kingdom of England: 1042-1216'' Fourth Edition New York: Longman 1988 ISBN 0-582-49504-0

★ Chibnall, Marjorie ''Anglo-Norman England 1066-1166'' Oxford: Basil Blackwell 1986 ISBN 0-631-15439-6

★ Douglas, David C. ''William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England'' Berkeley, California: University of California Press 1964

★ Hill, Paul ''The Road to Hastings: The Politics of Power in Anglo-Saxon England'' Stroud: Tempus 2005 ISBN00-7524-3308-3

★ Huscroft, Richard ''Ruling England 1042-1217'' London: Pearson Longman 2005 ISBN 0-582-84882-2

★ Knowles, Dom David ''The Monastic Order in England: From the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council'' Second Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1976 reprint ISBN 0-521-05479-6

★ Powell, J. Enoch and Keith Wallis ''The House of Lords in the Middle Ages: A History of the English House of Lords to 1540'' London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1968

★ Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde ''Handbook of British Chronology'' 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961

★ Walker, Ian ''Harold: The Last Anglo-Saxon King'' Wrens Park Publishing 2000 ISBN 0-905-778-464

Further reading

★ E. A. Freeman, ''The Norman Conquest'' (1870-1876), vols. ii, iii and iv

★ J. R. Green, ''The Conquest of England'' (1899), vol. ii.

External Links

★ Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England: Stigand

★ People of the Bayeux Tapestry