Stigand Totally Explained

Everything about Stigand totally explained

Stigand (died 1072) was an English churchman of pre-Conquest England. He served as archbishop of Canterbury, bishop of Winchester and was twice bishop of Elmham. Stigand acted as an adviser to several members of both the Anglo-Saxon and Norman lines of English royalty.
Five successive popes, including Pope Nicholas II and Pope Alexander II, excommunicated Stigand for holding both the see of Winchester and the see of Canterbury at the same time. Stigand submitted to William the Conqueror and assisted at his coronation on Christmas Day, 1066. In 1070 he was deposed by the papal legate and was imprisoned at Winchester. At the time of the death of Edward the Confessor, only the royal estates and the estates of Harold had been larger and wealthier than those held by Stigand.

Early life

Stigand first appears in the historical record in 1020 when, as a royal chaplain to Canute, he was appointed to Canute's church at Ashingdon that honoured the souls of those killed in Canute's rise to power in 1016. His name was Norwegian and he was born in East Anglia, possibly in Norwich, and was of mixed English and Scandanavian ancestry. Elmham was the diocese that covered East Anglia. On April 3 1043 he was consecrated bishop. Edward, however, 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. The reasons for the deposition are unknown, but it was probably connected to the similar fall from power of the king's mother Emma that occurred at the same time. Rumors of the time included some that Emma and Stigand were having an affair, and the alleged affair was supposedly the cause of their fall from power.
In 1047 he was translated to the see of Winchester, but he retained Elmham until 1052. Some historians state that he supported Earl Godwin of Wessex in his quarrel with Edward the Confessor, others hold that he was neutral. Whatever the case, in 1052 a peace was arranged between the earl and the king. 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 vilify Stigand and the English Church as corrupt and backward. 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.

Excommunicated

In 1058, Benedict X gave him a pallium, the symbol of an archbishop's authority, 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, Stigand came under scrutiny. Since Stigand held both Winchester and Canterbury, he was definitely a pluralist. Pope Nicholas II had in 1061 declared pluralism to be uncanonical unless approved by the pope, when he declared that Aldred of Worcester must give up Worcester in order to be consecrated Archbishop of York. Five successive popes (Pope Leo IX, Pope Victor II, Pope Stephen IX, Pope Nicholas II and Pope Alexander II) His position was such that even bishops in England didn't want to be consecrated by him. 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. 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. During the brief period that he held a pallium, however, Stigand did consecrate Aethelric of Selsey and Siward of Rochester.
Due to Stigand's issues with the papacy, the diocese of York was able to encroach on the suffragan 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. In 1062, however, papal legates of Alexander II came to England. They didn't depose Stigand, and even consulted with him and treated him as archbishop. He was allowed to attend the council they held and was an active participant with the legates in the business of the council.

Final years and legacy

Stigand is said by Norman writers to have crowned King Harold II in January of 1066 and is depicted at that coronation in the Bayeux Tapestry, but current historical research has shown that this ceremony was performed by Aldred, Archbishop of York, due to the controversy about Stigand's position. The English sources claim that Aldred 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 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. This plan didn't come to fruition, however, as the northern earls and some of the other bishops were against it. Stigand submitted to William at Wallingford in early December 1066, and assisted at his coronation on Christmas Day, 1066. 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. Once the danger of rebellion was past, however, William had no further need of Stigand. At a Council held at Winchester at Easter 1070, the bishops met with papal legates from Alexander II. On April 11 1070 Stigand was deposed There were three reasons for Stigand's deposition: that he held the bishopric of Winchester in plurarity 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.
Stigand died in 1072 and his death was commemorated on February 22 or February 21. He was probably buried in the Old Minster at Westminster. At King Edward's death, only the royal estates and the estates of Harold were larger and wealthier than those held by Stigand. He had been an avaricious man and a great pluralist.

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