Stigand

Representation of Stigand on the Bayeux Tapestry: STIGANT ARChIEP [iscopu] S - "Stigand, the Archbishop", next to King Harald II.

Stigand (* before 1020; † probably February 22, 1072 ) was an Anglo-Saxon prelate at the time of the Norman conquest of England . He was Bishop of Winchester before becoming Archbishop of Canterbury .

Stigand was first mentioned in 1020 as the chaplain of the Anglo-Scandinavian King Canute the Great and was later also the chaplain of his son Harald I. After the death of the latter, he seems to have been the most important advisor to Knut's widow Emma .

In 1043 he was ordained bishop of East Anglia with seat in Elmham , in 1047 he became bishop of Winchester. He supported the Earl Godwin of Wessex in his dispute with King Edward the Confessor and in 1052 brokered peace between the two. In the same year, the Archbishop of Canterbury Robert von Jumièges was ostracized and driven out and Stigand was appointed as his successor. He kept several abbeys in his possession as well as the episcopal dignity of Winchester, which he led from now on in personal union with Canterbury. Pope Leo IX and his two successors, who regarded Robert as the rightful archbishop, refused recognition. It was not until 1058 that he received the pallium from the antipope Benedict X , but the following year he himself was deposed and excommunicated .

Stigand is referred to by Norman historians as the cleric who crowned Harald Godwinson , son of Godwin of Wessex, king in January 1066, and is performed in that role on the Bayeux Tapestry. However, it is likely that out of consideration for Stigand's controversial position, the ceremony was performed by Aldred , Archbishop of York . So under certain circumstances the legality of the coronation should be questioned, as Stigand was also accused of simony . Medievalists also like to cite Stigand as an example that around the middle of the 11th century the allegation of simony was used primarily with polemical intentions to deliberately harm someone. The Norman chronicler William of Malmesbury is said to have denounced “all sorts of people as Simonists”, “especially Archbishop Stigand of Canterbury, who, as the representative of the Anglo-Saxon party, was unable to maintain himself after the conquest, although his ecclesiastical administration had caused no offense. Even his successor Lanfranc was suspected of being a Simonist by Eadmer . "

In the autumn of 1066 after his conquest, Stigand submitted to the Norman William the Conqueror and also assisted in his coronation on December 25, 1066. Wilhelm then filled high offices in his new empire primarily with his own loyal followers and took Stigand with him on his return to Normandy in 1067 , probably for the reason not only to remove him from his offices, but also to physically separate him from them. In 1070 he was also officially deposed by the papal legates and imprisoned in Winchester, where he presumably died on February 22, 1072.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerd Tellenbach : The western church from the 10th century to the early 12th century (The church in its history, Vol. 2, delivery F1). Göttingen 1988, p. F145.

literature

• EA Freeman: The Norman Conquest (1870-1876), Volumes 2-4;
• JR Green: The Conquest of England (1899), Volume 2

predecessor	Office	successor
Ælfwine	Bishop of Winchester 1047-1070	Walkelin
Robert of Jumièges	Archbishop of Canterbury 1052-1070	Lanfrank from Bec