STIGAND RECEIVES THE PALLIUM FROM BENEDICT. 289

Crescentius, he was probably more acceptable than a more regularly appointed Pontiff from Burgundy or Lotharingia. Benedict was in all probability the Pope whom Earl Harold found in possession at the time of his pilgrimage. It is certain that Benedict sent to Archbishop Stigand the long delayed ornament of the pallium, the cherished badge of the archiepiscopal dignity. One can hardly avoid the surmise that Harold pleaded for his friend, and that the concession to the English Primate was the result of the personal presence of the first of living Englishmen. Stigand was not personally present at Rome; the pallium was sent to him, and most likely Earl Harold himself was its bearer. In this act Harold no doubt thought, and naturally thought, that he was healing a breach, and doing a great service to his Church and country. The evils arising from the doubtful position of Stigand were manifest. That a man should be, in the eye of the Law, Archbishop of Canterbury, and yet that his purely spiritual ministrations should be very generally declined, was an anomaly to which it was desirable to put a stop as soon as might be. Harold would naturally deem that he had done all that could be needed by procuring the solemn recognition of Stigand from the Pope whom he found in actual possession of the Holy See. That Pope Benedict was himself an usurper, that his ministrations were as irregular as those of Stigand himself, that he could not confer a commission which he did not himself possess, was a canonical subtlety which was not likely to occur to the mind of the English Earl. He could not foresee that an ecclesiastical revolution would so soon hurl Benedict from his throne, and that he and all who clave to him would be branded as schismatics. In fact the recognition of Stigand by Benedict did harm instead of good. After Benedict's fall, it became a further charge against Stigand that he had received the pallium from the usurper. For the moment indeed the Archbishop seemed to have regained his proper position. Two Bishopricks were now vacant, that of the South-Saxons by the death of Heaca, and Rochester, it is not quite clear how.2 The newly appointed Bishops, Ethelric of Selsey and Siward of Rochester, received consecration from a Primate who was now at last held to be in canonical possession. The fact is most significant that these

3

1 Chronn. Wig. Petrib. Cant. 1058. See above, pp. 227, 228. Benedict was 66 corruptus pecuniâ," according to John of Peterborough, 1058.

2 The long-lived Godwine, or the latter of the two Godwines, vanishes in 1046. We hear nothing, as far as I know, of the disposal of the see in the meanwhile. The Godwine who (Chronn. Wig. and Petrib.) died in 1061 seems to be a different person, VOL. II.

U

a Suffragan Bishop of Saint Martin's near Canterbury.

3 The Chronicles significantly connect the consecration of Ethelric and Siward with the receipt of the pallium by Stigand. The Peterborough writer (1058) seems specially to mark it; "Her on þisum geare forferde Stephanus Papa, and wæs Benedictus gehalgod to Papan. Se ylca sænde Stigande Arcebiscope pallium hider to lande.

were the first and last Bishops whom Stigand consecrated during the reign of Eadward.

2

Harold returned to England, having by some means, the exact nature of which is lost in the rhetoric of his panegyrist, escaped the dangers which seem to have specially beset pilgrims on their journey homeward.1 If I am right in my conjecture as to the date of his pilgrimage, an event had taken place in his absence which showed the weakness of the government when his strong hand was not nigh to guide it. We are told by a single Chronicler that this year (1058) Earl Ælfgar was again outlawed, but that he soon recovered his Earldom by the help of Gruffydd and of a Norwegian fleet which came unexpectedly to his help. We hear not a word as to the causes or circumstances. One is inclined to guess that the story may be merely an accidental repetition, under a wrong year, of Elfgar's former outlawry three years before.3 It is certainly not likely that Harold would have tamely submitted to so outrageous a breach both of the royal authority and of the national dignity. But to suppose that these events happened during the time of his absence from the country is an explanation of this difficulty quite as easy as to suppose the story to be a mere misconception. One thing at least should be noted. A feud with the House of Leofric, which, in the case of Harold, is a mere matter of surmise, is, in the case of Tostig, distinctly asserted by a contemporary writer. It is quite possible that Tostig may, in his brother's absence, have acted a part towards

And on pisum geare for ferde Heaca biscop on Suoseaxan, and Stigand Arcebiscop hadode Ægelric monuc æt Christes cyrcean to biscop to Sudseaxum, and Siward abbot to biscop to Hrofeceastre."

Of these dangers we shall hear more distinctly in the case of the pilgrimage of Tostig in 1061. The Biographer now (410) tells us that Harold, "potenti munificentiâ veneratus sanctorum limina, per medios insidiantes cautus derisor more suo Dei gratiâ pervenit ad propria." These words might have a deeper meaning; the visit to Normandy and the oath might be on his return; but the chances are the other way.

2 Chron. Wig. 1058. "Her man ytte ut Ælfgar Eorl, ac he côm sona inn on gean mid strece purh Gryffines fultum ; and her com scyphere of Norwegan. Hit is langsum to attellane call hu hit gefaren ." So Florence; "Algarus Merciorum Comes a Rege Eadwardo secundo exlegatus est; sed Regis Walanorum Griffini juvamine et Norrcganicæ classis adminiculo,

was.

que ad illum venerat ex improviso, cito per vim suum comitatum recuperavit." Is this the fleet mysteriously referred to by Tigernach (O'Conor, i. 301) under the same year? "Classis cum filio Regis Danorum [he probably means Norwegians] cum alienigenis Insularum Orcnensium et Ebudensium et Dubliniensium, ut subigeret sibi regnum Saxonum. Sed Deus contrarius fuit ei in re istâ."

3 This would apply to the entry in the Chronicle; but, if so, Florence, who marks the repetition of the word by the word "secundo," was misled by it.

4 When Morkere heads the Northumbrian revolt in 1065, the Biographer (p. 421) says of the sons of Ælfgar, "inter eos regiæ stirpis pueros et eumdem Ducem Tostinum ex veteri simultate odio [odia?] erant." The "regia stirps" can refer only to some possible descent of the House of Leofric from ancient Mercian Kings. (Cf. vol. i. p. 486.) There is no sign of any connexion between them and the WestSaxon royal family.

SECOND OUTLAWRY OF ÆLFGAR.

291

the rival house which his brother's conciliatory policy would not have approved of. He may also have found himself, in his brother's absence, unable to quell the storm which he had raised. But all speculations of this kind must be quite uncertain. The statement stands before us; we may put our own value on its authority and we may make our own explanation of the facts, but we cannot get beyond conjecture.

The pilgrimage of Earl Harold may perhaps have suggested to the active Bishop Ealdred a longer pilgrimage still. That diligent Prelate was at this time busy about many matters. Gloucester, the frontier city on the Severn, the usual mid-winter seat of the national Councils, had just received a special ornament from his munificence.1 The city had been in early times the seat of an Abbey of nuns, which came to an end during the confusions which fell on the Mercian Kingdom towards the end of the eighth century. The house then became a College of secular priests, which lasted till the days of Cnut. In the same spirit in which Cnut himself substituted monks for secular canons in the Church of Saint Eadmund at Bury,2 Wulfstan, Archbishop of York and Bishop of Worcester, made the same change in the Church of Saint Peter at Gloucester. The rule of Saint Benedict was now rigidly carried out, and one Eadric became the first Abbot. His government lasted for more than thirty-six years, but his local reputation is not good, as he is charged with wasting the property of the monastery. Meanwhile the bounty of Ealdred rebuilt the church of Saint Peter from its foundations, and it now stood ready for consecration. Abbot Eadric most opportunely died at this time, so that Ealdred was able at once to furnish his new minster with a new chief ruler. He consecrated the church, and bestowed the abbatial benediction on Wulfstan, a monk of his own church of Worcester, on whom, by the King's licence, he conferred the vacant office (1058). It was just at this time that Bishop Hermann came back from Saint Omer. Ealdred, charged with the care of three dioceses, restored that of Wiltshire, the poorest and least distinguished, to its former owner. But there seems reason to believe that any loss of revenue which Ealdred thus incurred was made up by the annexation to his see of several lordships belonging to the church of Gloucester. The diocese of Worcester was no doubt entrusted to the care of Ethelwig;5 of any arrangements for the benefit of Hereford we hear nothing. Ealdred then undertook a journey which no English Bishop had ever before undertaken, which indeed we have

1 On the history of Gloucester and its connexion with Ealdred, see Appendix NN. 2 See vol. i. p. 294.

3 Fl. Wig. 1058. See above, p. 268.

6

not heard of as undertaken by any eminent Englishman of that generation, except by the repentant Swegen. Duke Robert of Normandy and Count Fulk of Anjou had visited the tomb of Christ, but Cnut and Harold had not gone further than the threshold of the Apostles. But Ealdred now undertook the longer journey; he passed through Hungary,' a country which the negotiations for the return of the Etheling had doubtless opened to English imaginations, and at last reached the holy goal of his pilgrimage. He went, we are told, with such worship as none had ever gone before him; his devotion was edifying and his gifts were splendid. A chalice of gold, of five marks weight, and of wondrous workmanship, was the offering of the renowned English Prelate at the most sacred spot on earth.2

5

Under the next year the national Chronicles find nothing of greater importance to record than the fact that the steeple of Peterborough minster was hallowed. The zeal and bounty of Abbot Leofric1 was busily at work. But from other sources we find that the year was not quite so barren of events as we might thus have been led to think. A new and in some respects remarkable appointment was made to the Abbey of Evesham. Abbot Mannig, the architect, painter, and general proficient in the arts, had been smitten by paralysis, and had resigned his office. He lived however in honour for seven years longer, and died, so it was said, on the same day and hour as King Eadward. His successor was Æthelwig, the monk who acted for Ealdred when absent from his diocese, and who was now Provost of the monastery of Evesham. Of him we shall often hear again. As in the case of Wulfstan at Gloucester, we hear nothing distinctly of any capitular election. The retiring Abbot seems to nominate his successor. Pleading his sickness as an excuse for not coming personally, he sends certain monks and laymen to the King, recommending Ethelwig for the Abbacy. The King approves, and, by his order, Ealdred gives the abbatial benediction to Ethelwig at Gloucester in the Easter Gemót holden in that city. Another ecclesiastical event which took place at the Whitsun Gemót

ferde to Hierusalem, mid swilcan weordscipe swa nan oder ne dyde ætforan him;"

clearly rejoices in the splendour and bounty of his own Bishop. 3 quod nullus," adds Florence," archiepiscoporum vel episcoporum Angliæ eatenus dinoscitur fecisse."

"Per Ungariam," says Florence. 2 Chron. Wig. "And hine sylfne þær Gode betæhte, and wurɣlic lac eac geoffrode to ures Drihtenes byrgene, þæt was an gylden calic, on fîf marcon swide wundorlices geworces." The Chronicler, just as at the time of the mission to Köln,

Oddly enough, it is the Worcester and not the Peterborough Chronicler who records this purely local fact; "on pisan gere was se stypel gehalgad æt Burh on xvi. kal. Novemb."

EALDRED'S PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM.

293

of this year is of more immediate importance as marking the ecclesiastical relation between the English Empire and the vassal states. Herewald, a Welshman by birth, but who bore an English name and had been much in England, had, three years before, been chosen Bishop by the Chapter of Llandaff; the election had been confirmed by King Gruffydd and all the great men of the Britons, and three years before this time he had been consecrated by Joseph Bishop of Saint David's. But his election and consecration were now again confirmed by Cynesige Archbishop of York and the Bishops of England, by the authority of King Eadward and his Witan. During the same year, and perhaps in the same Gemót, Malcolm King of Scots made his appearance, for what special business we are not told; but he seems to have been solemnly accompanied by his three greatest English neighbours, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Durham, and his own sworn brother the Northumbrian Earl.2

This year too was the time of an event in a foreign land which proved of no small importance in English history. It was now that, as all our Chronicles so carefully note, the intruding Benedict was deposed, and Nicolas succeeded to the Papacy. The revolution at Rome was followed hy a revolution of feeling in England. The recognition of Stigand lasted no longer than the temporary recognition of Benedict. When the Pontiff from whom he had received his pallium sank to the position of an Antipope and schismatic, the English Primate sank again to the anomalous position in which he had before stood. His ministrations were again avoided, even in the quarter which one would have least expected to find affected by such scruples. Earl Harold himself, when he needed the performance of a great ecclesiastical ceremony, now shrank from having it performed by the hands of the Primate who in all political matters was his friend and fellow-worker.

For we have now reached the date of an event which closely binds together the ecclesiastical and the secular history of the time. It was in the year following the expulsion of Benedict that Earl Harold brought to perfection the minster which he had doubtless for some time been engaged in rearing on his East-Saxon lordship of Waltham. Whether any portion of the fabric still existing is the work of its great founder is a matter of antiquarian controversy on which I will not here enlarge. But whether the existing nave, or any part of it, be Harold's work or not, the historic interest of that memorable spot

1 See the document printed by Mr. Haddan, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, i. 292. Gruffydd appears as "invictus Rex Grifidus, monarcha Britonum præpollens," and his over-lord as "Dominus glori

osus Angli-Saxonum Basilius Eduuardus."

2 Ann. Dun. 1058. "Kinsi Archiepi scopus et Egelwinus Dunelmensis et Tosti comes deduxerant regem Malcolmum ad regem Eadwardum."