ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



scandals once generally accredited, as to Emma and Alwine, and the 

 story of the ordeal of the red-hot ploughshares in the nave of the Old 

 Minster are now regarded by all scholars as mere myths. 



Bishop Alwine died in 1047, and Stigand, Bishop of Elmham, was 

 translated to Winchester. His appointment was a victory for the anti- 

 Norman party at the court achieved by Earl Godwin. All the Norman 

 bishops but one were banished, and five years later Stigand, though still 

 retaining Winchester, was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. The 

 appointment was however uncanonical, Robert of Jumieges being illegally 

 dispossessed of the archbishopric, and Stigand's claims were opposed by 

 successive popes. He was covetous and unscrupulous, and even his 

 friend Harold, nominated by Edward the Confessor as his successor in 

 1066, refused to accept coronation at his hands. After the defeat and 

 death of Harold, Stigand took part in the selection of Edgar Atheling ; 

 but meeting the Conqueror at Wallingford submitted to him. When at 

 William's request the papal legates visited England in 1070, Stigand was 

 cited before them. He was condemned on three counts for usurping 

 the archbishopric in Robert's lifetime and using his pall ; for receiving 

 his pall from a schismatical pope ; and for holding the see of Win- 

 chester in plurality. He was deprived of both sees and placed by the 

 king in custody at Winchester, where he remained till his death in 

 1072. 



In connection with Winchester and the critical battle of Hastings, 

 there is a picturesque story of the abbot of New Minster fighting with 

 twelve of his monks in coats of mail over their monastic frocks, but Mr. 

 Round has shown that it rests on slight foundation. 1 The Conqueror 

 naturally hastened to Winchester, so long the imperial city, and there he 

 met with no resistance. Two years after his crowning at Westminster, 

 the coronation of William and his wife Maud was repeated in the 

 cathedral church of Winchester. 



Under the Normans the imperial importance of Winchester as a 

 city began to wane ; though its state importance was duly acknow- 

 ledged by the earlier Norman kings, London and Winchester divided 

 the honours between them. But from that day to the present the 

 bishopric of Winchester has continued to be considered one of the first 

 in all England. On the deposition of Stigand, Walkelin, a Norman, 

 a zealous adherent of the Conqueror and said to have been his kinsman, 

 was consecrated in his place as Bishop of Winchester. In 1079 he 

 began to re-build his cathedral church on a stately and majestic plan of 

 which much yet remains. The bishop was also energetic in parochial 

 church building, renovating or rebuilding the various churches on his 

 Hampshire manors. At East Meon he built himself a palace which 

 became his favourite residence. 



As to Domesday Survey nothing need be here stated, save that no 

 fewer than 132 churches are named on the 300 manors ; but it must 

 always be remembered that no mention of a church is not proof of 



1 Vol. i. p. 417. 

 II 92 



