Stigand (died 1087) was the last
Bishop of Selsey
The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...
, and first
Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...
.
Life
Following the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...
of 1066, the English church was gradually restructured along the lines of the episcopal organization in Normandy. As part of this process, almost all of the Anglo-Saxon bishops of English sees were replaced by Normans. Archbishop
Stigand
Stigand (died 1072) was an Anglo-Saxon churchman in pre-Norman Conquest England who became Archbishop of Canterbury. His birth date is unknown, but by 1020 he was serving as a royal chaplain and advisor. He was named Bishop of Elmham in 10 ...
of Canterbury was deposed in 1070, accused of holding the archiepiscopal see in plurality with the bishopric of Winchester and of having seizing the archepiscopate irregularly after the flight of his predecessor
Robert of Jumièges
Robert of Jumièges (died between 1052 and 1055) was the first Norman archbishop of Canterbury.Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 50 He had previously served as prior of the Abbey of St Ouen at Rouen in Normandy, before becoming abbot of Jumià ...
.
Æthelric II
Æthelric (died ) was the second to last medieval Bishop of Selsey in England before the see was moved to Chichester. Consecrated a bishop in 1058, he was deposed in 1070 for unknown reasons and then imprisoned by King William I of England. H ...
of
Selsey
Selsey is a seaside town and civil parish, about eight miles (12 km) south of Chichester in West Sussex, England. Selsey lies at the southernmost point of the Manhood Peninsula, almost cut off from mainland Sussex by the sea. It is bounde ...
was deposed from his episcopate at the same time, probably because of his association with Archbishop Stigand.
[Kelly "Bishopric of Selsey" in Hobbs ''Chichester Cathedral'' p. 9]
King William's chaplain, who was also called Stigand, replaced Æthelric as Bishop of Selsey within a week of Æthelric's deposition.
[ Stigand was listed as an assisting bishop at the consecration of Lanfranc to the archbishopric of Canterbury on 29 August 1070; therefore Stigand must have been appointed as bishop prior to that date.][Greenway ]
Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: Volume 5: Chichester: Bishops
'
At the Council of London in 1075 the South Saxon see was transferred to Chichester.[Barlow ''English Church'' p. 48] Some sources claim that Stigand continued to use the title Bishop of Selsey until 1082, before adopting the new title of Bishop of Chichester, indicating that the transfer took several years to complete.[Dallaway ]
History of the Western Division of the county of Sussex, Volume 1
' p. 25
The medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as " ...
said, in '' Gesta pontificum Anglorum'', that there had been a monastery dedicated to St Peter, as well as a convent in Chichester.[William of Malmesbury ]
Gesta Pontificum Anglorum
' book 2, chapter 96 Presumably the minister became the new seat of the diocese with the cathedral sharing its site with that of the parish church. It was probably after the rebuilding of the cathedral in the 12th century that the parishioners were assigned the nave altar, this was known as the sub-deanery church of St. Peter the Great. They were then moved, at the end of the 15th century, to the north transept of the cathedral and remained there until the 19th century when a new parish church was built adjacent to the cathedral and dedicated to St Peter.[Foster ''Chichester Cathedral Spire'' p. 17][Salzman ]
Chichester: Advowsons
' pp. 164-166 Traditionally, the building of the cathedral has been credited to one of Stigand's successors, Ralph de Luffa
Ralph de Luffa (or Ralph Luffa (died 1123) was an English bishop of Chichester, from 1091 to 1123. He built extensively on his cathedral as well as being praised by contemporary writers as an exemplary bishop. He took little part in the Investit ...
, but the architectural historian R. D. H. Gem argues it is possible that Stigand began the building of Chichester Cathedral
Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of ...
.[Gem "Chichester Cathedral" ''Proceedings of the Battle Conference'' Volume III pp. 61-64] Tatton-Brown goes further by suggesting that "most of the first church was completed as far as the fourth bay in the nave by the time of Bishop Luffa".[Tatton-Brown "Medieval Fabric" ''Chichester Cathedral'' p. 27 and footnote 11] The problem for historians is that virtually no legitimate charters or other documents survive from Stigand's time.[Mayr-Harting "Introduction" ''Acta'' p. 5] The loss of most of the documents has been attributed to the sacking of the cathedral by the Parliamentarians in 1642, during the English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
.[McCann "Archives" in Hobbs ''Chichester Cathedral'' p. 190]
The cathedral, probably planned during Stigand's tenure, consisted of an eight-bay nave with flanking western towers; however evidence from the fabric shows that only the eastern four bays were built in the first phase.[Tatton-Brown "Medieval Fabric" in Hobbs ''Chichester Cathedral'' p. 25]
Dispute with the King and Archbishop
The organization of the Chichester diocese into prebends may have begun under Stigand.[Hudson ''Land, Law, and Lordship'' p. 235] Stigand's organisational skills brought him into conflict with Lanfranc over the archbishops' peculiars in Sussex, which were numerous.[Stephens ''Memorials of the See of Chichester'' p. 46] Lanfranc wrote a letter to Stigand instructing him not to meddle with the Sussex parishes belonging to the see of Canterbury and he also prohibited any of the clergy in those peculiars from attending Stigand's diocesan synods.
Stigand also managed to attract the displeasure of King William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...
. William had selected a monk from Marmoutier Abbey to be the first abbot of Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined Benedictine abbey in Battle, East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the site of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St Martin of Tours. It is a Scheduled Monument.
The Grade I listed site is now ...
. The king had requested that Stigand travel to Battle to consecrate the new abbot; however, Stigand refused and insisted that the abbot elect instead travel to Chichester to be consecrated. The king was incensed and compelled Stigand to go to Battle to consecrate the monk before the altar of St. Martin. The abbey was to remain outside Stigand's jurisdiction and to become part of the king's own chapel. As a further humiliation, Stigand and his retinue were forbidden to be lodged or boarded within the grounds of the abbey on the occasion of the consecration.[Stephens ''Memorials of the See of Chichester'' p. 45]
Stigand remained Bishop of Chichester until his death in 1087, possibly on 29 August.[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 238]
Citations
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stigand Of Selsey
1087 deaths
Bishops of Selsey
Bishops of Chichester
11th-century English Roman Catholic bishops
Year of birth unknown