Page "William the Conqueror" Paragraph 50

While at Winchester in 1070, William met with three papal legates – John Minutus, Peter, and Ermenfrid of Sion, who had been sent by Pope Alexander.

It was the legates who ceremonially crowned William during the Easter court.

The historian David Bates sees this coronation as the ceremonial papal " seal of approval " for William's conquest.

Then the legates and the king proceeded to hold a series of ecclesiastical councils dedicated to reforming and reorganising the English church.

Stigand and his brother, Æthelmær, the Bishop of Elmham, were deposed from their bishoprics.

Some of the native abbots were also deposed, both at the council held near Easter and at a further one near Whitsun.

The Whitsun council saw the appointment of Lanfranc as the new Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas of Bayeux as the new Archbishop of York, to replace Ealdred, who had died in September 1069.

William's half-brother Odo perhaps expected to be appointed to Canterbury, but William probably did not wish to give that much power to a family member.

Another reason for the appointment may have been pressure from the papacy to appoint Lanfranc.

Norman clergy were appointed to replace the deposed bishops and abbots, and at the end of the process, only two native English bishops remained in office, along with several continental prelates appointed by Edward the Confessor.

In 1070 William also founded Battle Abbey, a new monastery at the site of the Battle of Hastings, partly as a penance for the deaths in the battle and partly as a memorial to those dead.