In 1060, Ealdred was elected to the archbishopric of York, but had difficulty in obtaining papal approval for his appointment, only managing to do so when he promised not to hold the bishoprics of York and Worcester simultaneously.

William never quite trusted Ealdred or the other English leaders, and Ealdred had to accompany William back to Normandy in 1067, but he had returned to York by the time of his death in 1069.

However, Ealdred did not receive the other two dioceses that Lyfing had held, Crediton and Cornwall ; King Edward the Confessor ( reigned 1043 – 1066 ) granted these to Leofric, who combined the two sees at Crediton in 1050.

Ealdred was able to discover that Edward was alive, and had a place at the Hungarian court.

Edward sent Ealdred after the death in battle of Bishop Leofgar of Hereford, who had attacked Gruffydd ap Llywelyn after encouragement from the king.

The diocese had suffered a serious raid from the Welsh in 1055, and during his administration, Ealdred continued the rebuilding of the cathedral church as well as securing the cathedral chapter's rights.

Although a bishop was promptly appointed to Hereford, none was named to Worcester, and it appears that Ealdred intended to retain Worcester along with York, which several of his predecessors had done.

William of Malmesbury says that Ealdred, by " amusing the simplicity of King Edward and alleging the custom of his predecessors, had acquired, more by bribery than by reason, the archbishopric of York while still holding his former see.

Ealdred was succeeded by Wulfstan, chosen by Ealdred, but John of Worcester relates that Ealdred had a hard time deciding between Wulfstan and Æthelwig.

The northern part of Northumbria, and perhaps the whole kingdom, had probably been ruled by Ealdred son of Eadulf since 913.

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.

He had been taken as a young child to Hungary, and in 1054 Bishop Ealdred of Worcester visited the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III to secure his return, probably with a view to becoming Edward's heir.

His usurpation was met with outrage by the Northumbrians, who had always resisted southern rule, but Æthelstan easily overcame the resistance of Sihtric's heir, Gothfrith, and Ealdred of Bamburgh, the lord of the English Northumbrians.

Amongst them were members of a family who had killed Waltheof ’ s maternal great-grandfather, Uchtred the Bold, and his grandfather Ealdred.

Some say it was his father Earl Godwin who pleaded his case to the King, others that is was Aldred, or Ealdred, Bishop of Worcester who had met him in Flanders returning from his pilgrimage.

It is not known exactly when Edward the Exile's family returned to England, whether they returned with Edward in 1057, or sometime later, so it is only a possibility that they returned with Ealdred in 1058.

In March 1067, William took Ealdred with him when William returned to Normandy, along with the other English leaders Earl Edwin of Mercia, Earl Morcar, Edgar the Ætheling, and Archbishop Stigand.

Ealdred ( or Aldred ; died 11 September 1069 ) was Abbot of Tavistock, Bishop of Worcester, and Archbishop of York in Anglo-Saxon England.

Ealdred, besides his episcopal duties, served Edward the Confessor, the King of England, as a diplomat and as a military leader.

Some sources state that following King Edward the Confessor's death in 1066, it was Ealdred who crowned Harold Godwinson as King of England.

Ealdred was probably born in the west of England, and could be related to Lyfing, his predecessor as bishop of Worcester.

That same year, as Ealdred was returning to England he met Sweyn, a son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and probably absolved Sweyn for having abducted the abbess of Leominster Abbey in 1046.

Later in 1051, when he was sent to intercept Harold Godwinson and his brothers as they fled England after their father's outlawing, Ealdred " could not, or would not " capture the brothers.

In 1054 King Edward sent Ealdred to Germany to obtain Emperor Henry III's help in returning Edward the Exile, son of Edmund Ironside, to England.

Although some sources state that Ealdred attended the coronation of Emperor Henry IV, this is not possible, as on the date that Henry was crowned, Ealdred was in England consecrating an abbot.

It appears likely that the Rule of Chrodegang, a continental set of ordinances for the communal life of secular canons, was introduced into England by Ealdred sometime before 1059.

According to the medieval chronicler John of Worcester, Ealdred was given the see of Ramsbury to administer while Herman remained outside England.

It is possible that the reason Ealdred travelled through Hungary was to arrange the travel of Edward the Exile's family to England.

For whatever reason, Ealdred gave up the see of Worcester in 1062, when papal legates arrived in England to hold a council and make sure that Ealdred relinquished Worcester.

Along with the Pontificale, Ealdred may have brought back from Cologne the first manuscript of the Cambridge Songs to enter England, a collection of Latin Goliardic songs which became famous in the Middle Ages.

date – Ealdred becomes abbot of Tavistock in England.

* Ealdred, Bishop of Worcester, leads troops from England on an unsuccessful punitive raid against Welsh leaders Gruffydd ap Rhydderch, Rhys ap Rhydderch and Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.

Edward's immediate successor was the Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, the richest and most powerful of the English aristocrats, who was elected king by the Witenagemot of England and crowned by the Archbishop of York, Ealdred, although Norman propaganda claimed the ceremony was performed by Stigand, the uncanonically elected Archbishop of Canterbury.

William was acclaimed King of England and crowned by Ealdred on 25 December 1066, in Westminster Abbey.

On Christmas Day, 1066 Ealdred, the Archbishop of York crowned William King of England.

It was probably the death of Ealdred in 1069 that moved the pope to send the legates, as that left only one archbishop in England ; and he was not considered legitimate and unable to consecrate bishops.

He entrenched his position in northern England by marrying Ælfflæd, the daughter of Ealdred, Earl of Bamburgh.

Ealdred's expedition was betrayed by some Welsh soldiers who were serving with the English, and Ealdred was defeated.

Ealdred unsuccessfully tried to drive off the raiders, but was again routed by the Welsh.

An extant copy of this work, currently manuscript Cotton Vitellus E xii, has been identified as a copy owned by Ealdred.

The story of Ealdred being deposed comes from the Vita Edwardi, a life of Edward the Confessor, but the Vita Wulfstani, an account of the life of Ealdred's successor at Worcester, Wulfstan, says that Nicholas refused the pallium until a promise to find a replacement for Worcester was given by Ealdred.

While archbishop, Ealdred built at Beverley, expanding on the building projects begun by his predecessor Cynesige, as well as repairing and expanding other churches in his diocese.

The Laudes Regiae, or song commending a ruler, that was performed at Matilda's coronation may have been composed by Ealdred himself for the occasion.

Ealdred was back at York by 1069 ; he died there on 11 September 1069, and was buried in his episcopal cathedral.

The historian Michael Lapidge suggests that the Laudes Regiae, which are included in Cotton Vitellius E xii, might have been composed by Ealdred, or a member of his household.

A meeting at Eamont Bridge on 927 was sealed by an agreement that Constantine, Owen of Strathclyde, Hywel Dda, and Ealdred would " renounce all idolatry ": that is, they would not ally with the Viking kings.

English sources claim that Ealdred, the Archbishop of York, performed the ceremony, but Norman sources state that the coronation was performed by Stigand, who was considered a non-canonical archbishop by the papacy.