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.

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.

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.

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.

The main objective of the mission, however, was to secure the return of Edward ; but this failed, mainly because Henry III's relations with the Hungarians were strained, and the emperor was unable or unwilling to help Ealdred.

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

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 supported Harold as king, but when Harold was defeated at the Battle of Hastings, Ealdred backed Edgar the Ætheling and then endorsed King William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy and a distant relative of King Edward's.

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

Ealdred was a monk in the cathedral chapter at Winchester Cathedral before becoming abbot of Tavistock Abbey about 1027, an office he held until about 1043.

Ealdred was made bishop of Worcester in 1046, a position he held until his resignation in 1062.

Ealdred was an advisor to King Edward the Confessor, and was often involved in the royal government.

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.

Normally, the bishop of Hereford would have led the defence in the absence of an Earl of Hereford, but in 1049 the incumbent, Æthelstan, was blind, so Ealdred took on the role of defender.

Earl Godwin's rebellion against the king in 1051 came as a blow to Ealdred, who was a supporter of the earl and his family.

Ealdred was present at the royal council at London that banished Godwin's family.

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.

By late 1053 Ealdred was once more in royal favour.

In this mission Ealdred was somewhat successful and obtained insight into the working of the German church during a stay of a year with Hermann II, the Archbishop of Cologne.

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.

The new regime thus established was dominated by the most powerful surviving members of the English ruling class, Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, Ealdred, Archbishop of York, and the brothers Edwin, Earl of Mercia, and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria.

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.

After the death of Harold at the Battle of Hastings, Stigand worked with Earl Edwin and Earl Morcar, as well as Archbishop Ealdred of York, to put Edgar the Ætheling on the throne.

His mother was Aelfflaed, daughter of Ealdred, Earl of Bernicia, son of Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria.

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

Their son Ealdred was the grandfather of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria.

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

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

Ealdred was a close associate of Herman's, and the historian H. R. Loyn called Herman " something of an alter ego " to Ealdred.

In all events, Ealdred and Harold were close, and Ealdred supported Harold's bid to become king.

He may have acted as suffragan, or subordinate bishop, to his predecessor Lyfing before formally assuming the bishopric, as from about 1043 Ealdred witnessed as an episcopus, or bishop, and a charter from 1045 or early 1046 names Sihtric as abbot of Tavistock.

In 1050, Ealdred went to Rome " on the king's errand ", apparently to secure papal approval to move the seat, or centre, of the bishopric of Crediton to Exeter.

Ealdred became involved with the see of Ramsbury after its bishop Herman got into a dispute with King Edward over the movement of the seat of his bishopric to Malmesbury Abbey.

Although Ealdred gave up the bishopric, the appointment of Wulfstan was one that allowed Ealdred to continue his considerable influence on the see of Worcester.

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

Ealdred crowned King William on Christmas Day in 1066.

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.

Ealdred supported the churches and monasteries in his diocese with gifts and building projects.

Lyfing died on 26 March 1046, and Ealdred became bishop of Worcester shortly after.

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.