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

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.

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 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.

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.

Ealdred helped Sweyn not only because Ealdred was a supporter of Earl Godwin's family but because Sweyn's earldom was close to his bishopric.

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.

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 encouraged Folcard, a monk of Canterbury, to write the Life Saint John of Beverley.

Ealdred, also called Brihtwine, was a monk and provost at Abingdon before becoming abbot in 1066 ; he was later implicated in the conspiracy of Bishop Æthelwine of Durham, and was deposed in 1071.

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.

How the diocese of Worcester was administered when Ealdred was abroad is unclear, although it appears that Wulfstan, the prior of the cathedral chapter, performed the religious duties in the diocese.

Even after the Norman Conquest, Ealdred still controlled some events in Worcester, and it was Ealdred, not Wulfstan, who opposed Urse d ' Abetot's attempt to extend the castle of Worcester into the cathedral after the Norman Conquest.

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

The medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury records a story that when the new sheriff of Worcester, Urse d ' Abetot, encroached on the cemetery of the cathedral chapter for Worcester Cathedral, Ealdred pronounced a rhyming curse on him, saying " Thou are called Urse.

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.

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.

John of Worcester also claims that at Wulfstan's consecration, Stigand, the archbishop of Canterbury extracted a promise from Ealdred that neither he nor his successors would lay claim to any jurisdiction over the diocese of Worcester.

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.

After the Battle of Hastings, Ealdred joined the group who tried to elevate Edgar the Ætheling, Edward the Exile's son, as king, but eventually he submitted to William the Conqueror at Berkhamsted.

Ealdred at Whitsun 1068 performed the coronation of Matilda, William's wife.

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.

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.

Gothfrith was expelled and at Eamont, near Penrith, on 12 July 927, Ealdred, King Constantine of Scotland and Owain of Strathclyde accepted Æthelstan's overlordship.

After his victory at Hastings, William expected to receive the submission of the surviving English leaders, but instead Edgar Atheling was proclaimed king by the Witenagemot, with the support of Earls Edwin and Morcar, Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ealdred, the Archbishop of York.

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.

Stigand submitted to William the Conqueror at Wallingford in early December 1066, and assisted at his coronation on Christmas Day, 1066, although the actual coronation was performed by Ealdred.

Stigand was present at the coronation of William's queen, Matilda in 1068, although once more the ceremony was actually performed by Ealdred.

He gave Stigand a place at court, as well as giving administrative positions to Ealdred of York and Æthelwig, Abbot of Evesham.

As is usual with charters of this period, the authenticity of some of these documents is open to question ( though Della Hooke has established high reliability for the Cornish material ), but that of others ( e. g. Edgar's grant of estates at Tywarnhaile and Bosowsa to his thane Eanulf in 960, Edward the Confessor's grant of estates at Traboe, Trevallack, Grugwith and Trethewey to Bishop Ealdred in 1059 ) is not in any doubt.