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The '''English embassy to Rome in 1061''' was a deputation sent by king [[Edward the Confessor]] to the pope, [[Pope Nicholas II|Nicholas II]], to deal with various ecclesiastical matters, particularly the ordination of [[Gisa (bishop of Wells)|Giso]], [[Bishop of Bath and Wells|Bishop of Wells]], [[Walter of Lorraine|Walter]], [[Bishop of Hereford]], and [[Ealdred (archbishop of York)|Ealdred]], [[Archbishop of York]].  They travelled to Rome under the protection of [[Tostig Godwinson|Tostig]], [[earl of Northumbria]] and his brother [[Gyrth Godwinson|Gyrth]].  Ealdred was initially refused ordination by the pope because he was adjudged guilty of [[Benefice#Pluralism|pluralism]] and other breaches of [[Canon law of the Catholic Church|canon law]], and the embassy received a further setback when they were despoiled by robbers as they began their journey home.  When they returned indignantly to Rome, however, Ealdred was granted the archbishopric after all, and the party was able to make its way home to England with almost all its objectives achieved.
== Background ==
[[Stigand]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], had been appointed in 1052 by [[Edward the Confessor]], in line with the practice of the [[Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon Church]] but contrary to the doctrine of the [[Gregorian Reform|reforming party]] in Rome for whom all appointments to archbishoprics needed to be confirmed by the Pope.  He had been sent the [[pallium]], the vestment of his office, by [[Antipope Benedict X|Benedict X]] in 1058, but this pope had been deposed by the reformers and all his acts nullified.  Consequently Stigand's legitimacy as archbishop was more than doubtful.{{sfn|Mason|2004|pp=78–79}}  At the Christmas assembly in 1060 [[Ealdred (archbishop of York)|Ealdred]], [[Bishop of Worcester]], was raised to the [[Archbishop of York|archbishopric of York]] without abandoning his position in Worcester,{{sfn|Licence|2020|pp=195–196}} and at about the same time Edward chose two of his clerks, [[Gisa (bishop of Wells)|Giso]] and [[Walter of Lorraine|Walter]], both [[Lotharingia]]ns, to the bishoprics of [[Bishop of Bath and Wells|Wells]] and [[Bishop of Hereford|Hereford]] respectively.{{sfn|Barrow|2004a}}{{sfn|Barrow|2004b}}  Giso and Walter could not be ordained by Ealdred, who had not yet received his own pallium, nor by Stigand in view of his compromised legitimacy,{{sfn|Mason|2004|p=95}} so Edward decided to send all three of the new appointees to Rome to be invested.  Further issues could also be judged there, including a proposed transfer of [[Bishop of Lindsey|Lindsey]] from the [[Bishop of Lincoln|bishopric of Dorchester]] to that of York and perhaps the granting of [[Privilege (Catholic canon law)|papal privileges]] to [[Westminster Abbey]].{{sfn|Licence|2020|p=197}}  They were probably also to take to Rome the financial tribute known as [[Peter's Pence]].{{sfn|Barlow|1992|p=53}}
== Journey to Rome ==
Early in 1061 the embassy set out.  Along with the three bishops went [[Tostig Godwinson]], [[earl of Northumbria]], his wife, [[Judith of Flanders (died 1095)|Judith of Flanders]], and his brother, earl [[Gyrth Godwinson|Gyrth]].{{sfn|Licence|2020|pp=197–198}}  Also a Northumbrian nobleman called Gospatric (possible identical with that [[Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria|Gospatric]] who later gained the earldom of Northumbria),<ref>{{Cite ODNB|first=William M. |last=Aird|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/11110|title=Gospatric, earl of Northumbria}}</ref> and a young son of the [[Earl of Mercia|Mercian earl]] [[Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia|Ælfgar]] called Burgheard, both of whom were probably hostages taken to ensure good behaviour during Tostig's absence from [[Northumbria]].{{sfn|Mason|2004|pp=96–97}}  The author of the ''[[Vita Ædwardi Regis]]'', one of the main historical sources for the story of this embassy, may also have been part of it,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grassi |first1=J. L. |editor-last1=Gillingham |editor-first1=John |editor-link1=John Gillingham |date=2004 |chapter=The ''Vita Ædwardi Regis'': the hagiographer as insider |title=Anglo-Norman Studies XXVI: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2003 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FjJjRHvQI74C&pg=PA96 |location=Woodbridge |publisher=The Boydell Press |pages=87–102 |isbn=9786611949686 |access-date=4 September 2022 }}</ref> and so certainly was a large military escort formed of Edward's [[housecarl]]s.{{sfn|Licence|2020|p=198}}
The route they chose, taking them through [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxony]], the upper [[Rhineland]], [[County of Burgundy|Burgundy]], the Alps and [[Lombardy (historical region)|Lombardy]], suggests the possibility of their visiting the various German courts, such as those of [[Electorate of Cologne|Cologne]] and [[Electorate of Mainz|Mainz]], or even the [[Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1301)|Hungarian]] one, though it is only known that they visited a number of Christian shrines.  They reached Rome before Easter.{{sfn|Barlow|2013|p=89}}
== Reception at the Papal court ==
[[Pope Nicholas II]] convened a [[synod]] in Rome at Easter which both Tostig and Ealdred attended, Tostig reportedly being given a seat next to the Pope himself.{{sfn|Barlow|2013|p=89}}  Giso and Walter were ordained without difficulty and Giso's new bishopric was granted a papal privilege,{{sfn|Barrow|2004a}} but Ealdred was not so lucky.  Nicholas was one of the reformers fighting breaches of [[Canon law of the Catholic Church|canon law]], and Ealdred was accused, partly on the basis of his own testimony to the synod, of being guilty of [[Benefice#Pluralism|pluralism]] (the holding of more than one ecclesiastical office at once), [[simony]] (the corrupt purchasing of ecclesiastical office), and unauthorised [[Translation (ecclesiastical)|translation]] (transfer from one [[Episcopal see|see]] to another).{{sfn|Mason|2004|p=95}}{{sfn|Schoenig|2016|p=321}}  On 3 May 1061 the Pope ruled against Lindsey being transferred to Ealdred's jurisdiction,{{sfn|Mason|2004|p=96}} and in the end Ealdred was deprived of both the bishopric of Worcester and the archbishopric of York.  Tostig responded by threatening to end England's payment of Peter's Pence in future, but without success, and the embassy therefore set off on their homeward journey.{{sfn|Barlow|2013|p=89}}
== Among thieves ==
Soon after leaving Rome, perhaps even on the first day,{{sfn|Barlow|2013|p=89}} while they were travelling along the ''[[Via Cassia]]'',{{sfn|Aird|2004}} they "fell among thieves", as the ''Vita Ædwardi Regis'' puts it.<ref>{{cite book |last=Atherton |first=Mark |date=2017 |title=The Making of England: A New History of the Anglo-Saxon World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=exJbEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury |page=35 |isbn=9781784530051 |access-date=10 September 2022 }}</ref>  These robbers, led by an enemy of the Roman reformers, the [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] nobleman Count Gerard of Galeria, deprived the embassy members of everything they had, even in some cases their clothes,{{sfn|Mason|2004|p=96}} and reportedly killed or injured some of the party.{{sfn|Licence|2020|p=199}}  They intended to hold Tostig prisoner, but when the Northumbrian Gospatric, conspicuous for his fine apparel, told them that he was Tostig they believed him and let the others go.  Giving the earl and the bishops time to make good their retreat, he at length admitted that he was not Tostig at all.  Fortunately for him, the robbers admired his courage enough to spare his life, and indeed gave him back everything they had stolen from him, allowing him to go his way in peace.{{sfn|Mason|2004|pp=96–97}}
== In Rome again ==
The main body of the embassy returned to Rome and again saw Pope Nicholas, who was now in a different frame of mind, shamed by this proof of his inability to keep order in his own domains.  He did what he could for them, [[Anathema|anathematizing]] Gerard by the [[Bell, book and candle|snuffing of candles]] and reopening the question of Ealdred's ordination.{{sfn|Licence|2020|pp=199–200}}  This time Tostig's pleading, Ealdred's humility,<ref>{{cite book |last=Cooper |first=Janet M. |date=1970 |title=The Last Four Anglo-Saxon Archbishops of York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmbikaWsQmAC&pg=PA26 |series=Borthwick Papers, 38 |location=York |publisher=St Anthony's Press |page=26 |isbn=9780900701054 |access-date=11 September 2022 }}</ref> and the support of [[Pope Gregory VII|Cardinal Hildebrand]] combined to sway the synod in Ealdred's favour.{{sfn|Licence|2020|pp=199–200}}  The verdict, according to [[William of Malmesbury]]'s ''Vita Wulfstani'', was that he was reinstated in the archbishopric of York provided that Worcester was left to some other candidate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Vanessa |editor-last1=Harper-Bill |editor-first1=Christopher |editor-link1=Christopher Harper-Bill |date=1996 |chapter=Ealdred, Archbishop of York: the Worcester years |title=Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1995 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CleclNnw8IC&pg=PA131 |location=Woodbridge |publisher=Boydell Press |page=131 |isbn=9780851156668 |access-date=11 September 2022 }}</ref>  The Pope distributed gifts to the Englishmen,{{sfn|Aird|2004}} and also warning words to Ealdred that he should look to his future behaviour, "so that you may never cause us to repent of the mercy and kindness that we have had towards you".{{sfn|Schoenig|2016|p=374}}
== Journey home ==
Bishop Giso, and perhaps also Bishop Walter, must already have left Rome, since Giso reached England in the second half of June 1061.{{sfn|Barlow|1992|p=57}}{{sfn|Barrow|2004b}}  It is not known when Ealdred and Tostig left.  Their work must have been completed by the end of June, when Pope Nicholas left Rome, or at the latest by 27 July, when he died, and it is likely that they made their way home to England during the autumn of that year.{{sfn|Barlow|1992|p=58}}  They perhaps travelled with two [[papal legates]] who had been assigned the task of supervising Church matters in England, and especially of seeing that Worcester was given a new bishop rather than being kept by Ealdred,{{sfn|Mason|2004|p=98}}{{sfn|Barlow|2013|p=90}} though it is also possible that the legates followed some weeks or months after them, the historical evidence on this point being conflicting.{{sfn|Licence|2020|pp=200–201}}  Tostig's party again visited various shrines,{{sfn|Mason|2004|p=95}} and stopped at [[Reims]] to bury young Burgheard, whose death was perhaps the result of injuries dealt out by Count Gerard's robbers and who had expressed the wish to be buried there.{{sfn|Licence|2020|pp=199–200}}
== Aftermath ==
Tostig returned to Northumbria after an absence of perhaps the better part of a year to learn that [[Malcolm III of Scotland|Malcolm Canmore]], [[List of Scottish monarchs|King of Scotland]], who had sworn an oath of brotherhood with him, had conducted a large-scale raid on his earldom.  Good relations between the two were however restored, and they remained at peace for the rest of Tostig's life.{{sfn|Aird|2004}}{{sfn|Barlow|2013|p=90}}
The papal legates were presented to king Edward, and then began a tour of England to enquire into the conduct of church business throughout the kingdom.  They were accompanied by Ealdred, who led them to Worcester and left them in the care of [[Wulfstan (died 1095)|Prior Wulfstan]].  Highly impressed by Wulfstan's piety and austerity, they returned to the king's court and recommended him as the next bishop of Worcester, and to this post he was consequently ordained in York by Ealdred himself.  Ealdred then returned to Worcester, leaving Wulfstan to deputise for him in York, and took advantage of the new bishop's absence to strip Worcester of some of its most lucrative episcopal assets.{{sfn|Mason|2004|pp=98–99}}  Wulfstan later regained many of these by negotiation, but did not fully recover the see's estates until after Ealdred's death.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|first1=M. K.|last1=Lawson|first2=Vanessa|last2=King|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37382|title=Ealdred [Aldred]|date=23 September 2004}}</ref>
== Footnotes ==
{{Reflist}}
== References ==
* {{Cite ODNB|first=William M. |last=Aird|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/27571|title=Tostig, earl of Northumbria|date=23 September 2004|year=2004}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Barlow |editor-first=Frank |editor-link=Frank Barlow (historian) |date=1992 |title=The Life of King Edward Who Rests at Westminster: Attributed to a Monk of Saint-Bertin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BLDoMHk4AZ8C |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0198202032 |access-date=11 September 2022 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Barlow |first1=Frank |author-link1=Frank Barlow (historian) |year=2013 |orig-year=2002 |title=The Godwins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRJ4AAAAQBAJ |location=Abingdon |publisher=Pearson Longman |isbn=9780582784406 |access-date=4 September 2022 }}
* {{Cite ODNB|first=Julia|last=Barrow|author-link=Julia Barrow|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10778|title=Giso|date=23 September 2004|year=2004a}}
* {{Cite ODNB|first=Julia|last=Barrow|author-link=Julia Barrow|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/28629|title=Walter [Walter of Lorraine]|date=23 September 2004|year=2004b}}
* {{cite book |last=Licence |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Licence |date=2020 |title=Edward the Confessor: Last of the Royal Blood |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSX4DwAAQBAJ |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300211542 |access-date=3 September 2022 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Mason |first1=Emma |year=2004 |title=The House of Godwine: The History of a Dynasty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IPhC5mlZQb4C |location=London |publisher=Hambledon and London |isbn=9781852853891 |access-date=3 September 2022 }}
* {{cite book |last=Schoenig |first=Steven A. |date=2016 |title=Bonds of Wool: The Pallium and Papal Power in the Middle Ages |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NkNMDQAAQBAJ |series=Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Canon Law, 15 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |isbn=9780813229225 |access-date=10 September 2022 }}
[[Category:1061 in England]]
[[Category:11th century in international relations]]
[[Category:11th century in the Papal States]]
[[Category:Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England]]
[[Category:Christian pilgrimages]]
[[Category:England–Holy See relations]]