Stigand


Stigand

(stĭg`ənd), d. 1072, English prelate. He held simultaneously the sees of Winchester and Canterbury from 1052 though official recognition of this did not come until 1058 from Benedict X, an antipope. He has generally been cast as an opportunist, useful to Edward the Confessor (he negotiated the peace between Edward and Earl Godwin in 1052). Stigand welcomed William I and continued in his offices until a papal commission under Alexander II replaced him (1070) with Lanfranc.