Future of the English Church if Saxons win at Hastings

The Normans invaded England with the blessing of the Pope, who had already excommunicated the Archbishop of Canterbury. By giving William the Papal banner the Pope had more or less declared the invasion to be a Crusade. We know what happened to the Church after William the Bastard won, but what if Harold had won? Is the breach between Canterbury and Rome going to be permanent, like that between Rome and Constantinople? If it is what of the other British Churches, in Scotland, Wales and to a lesser extent Ireland? Is their future bound up with the Church in England? For that matter, what of the Archbishop of York? Does he follow the lead of Canterbury or look independently to Rome for guidance?
 
You'd normally assume given how close the anglo saxon church had been to Rome prior to the rise of Stigand and Harold that the breech would be brushed over and healed when a new pope or new king takes the throne.

(The idea that William had either lied about his support by the one or had threatened the pope into supporting his claim, is one you can find in some contempary reports so it would be easy for the english king to just blame William for everything)

The main problem with that is the new pope replacing Alexander, Gregory VII, was the most anti Stigand of the inner clergy so he's not going to be eager to heal the breech. Might just be waiting for new leaders in England.

@KingCrawa is the man for this kind of question, though.
 
I agree that any breech with the English Church will be healed following a Norman loss at Hastings. It's in both parties interests to do so.
 
(The idea that William had either lied about his support by the one or had threatened the pope into supporting his claim, is one you can find in some contempary reports so it would be easy for the english king to just blame William for everything)

Or the Pope, for that matter. If the Normans are defeated I imagine he'd want to backpeddle pretty quickly, and "William was lying, I never actually supported him" would certainly do that.
 
Personally, I love the idea of Anglo-Saxon England going Orthodox, after some major insult from Rome like this.
The Byzantines would LOVE to have them, as a major PR victory. IMO.
 
Assuming Stigand dies as OTL in 1072, Harold tries to mend fences by appointing some "squeaky clean" figure like Wulfstan of Worcester.
 
The main problem with that is the new pope replacing Alexander, Gregory VII, was the most anti Stigand of the inner clergy so he's not going to be eager to heal the breech.
It may also be within the realm of possibility, with a 1066 PoD, for someone other than Hildebrand (OTL's Gregory VII), someone less connected to the Church Reform movement, to succeed Alexander II; of course, if that does happen, it will mean some pretty massive changes in its own right.
 
It may also be within the realm of possibility, with a 1066 PoD, for someone other than Hildebrand (OTL's Gregory VII), someone less connected to the Church Reform movement, to succeed Alexander II; of course, if that does happen, it will mean some pretty massive changes in its own right.

However, if Stigand is still considerate enough to die a year before Alexander does, it won't be the new Pope's problem.
 
Harold seemed to be under the impression William lied to the Pope, so a reconciliation isn't out of the question as long as the monarch of a kingdom desires the status quo. It's not like the Jacobite succeeding, where they would suddenly have to stop the irreversible changes Henry VIII made in 1520 (not 1558 when he was dead)
 
However, if Stigand is still considerate enough to die a year before Alexander does, it won't be the new Pope's problem.
On the other hand, if Stigland also lives a little more than a year longer, or Alexander II dies a little sooner, that the Cardinals are too nervous to double down on reformist efforts (fearful of escalating conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor, and England, etc); on the other other hand, there was an acclamation OTL to have Hildebrand become Pope, so that may not be enough.

But still, it's intersting to think about. For one, it would go a long way to preventing the First Crusade.* There's also the role the Gregorian Reforms played in strengthening clerical celibacy, the calendar, how we think of marriage, and so much else we take for granted as part of western civilization. Like I said, this would lead to some massive in its own right.

*It should go without saying that if we throw in a Byzantine win at Manzikert for kicks, that would also help here; but that's getting off topic.
 
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