Papal
banners were only ever issued during this era to endorse wars against
muslims or against those who had rebelled against Papal authority
(Harold had not)- and not against fellow Christians.
A
papal legate to England in 1062 found no corruption worth noting- even
against Archbishop Stigand- whom William left in office until 1070
(along with other English clerics)!
Odd for a man who had vowed to invade England to alledgedly to rid the land of supposed ecclesiastical corruption and pluralism? So, had the pope ever actually issued a commission to William at all? After
the conquest (1080) there followed a Papal decree which set the penance
for having killed in a 'public war', a war that was sanctioned under
the terms of the Truce of God. It
was after King William's coronation that problems arose from promises
the Pope claimed William had made and that King William denied (1080). The
disputes were on the amount of Peter's Pence owed to Rome, the right of
Rome to call upon Norman Bishops to attend Rome with a full complement
of milites. In fact Bishop Odo was arrested for perhaps attempting to obey such a summons when accompanied by his own knights! While the question as to if William promised to make England a Papal fief continued to be denied throughout William's life. Is
it coincidence that Archdeacon Hildebrand's plans never succeeded, as
William's possible support through Norman adventurers failed to appear? When
Harold broke his supposed 'oath' to support Duke William's claim to the English
throne, it fell on two members of the church to find a solution from
which the Church would most benefit. *
Prior Lanfranc of the Abbey of Bec, a trusted servant to Duke William,
who was entrusted to go yet again to Rome to gain papal support for
William. * While in Rome, Archdeacon Hildebrand (future pope Gregory
VII), the political power behind the papal throne, had his own plans
far beyond assisting the Norman Duke. It
is probable that these two formidable ecclesiastical politicians had
met on Lanfranc's earlier mission to Rome to obtain papal sanction and
blessing on the controversial marriage of Duke William and Matilda-
delayed due to accusations of consanguinity. This mission was successful and we can assume that two such similar clergymen established a strong and useful partnership. Archdeacon
Hildebrand's plan was to establish a temporal power base throughout
Italy and beyond, by using those newly seized lands established by
Norman mercenaries, such as Robert Guiscard Conqueror of Naples. Some
of these new nobles had sworn themselves as fiefs to Holy Mother
Church, thus these 'Priest-Knights' obtained political recognition
through the Church. By increasing the number of devoted Normans
willing to conquer new lands for the church and establish new fiefs,
Rome could obtain a massive power base not only in Italy but over the
alps and indeed wherever such fiefs could be founded. The Archdeacons only problem was the lack of Normans capable of seizing such lands. It
would further these plans greatly if the Duke of Normandy and perhaps
the future King of England would give his political support, if not his
available knights?
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