Note 1286 — Chapter X · THE REIGN OF EADWARD FROM THE DEATH OF THE ÆTHELING TO THE DEATH OF THE KING.[1258] 1057–1066.

There is here a chronological difficulty. The Evesham Chronicle fixes the date to April 23, 1059. Mannig died on the same day as Eadward, that is January 5, 1066; seven years, so the historian says, after his resignation. This makes the year of Æthelwig’s appointment 1059. For day and place we are told (88), “Rex ... fecit eum apud Glocestre, ubi tunc curiam suam tenebat, coram multis principibus hujus patriæ ab Aldredo Archiepiscopo honorabiliter in paschali sollemnitate die festivitatis sancti Georgii martyris consecrari.” Now it is hardly likely that Ealdred, who had left for Jerusalem seemingly not very early in the year before, could have been again in England so soon as Saint George’s Day, 1059. Also it was not the Easter but the Christmas festival which was commonly held at Gloucester. That Ealdred is called Archbishop before his time is a common slip. Perhaps (see Mr. Macray’s note on p. 87) the reckoning of seven years is wrong, and the date was really 1058, before Ealdred left England; or the wrong season may be given (though this seems hardly likely, and the usual places of the Gemóts were sometimes departed from); or the ceremony may have been really performed by some other Bishop, and Ealdred’s name may have been carelessly inserted because he was known to be Bishop of the Diocese at the time.