Veldmaarschalk said:
If Harold has to be orthodox, he can only be orthodox from the start of the scenario.
There is no eventtrigger for an independent ruler (king) to change his religion, there is only an event that lets you convert to the religion of your liege
That does complicate matters a bit.
The excommunicated archbishop of Canterbury, Stigand, wasn't excommunicacted because of his religious believes. But because of political reasons, the former archbishop, Robert of Jumieges (a Norman) had been forced to flee on instignation of Earl Godwine (the father of Harold) because he was afraid of the Norman influence in the Anglo-saxon church. Stigand was made the archbishop, in Rome this was considered unlawfull and Stigand was summoned to come to Rome. He refused and was excommunicated because of that. Stigand was essentially a politician and the represetative English churchmen of his age considered him an archbishop in name only
As usual the story is quite complicated, so it's easy for an author to emphasise what he wants to, and you can get rather different accounts of the same events by different scholars. And as history is written by the victors, the dominant post-norman trend in England is certainly to minimise the distance between the English church and Rome. As the churches of the isles before the invasion were trying to avoid trouble by being quiet and low-profile, there's even a similar pattern before.
It was 'political' in a sense, yes, but it had as much to do with ecclesiastic politics as secular politics. Robert, also, was a political appointee, and was considered illegitimate by much of the church, you see.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_of_Jumieges mentions this, in that 'although the chapter had already made an election, Edward appointed him archbishop of Canterbury.' When Godwin came back from exile in 1052, no actual violence ensued, negotiations prevailed. But Robert didn't stick around long enough for that to happen, he 'dropped his pallium (symbol of office) and ran' and didn't stop running until he was back in Normandy. This turned Edward against him, and his office was held solely because of Edward to begin with. He was outlawed and told never to return.
The episode was useful as a pretext to William and particularly Pope Alexander, to manufacture a cassus belli without acknowledging the deeper issues driving them toward confrontation.
'The Anglo-Saxon church has received hard measure from historian. To many writers it has seemed that its individuality meant indifference to the movements of ecclesiastical thought then coming to influence in the west. (...) Through modern history something of its real quality is slowly beginning to reappear. Much remains to be done, particularly in the analysis of the books which illustrate the Old English concept of Canon Law. But it can already be seen that there existed in pre-conquest England a church receptive towards foreign influences and united to the see of Rome by ancient tradition and present reverence.'
Much of that is indisputed. There's a long traditional linkage between the churches in the isles and Rome, and a long history of being receptive to influences from all corners of Christendom. But the word
"united" is loading the sentence. There were two different paradigms involved - Rome was claiming
dominance over the church as a whole. The Eastern Churches had explicitly rejected that dominance, either by Rome or by any other Patriarchate. The churches of the isles were still caught in the middle, rejecting it in practice while being quiet and hoping the issue would just blow over. In the paradigm in the east, as well as pre-norman England, the churches were in
communion, and a Bishopric as old and venerated as Rome was certainly to be held in high regard, but it had no right to dominate.
Harold was also not excommunicated because of his believes but because he had taken the crown of England unlawfully, breaking a promise he made to William
That was the pretext, certainly. Only William's word attested to it's veracity. The Pope didn't normally get involved in such disputes between noblemen, however. He did in this case because he had a big huge ulterior motive - control over the church in England.
Allow me to suggest a little further reading material
here.