Æthelric II

Æthelric II
Bishop of Selsey
See	Diocese of Selsey
Term ended	deposed 1070
Predecessor	Heca
Successor	Stigand
Orders
Consecration	1058
Personal details
Died	circa 1076

Æthelric (called Æthelric II to distinguish him from an earlier Æthelric who was also bishop of Selsey and also spelled Ethelric; died c. 1076) was the second to last medieval Bishop of Selsey in England before the see was moved to Chichester. Consecrated a bishop in 1058, he was deposed in 1070 for unknown reasons and then imprisoned by King William I of England. He was considered one of the best legal experts of his time, and was even brought from his prison to attend the trial on Penenden Heath where he gave testimony about English law before the Norman Conquest of England.

Æthelric was a monk at Christ Church Priory at Canterbury prior to his becoming a bishop. Several historians opine that he might have been the same as the Æthelric who was a monk of Canterbury and a relative of Godwin, Earl of Wessex. That Æthelric was elected by the monks of Canterbury to be Archbishop of Canterbury in 1050, but was not confirmed by King Edward the Confessor who insisted on Robert of Jumièges becoming archbishop instead. The evidence is not merely that they shared the same name, because the name was a relatively common one in Anglo-Saxon England. Other evidence pointing to the possibility of them being the same person includes the fact that he was felt to have been unfairly deposed in 1070 as well as the bishop's great age in 1076.

Æthelric was consecrated bishop in 1058 by Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Æthelric was consecrated by Stigand, unlike most of the English bishops of the time period, because at that point, Stigand held a valid pallium, or symbol of an archbishop's authority and ability to consecrate bishops.

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