Sigebert of Gembloux
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Sigebert of Gembloux (c. 1030 – October 5, 1112), medieval chronicler, became in early life a monk in the Benedictine abbey of Gembloux.
Later he was a teacher at Metz, and about 1070 he returned to Gembloux, where, occupied in teaching and writing, he lived until his death. As an enemy of the papal pretensions he took part in the momentous contest between Pope Gregory VII and the emperor Henry IV, his writings on this question being very serviceable to the imperial cause; and he also wrote against Pope Paschal II.
Sigebert's most important work is a Chronographia, or universal chronicle, according to Auguste Molinier the best work of its kind, although it contains many errors and but little original information. It covers the period between 381 and 1111, and its author was evidently a man of much learning. The first of many editions was published in 1513 and the best is in Band vi. of the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores, with valuable introduction by LC Bethmann.
The chronicle was very popular during the later middle ages; it was used by many writers and found numerous continuators. Other works by Sigebert are a history of the early abbots of Gembloux to 1048 (Gesta abbatum Gemblacensium) and a life of the Frankish king Sigebert III (Vita Sigeberti III. regis Austrasiae).
Sigebert was also a hagiographer. Among his writings in this connexion may be mentioned the Vita Deoderici, Mettensis episcopi, which is published in Band iv. of the Monumenta, and the Vita Wicberti, in Band viii. of the same collection. Dietrich, bishop of Metz (d. 984) was the founder of the abbey of St Vincent in that city, and Wicbert or Guibert (d. 962) was the founder of the abbey of Gembloux.
References
- Siegfried Hirsch, De vita et scriptis Sigiberti Gemblacensis (Berlin, 1841)
- Auguste Molinier, Les Sources de l'histoire de France, tomes ii. and v. (1902-1904)
- Wilhelm Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, Band ii. (Berlin, 1894).
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