Sigeric the Serious

Infobox Archbishop of Canterbury
Full name = Sigeric


began=unknown
birth_name =
consecration = 990
term_end = 28 October 994
predecessor = Æthelgar
successor = Ælfric of Abingdon
birth_date =
death_date = 28 October 994
tomb = Christ Church, Canterbury

Sigeric (950? – 28 October 994) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 990–994.

It is unclear whether the epithet "The Serious" originated from his learning, or if it derived from transliteration of his name into Latin as "Serio".

Biography

Sigeric was educated at Glastonbury Abbey, where he took holy orders. He was elected Abbot of St Augustine's in about 975 to 990,cite book |author=Knowles, David |authorlink=David Knowles|coauthors=London, Vera C. M.; Brooke, Christopher |title=The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940-1216|edition=Second Edition |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge|year=2001 |isbn=0-521-80452-3|pages=p. 35, 243 ] and consecrated by Archbishop Dunstan to the See of Ramsbury and Sonning in 985 or 986.cite book |author=Fryde, E. B. |coauthors=Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third Edition, revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X |pages=p. 220] He was transferred to the see of Canterbury in 990.cite book |author=Fryde, E. B. |coauthors=Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third Edition, revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X |pages=p. 214] He may have been a disciple of Dunstan's.Knowles, David "The Monastic Order in England: A History of Its Development from the Times of St Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council 940-1216" Second Edition Cambridge:Cambridge University Press 1963 ISBN 0-521-05479-6 p. 50]

Sigeric made the pilgrimage to Rome following the Via Francigena to receive his "pallium" circa 990,Ortenberg, Veronica "The Anglo-Saxon Church and the Papacy" in Lawrence, C. H. ed. "The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages" Stroud:Sutton Publishing reprint 1999 ISBN 0-7509-1947-7 p. 49] and contemporary records of this journey still exist.Hindley, Geoffrey "A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation" New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5 p. 294-295]

It was Sigeric who advised King Æthelred to pay a tribute to the invading Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard in 991. Æthelred presented Sweyn with 10,000 pounds of silver, in response to which Sweyn temporarily ceased his destructive advance into England, though he later returned for further tribute. Sweyn's ever-increasing demands in the following years resulted in a debilitating tax known as the Danegeld, payable by the inhabitants of Æthelred's territories.cite book |author=Brooks, Nicholas |title=The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-7185-0041-5 |pages=p. 282]

In 994, Sigeric paid tribute to the Danes to protect Canterbury Cathedral from being burned.Williams, Ann "Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King" London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 52] In the same year, a diploma granting rights to the diocese of Cornwall and Bishop Ealdred of Cornwall stated that it was written by Sigeric, but it is unlikely that the document was actually written by the archbishop.cite conference |author=Chaplais, Pierre |title=The Royal Anglo-Saxon 'Chancery' of the Tenth Century Revisited |pages=pp. 41-51 |conference=Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. H. C. Davis |editor=Mayr-Harting, Henry and R. I. Moore |publisher=Hambledon Press |location=London |year=1985 |isbn=0-907628-68-0 |pages=pp. 44-45]

While Sigeric was an abbot, Ælfric dedicated a book of translated homilies to him.Knowles, David "The Monastic Order in England: A History of Its Development from the Times of St Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council 940-1216" Second Edition Cambridge:Cambridge University Press 1963 ISBN 0-521-05479-6 p. 62] He also advised King Æthelred to found Cholsey Abbey in Berkshire in honor of King Edward the Martyr, as well as having Edward memorialized at Shaftesbury Abbey.Mason, Emma "Sigeric (d. 994)" "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25536 Online Edition] accessed 7 November 2007] Williams, Ann "Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King" London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 36]

Sigeric died on 28 October 994. He was buried in Christ Church, Canterbury. His will left wall hangings to Glastonbury as well as a valuable collection of books to his church at Sonning.

References

External links

* [http://www.pase.ac.uk/pase/apps/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=14371 Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England: Sigeric]

Persondata
NAME=Sigeric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Sigeric Serio; Sigeric the Serious
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Archbishop of Canterbury
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=28 October, 994
PLACE OF DEATH=