1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sigebert of Gembloux

SIGEBERT OF GEMBLOUX (c. 1030-1112), 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 on the 5th of October 1112. 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 Molinier the best work of its kind, although it contains many errors and but little original information. It covers the period between 381 and mi, 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 L. C. 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 Deodcrici, 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.

See S. Hirseh, De vita et scriptis Sigiberti Gemblacensis (Berlin, 1841); A. Molinier, Les Sources de Vhistoire de France, tomes ii. and v. (1902-1904); and W. Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, Band ii. (Berlin, 1894).