Sigebert of Gembloux

Sigebert of Gembloux ( Sigebertus Gemblacensis; * 1030, † October 5, 1112 in Gembloux ) was a historian, hagiographer, theologian, liturgist, Komputist and publicist.

He came at the time of Abbot Olbert (up to 1048) to the monastery of Gembloux. From there he went to Metz at the monastery of St. Vincent ( 1048-1072 ). There he wrote the Vita Bishop Dietrich I of Metz, the founder of his monastery. He returned to Gembloux. He wrote in the 60s of the 11th century, the metric Passio Sanctae luciae virginis in 370 alkäischen verses and in the 70s a metric Passio Sanctorum Thebeorum in three books of hexameters together in 1077, in which he also Victor of Xanten, Victor and Ursus from Solothurn, Tyrsus of Trier, Gereon of Cologne and his companions, martyrs 50 in Bonn and Alexander of Bergamo, and Secundus of Ventimiglia mentioned and extensive zahlensymbolische exegesis maintains. In pamphlets, he defended Lüttischer claims against the Gregorian reform and stepped on the side of the king with a memorandum for the royal right of investiture. His Liber de viris illustribus he added, following the example of Augustine and other late antique and early medieval authors to a catalog of his own writings.

The Chronicle

Sigeberts main work is the Chronicle of the World, which he wrote in his last decades of life, and in 1106 presented. It begins with the year 381, thus complements the chronicle of Prosper Tiro, and ends with the year 1111, shortly before his death, so a few more years was continued after completion. However, Sigebert is in large parts only criticism already known facts and legends strictly chronologically, with a content of its own services only for the time he has experienced himself, so from the second third of the 11th century, can be seen.

Sigeberts Chronicle was widely used in the following centuries. It was regarded as reliable, has often been quoted and cited as the source and supplemented. The took place in the 19th century critical examination has shown, however, that Sigebert has not worked so carefully by far in the compilation of his chronicle, as was previously assumed. Moreover, his statements come almost entirely from still existing sources, so that the additional information content of his work is actually low.

More important than the content is probably the fact that it is the historian Ludwig Konrad Bethmann (1812-1867) succeeded in finding the manuscript Sigeberts.

Werkausgabe

• Sigeberti Gemblacensis chronica cum continuationibus. In: Georg Heinrich Pertz et al (eds): Scriptores ( in folio ) 6: Chronica et annales aevi Salici. Hannover 1844, pp. 268-535 ( Monumenta Historica Germaniae, digitized )
• Sigebert of Gembloux: Acta Sanctae luciae, Heidelberg 2008 ( = Editiones Heidelbergenses 34).
• Ernst Dümmler: Sigeberts of Gembloux Passio Passio sanctorum sanctae luciae virginis and Thebeorum (. . From the papers of the Royal Preuss Academy of Sciences in Berlin 1893) - Publisher d royally. Acad of Sciences. , Berlin 1893