Sigeric the Serious, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. AD 994) (original) (raw)

Sigeric_the Serious_ (d. AD 994)
Abbot of St. Austugine's Abbey, Canterbury Bishop of Ramsbury & Sonning Archbishop of Canterbury Died: 28th October AD 994 at Canterbury, Kent

Sigeric was educated at Glastonbury, where he became a monk, and was elected Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury in AD 980. He was consecrated by Archbishop Dunstan to the See of Ramsbury & Sonning in which office he seems to have favoured his palace at Sonning, giving his Cathedral there a relic of his patron saint, Cyriacus. He did so well in the job that, by AD 990, he was translated to Archdiocese of Canterbury. By his advice, King Aethelred the Unread attempted to purchase peace from the Danes for the sum of ten thousand pounds, a proceeding which only served to encourage fresh invasions.

Abbot Aelfric dedicated to him a book of homilies, which he had translated from the Latin, requesting him to correct any blemishes or errors which he might detect. As, moreover, Sigeric bequeathed to his church a valuable collection of books, he seems to have been man of considerable learning. He died on 28th October AD 994.

Edited from G.M. Bevan's "Portraits of the Archbishops of Canterbury" (1908).