For the Saxon ruler by this name, see Sigeberht I of Essex.
Sigebert I
Sigebert I's bust on his coin, minted in Reims
King of Austrasia
Reign
561–575
Predecessor
Clotaire I
Successor
Childebert II
Born
c. 535
Died
c. 575 (aged 39–40) Vitry-en-Artois
Consort
Brunhilda of Austrasia
Issue
Ingund Chlodosind Childebert II
Dynasty
Merovingian
Father
Clotaire I
Mother
Ingund
Sigebert I (c. 535 – c. 575) was a Frankish king of Austrasia from the death of his father in 561 to his own death. He was the third surviving son out of four of Clotaire I and Ingund. His reign found him mostly occupied with a successful civil war against his half-brother, Chilperic.
When Clotaire I died in 561, his kingdom was divided, in accordance with Frankish custom, among his four sons: Sigebert became king of the northeastern portion, known as Austrasia, with its capital at Rheims, to which he added further territory on the death of his brother, Charibert I, in 567 or 568; Charibert himself had received the kingdom centred on Paris; Guntram received the Kingdom of Burgundy with its capital at Orléans; and the youngest son, the aforementioned Chilperic, received Soissons, which became Neustria when he received his share of Charibert's kingdom. Incursions by the Avars, a fierce nomadic tribe related to the Huns, caused Sigebert to move his capital from Rheims to Metz. He repelled their attacks twice, in 562 and c. 568. He was defeated and captured by Huns(Avars), but at the end he made peace with them. [1]
About 567, he married Brunhilda, daughter of the Visigothic king Athanagild. According to Gregory of Tours:
Now when king Sigebert saw that his brothers were taking wives unworthy of them, and to their disgrace were actually marrying slave women, he sent an embassy into Spain and with many gifts asked for Brunhilda, daughter of king Athanagild. She was a maiden beautiful in her person, lovely to look at, virtuous and well-behaved, with good sense and a pleasant address. Her father did not refuse, but sent her to the king I have named with great treasures. And the king collected his chief men, made ready a feast, and took her as his wife amid great joy and mirth. And though she was a follower of the Arian law she was converted by the preaching of the bishops and the admonition of the king himself, and she confessed the blessed Trinity in unity, and believed and was baptized. And she still remains catholic in Christ's name.[2]
The assassination of Sigebert by Jean Fouquet, from the fifteenth century Grandes Chroniques de France.
Upon seeing this, his brother Chilperic sent to Athanagild for his other daughter's hand. This daughter, Galswintha, was given him and he abandoned his other wives. However, he soon tired of her and had her murdered in order to marry his mistress Fredegund. Probably spurred by his wife Brunhilda's anger at her sister's murder, Sigebert sought revenge. The two brothers had already been at war, but their hostility now elevated into a long and bitter war that was continued by the descendants of both.
In 573, Sigebert took possession of Poitiers and Touraine, and conquered most of his kingdom. Chilperic then hid in Tournai. But at Sigebert's moment of triumph, when he had just been declared king by Chilperic's subjects at Vitry-en-Artois, he was struck down by two assassins working for Fredegund.[3]
He was succeeded by his son Childebert under the regency of Brunhilda. Brunhilda and Childebert quickly put themselves under the protection of Guntram, who eventually adopted Childebert as his own son and heir.[4] With Brunhilda he had two daughters: Ingund and Chlodosind.
^https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/gregory-hist.asp#book4 Internet Medieval Sourcebook
Gregory of Tours (539-594): History of the Franks: Books I-X
Book IV, part 29.
The Huns were again endeavoring to make an entrance into the Gauls. Sigibert marched against them with his army, leading a great number of brave men. And when they were about to fight, the Huns, who were versed in magic arts, caused false appearances of various sorts to come before them and defeated them decisively. Sigibert's army fled, but he himself was taken by the Huns and would have remained a prisoner if he had not overcome by his skill in making presents the men whom he could not conquer in battle. He was a man of fine appearance and good address. He gave gifts and entered into an agreement with their king that all the days of their lives they should fight no battles with one another. And this incident is rightly believed to be more to his credit than otherwise. The king of the Huns also gave many gifts to king Sigibert. He was called Gaganus. All the kings of that people are called by this name.
^Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks, IV 27
^Oman, Charles. The Dark Ages, 476-918, Rivingtons, 1908, p. 164 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^Thomas Charles-Edwards (2003). "Anglo-Saxon Kinship Revisited". The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century. John Hines (ed.). Boydell Press. p. 178.
SigebertI (c. 535 – c. 575) was a Frankish king of Austrasia from the death of his father in 561 to his own death. He was the third surviving son out...
kingdom within the Frankish kingdom and was ruled by the Merovingian king SigebertI (561–575). In the 7th and 8th centuries, it was the powerbase from which...
women, namely: with Ingund he had Gunthar, Childeric, Charibert, Guntram, Sigebert, and a daughter named Chlothsind; of Aregund, sister of Ingund he had Chilperic;...
king of the Franks SigebertI, King of Austrasia (reigned 561–575) Sigebert II, King of Austrasia and Burgundy (reigned 613) Sigebert III, King of Austrasia...
consort of Austrasia, part of Francia, by marriage to the Merovingian king SigebertI of Austrasia, and regent for her son, grandson and great-grandson. In...
pseudohistorical Dossiers Secrets d'Henri Lobineau and related documents, Sigebert IV was the son of the Merovingian king Dagobert II who, on the assassination...
inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovingian dynasty, with SigebertI being the most popular contender. Older scholarship sometimes connected...
Saint Sigebert of Austrasia in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. Sigebert was born in 630 as the eldest son of Dagobert I, King of...
Brunhilda and Galswintha — who were married to two Merovingian brother-kings: SigebertI of Austrasia and Chilperic, king of the Neustrian Franks. Following the...
they were soundly repelled along the river Elbe by the Frankish king SigebertI of Austrasia. This defeat induced them to retrace their footsteps to the...
Charibert I dies without an heir; his realm (region Neustria and Aquitaine) is divided between his brothers Guntram, SigebertI and Chilperic I. Liuva I succeeds...
adopted son of his uncle Guntram. Born c. 570, Childebert was the son of SigebertI and Brunhilda of Austrasia. When his father was assassinated in 575 by...
of Clothar I followed the events of 511 similarly and split the kingdom again: SigebertI in Reims, Chilperic I in Soissons, Charibert I in Paris, and...
Gaulish territory of the Visigothic Kingdom, in 507 AD. The sons of Clovis I, the first King of the Franks, conquered the Burgundian and the Alamanni Kingdoms...
he was at war with Sigebert, with whom he would long remain in a state of—at the very least—antipathy. This started when Sigebert marched against the...
of Austrasia under the Merovingian King Dagobert I from 623 to 629. He was also the Mayor for Sigebert III from 639 until his death. Pepin's father was...
have ordered the assassination of SigebertI of Austrasia in 575 and also to have made attempts on the lives of Sigebert's son Childebert II, her brother-in-law...
century. The first well-known Merovingian king was Childeric I (died 481). His son Clovis I (died 511) converted to Nicene Christianity, united the Franks...
Saint-Pierre-les-Dames de Reims and children of a king Sigebert. Flodoard identifies this king as SigebertI (c. 535 – c. 575), king of Austrasia, when perhaps...
king SigebertI, and Fredegund, who was married to Sigebert's brother Chilperic I. Frankish historian Gregory of Tours blames Fredegund for Sigebert's murder...
Sigobert the Lame (also Sigibert or Sigebert) (died c. 508 or 509) was a king of the Ripuarian Franks in the area of Zülpich (Latin: Tolbiac) and Cologne...
Charibert I died and his lands of the Kingdom of Paris were divided between the surviving brothers: Gontrand, SigebertI, and Chilperic I. They shared...
533-592), King of Burgundy from 561 to 592, King of Paris from 584 to 592; SigebertI (circa 535-575), king of Austrasia from 561 to 575. Childeric (possibly...
Marseilles under SigebertI, a position Bodegisel held until about 565. In 584, Bodegisel accompanied Rigunth, the daughter of Chilperic I, to Spain for...
tribute to the kings of Austrasia during Chlothar's reign. SigebertI, the son of Clothar I who ruled Austrasia until 575, was praised by the poet Venantius...
their father was probably Sigobert the Lame, King of Cologne, rather than SigebertI of Austrasia, as indicated by Flodoard. Together they founded the Abbey...