survive, with the number of questions ranging from about 600 to over 1,200. The work
touches on theology, astronomy, obstetrics, geography, zoology, medicine, precious
stones, and history.
William W.Kibler
Langlois, Charles-Victor. La vie en France au moyen âge, du XIIe au milieu du XIVe siècle. 4 vols.
Paris: Hachette, 1925–28, Vol. 3: La connaissance de la nature et du monde, pp. 198–275.
SIGEBERT DE GEMBLOUX
(ca. 1030–ca. 1112). Sigebert was both raised and educated in the Benedictine monastery
of Gembloux. After completing his education there, he became a schoolmaster at Saint-
Vincent in Metz, where he remained for twenty years. Sigebert was one of the most
prolific and versatile writers of the 11th century. His interests included hagiography,
history, and relations between ecclesiastical and secular authorities. In the Investiture
conflict, for example, he argued persuasively for imperial authority despite the claims
made for the papacy by Gregory VII. Although Sigebert’s literary career began at Metz,
his major works were completed at Gembloux after he returned there in 1070. Access to
Gembloux’s excellent library enabled him to write two important histories. In the
Chronica, a work colored by his views on investiture, Sigebert sought to establish a
precise chronology of historical events from 381 to 1111. The Chronica was widely
disseminated and was subsequently continued by others. Sigebert’s Gesta abbatum
Gemblaciensium supplies many important details regarding the Investiture conflict of the
11th century. The De viris illustribus, a catalogue of 172 important ecclesiastical writers
beginning with Marcellus, a disciple of St. Peter, and ending with himself, is an important
compendium listing many Christian writers of the Middle Ages who would have
otherwise been unknown. Among Sigebert’s others works are the Passion of St. Lucia
and the Passion of the Theban Martyr Legion.
E.Kay Harris
[See also: ROBERT DE TORIGNY]
Sigebert de Gembloux. Chronica. PL 160(188).57–834. [Includes the continuations.]
——. Sigeberti Gemblacensis. Chronographiae auctarium Affligemense, ed. P.Gorissen. Brussels:
Paleis der Academiën, 1952.
Dekkers, Eligius. “Sigebert van Gembloux in zijn De viris illustribus.” Sacris erudiri 26(1983):57–
102.
SIGER DE BRABANT
(ca. 1240–ca. 1284). A member of the Picard “nation” at Paris, Siger was by 1266 a
teaching master of arts in Paris and canon of Saint-Paul, Liège. He was a leading
exponent of Aristotle, known largely through the works of Averroes. He and scholars of
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