Summary
Sicga (died 22 February 793) (also given as Siga and Sigha) was a nobleman in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.
Sicga first appears in the historical record as senior lay witness to the proceedings of a council held by Papal Legate, George, Bishop of Ostia in 786, where he is called a patrician (Sigha patricius), a term which may correspond with the Old English term ealdorman.[1]
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the murder of King Ælfwald by Sigca at Scythlecester (which may be modern Chesters) on 23 September 788:
This year Elwald, king of the Northumbrians, was slain by Siga, on the eleventh day before the calends of October; and a heavenly light was often seen on the spot where he was slain. He was buried in the church of Hexham.[2]
Sicga's death, on 22 February 793, is recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and Symeon of Durham adds that he died by suicide. In spite of this, and the fact that he was a regicide, Sicga was buried at the monastery of Lindisfarne.[3]
Citations edit
Bibliography edit
- Dümmler, Ernst, et al., Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Epistolae Karolini aevi (II). Reprinted 1995. ISBN 3-921575-70-2 (etext online at Digital MGH)
- Kirby, D.P., The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin Hyman, 1991. ISBN 0-04-445691-3
- Williams, Ann, Smyth, Alfred P. & Kirby, D.P., A Biographical Dictionary of Dark-Age Britain: England, Scotland and Wales c. 500-c. 1050. London: Seaby, 1991. ISBN 1-85264-047-2
- Yorke, Barbara, The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c. 600–800. London: Longman, 2006. ISBN 0-582-77292-3