Sif, in Norse mythology, was the beautiful second wife of Thor, celebrated on account of her wonderful blonde hair, which the evil Loki cut off on one occasion while she slept. Thor compelled him, on peril of his life, to procure golden hair for Sif instead of that which he had stolen, and Loki obtained it from the dwarfs. Sif had been previously married, and had given liirth to a son, Uliar ; Thor's children by her were named Thrudr and Lorride. Sif would appear to have been the most virtuf)us of the asins, for when Loki, at Aeger's ban- quet, charged upon the w^omen and virgins their nu- merous loves, he spared Sif such exposure. She handed him a cup while thanking him for his forbearance ; ujion which he replied that he must concede to her an emi- nence above all others, since she had possessed only one lover, who was himself. — Vollmer, Wbritrh. d. Mylhol. s. V.
Sifra. See Siphra.
Sifridense.s. See Siscidencks.
Siga, the name of an alleged Phoenician goddess who has been likened to Minerva,
Sigalon, Xavikr, a French painter, was born at Uzes (Gard) in 1788, of parents in hinnble circinn-
stances, and was educated in the school of design at Nismes. He jiainted chiefly sacred subjects, especially the Last Judgment, a copy of Michael Angelo's at Home, which made his fortune. He died of the cholera at Kome, Aug. 18, 1837. See Hoefer, Nouv. Bivg. (iene- riile, s. V.
Sigarsholmr, in Norse mythology, was an island in the north on which a battle was fought that brought forty-six heroes to their graves, and in which their swords are buried. The walkure Svava brought the most famous of the swords to her lover Helgi, who was under her protection.
SigarsvoeHur, in Norse mythology, was the place where the battle was fought between Helgi and Hrod- mar. Helgi Hattingaskade fell mortally wounded, and expired in the arms of his beloved Svava, the walkure. SigarsvoeHur was subsequently given by Sigmund Wol- sungssohn to Helgi Hundingstodter, his son, in honor of his name. — Vollmer, Worterh. d. Mytlwl. s. v.
Sigebert of Gp:MBLonx {Gemblar), a, Belgian monk, was born about A.U. 1030, and educated in the convent of Gembloux, where he also became a monk. About A.D. 1048 he assumed charge of the school at- tached to the convent of St. Vincent at IMetz, but re- turned to Gembloux, after a successful career, about 1070, and continued during forty additional years to la- bor in the work of teaching and authorship, being gen- erally admired and reverc<l. He was characterized by frankness and piety, gifted with a sound judgment, so that he was fitted to administer in secular affairs, and was decidedly true to principle. It was because of his influence that the Church of Liege remained loyal to the emperor, despite the efforts put forth by certain ab- bots to subject it to the pope alone. The celebrated letter written by Gregory VII to bishop Hermann of Metz, which asserted the right of the pope to place a sovereign under the ban and dissolve the allegiance of his subjects, was answered by Sigebert, and so also was the demand of Paschal H, made in 1102 or 1103, that count Robert of Flanders should head a crusade to pun- ish the Church of Liege for its fidelity to the sovereign. With like good judgment he resisted the imposing of the j'oke of asceticism on the entire Church, though he himself was predisposed in favor of a monastic life. His fearless attitude with reference to such questions pro- duced a strong impression on the minds of his contem- poraries. He died Oct. 5, 1 1 12.
The works of Sigebert are enumerated by himself in the work IM ]'iris Illustrihus (best ed. m j\Iir;vi Bibli- oth. Kcd. ed. ii, cur. .1. A. Fabricio), a book whose only value now consists in the preservation of a few interest- ing facts which it contains. The Vita Deoderici, an early work commemorating the founder of the abbey of St. Vincent at Metz, gives evidence of the author's ex- tensive reading. He also wrote a life of king Sigebert, the founder of the church and abbey of St. Martin, near Metz, and a number of saints' legends in either prose or verse, particularly a life of Wiebert, the founder of Gembloux, and a history of the convent to 1048 , and he gave attention to music and chronology. His last and most celebrated work is the Chi-onicon, extending from A.D. 381 to 1111, but being a mere compilation from other works down to 1023, af'ter which date it pos- sesses, to some degree, the character of an independent source. The selections from other books are judicious, the treatment of facts cautious, moderate, and impartial, and the whole is characterized by something of the historic spirit. The work became in time the principal source of information with reference to the churches and abbeys of Belgium and Northern France. The charge that Sigebert had invented the legend of pope Joan is now disbelieved, and Bethmann, in the Monu- inen/a Germ. SS., omits it from his collection of Sige- bert's works. See the Monumenia Germ. SS. passim ; Hirsch, I)e Vita et iSc7-i.pt is Sigeberfi (Berol. 1841); M'attenbach, Deiitschland's Gesrhichtsquellen (BerL 1858),
SIGFAUDUR
734
SIGISMUND
particularly p. 291-299; Pertz, Archii; xi, 1-17.— Her- ! zog, Real- Encyklvp. s. v. |