Sigibert III.

Sigibert III. (in France Sigebert III. or Saint Sigisbert so Sigibert the saint , * 630 , † February 1, 656 ) was a Frankish king in the part of Austrasia .

Sigibert III's signet ring. (right outside)

He was the son of Dagobert I from the Merovingian family and his concubine Ragnetrudis. He was engaged to the Alemannic duke's daughter Fridiburga , who, however, entered the monastery after an illness. He married Chimnechild after 646, with whom he had two children: Dagobert II (* 652; † 679), and Bilichild († 675), who married her cousin Childerich II in 662 and shared his fate in 675.

Sigibert III. From the age of three he was, at the request of the greats of the eastern part of the empire, sub-king in Austrasia, initially under the tutelage of Pippin , but was never able to gain full power in the Frankish Empire , but had to appoint his brother Clovis II as king in Neustria and Burgundy . Above all, Duke Radulf of Thuringia proved to be Sigibert's most stubborn opponent. After a defeat in 641 at the Unstrut, Thuringia became de facto independent. Ultimately, Sigibert was forced to adopt Childebert , the son of his housekeeper, Grimoald I , and thus to give up the inheritance.

Sigibert, on the other hand, was important as the founder of the two monasteries Malmedy and Stablo , which he commissioned Remaclus , the abbot of Solignac at the time , to found. Sigibert died in 656. Sigebert von Gembloux wrote his vita. The tomb in St. Martin in Metz has been worshiped by Sigibert since the 11th century , which in the 13th century also extended to the Stablo and Malmedy monasteries.

Act

Together with his half-brother Clovis II, Sigibert is considered to be the first generation of lazy kings .

literature

• Felix Dahn :  Sigibert III . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 34, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1892, pp. 244-246. (outdated representation, only interesting in terms of research history)
• Eugen Ewig : The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire . 2nd revised and expanded edition. Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 1993, ISBN 3-17-012557-5 ( Urban pocket books 392).
• Pierre Riché : The Carolingians. One family makes Europe . 3. Edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-423-04559-0 .
• Reinhard Schneider : Election and elevation of the king in the early Middle Ages. Investigations into the succession of power among the Longobards and Merovingians . Anton Hirsemann, Stuttgart 1972, ISBN 3-7772-7203-5 ( Monographs on the History of the Middle Ages 3), (At the same time: Berlin, Freie Univ., Habil.-Schr., 1970/71).
• Gertrud Thoma:  Sigibert III. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 10, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-062-X , Sp. 266-267.
• Karl Ferdinand Werner : The origins of France up to the year 1000 . Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-423-04653-8 , ( dtv 4653 dtv science ).

Web links

Commons : Sigibert III.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Sigebertus Gemblacensis, Vita s. Sigeberti III regis Francorum in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"

predecessor	Office	successor
Dagobert I.	King of the Franks / Partial Kingdom of Austrasia 638–656	Childebertus adoptivus