Sigismund (Burgundy)
Sigismund or Sigmund († May 1, 523/24 Saint-Peravy-la-Colombe) was a son of the Burgundian king Gundobad and was his successor in 516. His mother was probably Caretene . He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church .
Life
While Gundobad was an Arian , Sigismund was baptized a Catholic by Bishop Avitus of Vienne in 497 - against the will of his father .
In 501, after Gundobad had his brother Godegisel , who was part-king in Geneva , murdered, he installed Sigismund there as his successor. Sigismund took over the official title magister militum from his father, and on the occasion of his assumption of power in 516 the Eastern Roman Emperor Anastasios I also apparently awarded him the honorary title of patricius .
Around the year 517 Sigismund married his daughter to the Frankish king Theuderich I († 533); In some sources the name of this daughter is given as Suavegotta , in other sources Suavegotta is the name of Theuderich's previous wife.
In the year 523 Sigismund had his son Sigerich strangled because he suspected him of plotting against him. This murder triggered a crisis between the Ostrogoths and the Burgundians, which the Franks, especially Theuderich's half-brothers under the leadership of Chlodomer , but not Theuderich himself, exploited to attack the now isolated Burgundian empire. Sigismund was defeated by the Franks in a battle, he, his wife and two sons were captured by the Franks through betrayal (see Burgundy War ).
Sigismund's brother and successor Godomar II managed to turn the tide. With the support of the Ostrogoths, he launched a counterattack in 524, whereupon Chlodomer gave the order to kill Sigismund and his family. This happened on May 1, 523/524, when she was thrown headlong into a well; since then Sigismund has been considered a Christian martyr .
On June 21, 524 Godomar achieved a victory over the Franks in the battle of Vézeronce , in which Chlodomer himself fell. The Franks then withdrew and gave up the fight for the time being.
Three years after his death, Sigismund's body was recovered and then buried in the Johannes Chapel in the Abbey of Saint-Maurice ( St. Maurice , Wallis ), the monastery that he founded himself in 515 and into which he retired for some time . Some of his bones came as relics to Prague and in the 14th century to Freising , where the transfer of his bones is celebrated annually on September 5th.
Sigismund is the patron saint of the city of Cremona and namesake of the place called Saint-Sigismond , to whom a number of Sigismund churches are dedicated. He is called against malaria and fractures. His feast day is May 1st. In the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising His feast day is celebrated on May 2
presentation
Sigismund of Burgundy is often depicted in regal clothing and sitting on a throne with a scepter and orb. In some cases the scepter is replaced by a sword, as there is also a tradition that he and his family were beheaded before they were thrown into the well.
family
He was married to Ostrogotho , a daughter of Theodoric the Great (475-526). His children were:
- Gisald († May 1, 523/24), murdered with his father on orders from Chlodomer
- Gondebaud († May 1, 523/24), murdered with his father on the orders of Chlodomer
- Sigrich († 522/523), strangled on the orders of Sigismund
- Suavegotho, married to Theuderich I.
literature
- Reinhold Kaiser : The Burgundy (= Kohlhammer Urban pocket books. Vol. 586). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-17-016205-5 .
- Wolfgang Kuhoff : Sigismundus. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 10, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-062-X , Sp. 274-277.
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Gundobad |
King of the Burgundians 516–523 |
Godomar II |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sigismund |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sigmund |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | King of the Burgundy |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 5th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 1, 524 |
| Place of death | at Coulmier |