Sicga Explained

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]

Bibliography

• Dümmler, Ernst, et al., Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Epistolae Karolini aevi (II). Reprinted 1995. (etext online at Digital MGH)
• Kirby, D.P., The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin Hyman, 1991.
• 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.
• Yorke, Barbara, The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c. 600–800. London: Longman, 2006.

Notes and References

1. Kirby, p. 153; MGH, Epistolae Karolini aevi (II), p. 28.
2. Kirby, pp. 153–154; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ms. D, s.a. 789.
3. Yorke, p. 242; Williams, p. 14.