Sigeric the Serious

Sigeric
Archbishop of Canterbury
Appointed	990
Term ended	28 October 994
Predecessor	Æthelgar
Successor	Ælfric of Abingdon
Other posts	Abbot of St Augustine's Bishop of Ramsbury
Orders
Consecration	c. 985 by Dunstan
Personal details
Died	28 October 994
Buried	Christ Church, Canterbury

Sigeric (died 28 October 994) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 990 to 994.

It is unclear whether the epithet "The Serious" originated from his learning, or if it derived from transliteration of his name into Latin as Serio.

Sigeric was educated at Glastonbury Abbey, where he took holy orders. He was elected Abbot of St Augustine's in about 975 to 990, and consecrated by Archbishop Dunstan as Bishop of Ramsbury in 985 or 986. He was transferred to the see of Canterbury in 990. He may have been a disciple of Dunstan's.

Sigeric made the pilgrimage to Rome following the Via Francigena to receive his pallium circa 990, and contemporary records of this journey still exist.

It was Sigeric who advised King Æthelred to pay a tribute to the invading Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard in 991. Æthelred presented Sweyn with 10,000 pounds of silver, in response to which Sweyn temporarily ceased his destructive advance into England, though he later returned for further tribute. Sweyn's ever-increasing demands in the following years resulted in a debilitating tax known as the Danegeld, payable by the inhabitants of Æthelred's territories.

In 994, Sigeric paid tribute to the Danes to protect Canterbury Cathedral from being burned. In the same year, a diploma granting rights to the diocese of Cornwall and Bishop Ealdred of Cornwall stated that it was written by Sigeric, but it is unlikely that the document was actually written by the archbishop.

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