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Sigeric
the Serious, Archbishop of Canterbury
(Died AD 994)
Sigeric was educated at Glastonbury, where he became a monk, and was elected Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury in AD 980. He was consecrated by Archbishop Dunstan to the See of Ramsbury & Sonning and, in AD 990 was translated to Canterbury. By his advice, King Aethelred the Unready attempted to purchase peace from the Danes for the sum of ten thousand pounds, a proceeding which only served to encourage fresh invasions.
Abbot Aelfric dedicated to him a book of homilies, which he had translated from the Latin, requesting him to correct any blemishes or errors which he might detect. As, moreover, Sigeric bequeathed to his church a valuable collection of books, he seems to have been man of considerable learning. He died on 28th October AD 994.
Edited from G.M. Bevan's "Portraits of the Archbishops of Canterbury" (1908).