Sigismund of Burgundy

Sigismund Of Burgundy

Sigismund (died 524) was king of the Burgundians from 516 to his death. He was the son of king Gundobad, whom he succeeded in 516. Sigismund and his brother Godomar were defeated in battle by Clovis' sons and Godomar fled. Sigismund was taken by Chlodomer, King of Orléans, where he was kept as a prisoner. He was drowned in the village of St Pervay la Colombe, near Orléans. Godomar then rallied the Burgundian army and won back his kingdom. Meanwhile, Chlodomer ordered the death of Sigismund and marched with his brother Theuderic I, King of Metz, on Burgundy in 524.

Sigismund was a student of Avitus of Vienne, the Catholic bishop of Vienne who converted Sigismund from the Arian faith of his Burgundian forebears. Sigismund was inspired to found a monastery dedicated to Saint Maurice at Agaune in Valais in 515. The following year he became king of the Burgundians. Sigismund's son opposed him in 517, and insulted his new wife, so Sigismund had him strangled. Then, overcome with remorse, Sigismund retreated to the monastery that he had founded. In 523, he led the Burgundians against the invading Franks of Chlodomer, Childebert I, Clotaire I and Theodebert I. He lost the battle, put on a monk's habit and hid in a cell near his abbey. He was captured by Chlodomer, taken to Aurelianum (modern Orléans) and put to death. Afterwards, he was honoured by the Burgundians as a martyr. His bones were recovered from the well at Coulmiers where his body had been thrown, and a shrine developed near Agaune. Eventually Sigismund was canonized.

Correspondence has survived between Sigismund and Avitus, who was a poet and one of the last masters of the classical arts.