his kinsman Swithelm, who died about 665, and reigned in dependence on Mercia conjointly with his uncle Sebbi [q. v.], son of Sæward, one of the sons of Sebert or Saberct (d. 616?) [q. v.] (Sebbi was not his brother, as stated in the article on Offa, fl. 709 [q. v.]) When Sigheri and his uncle became kings the pestilence was raging, and this led Sigheri and part of the people to relapse into idolatry, though Sebbi remained steadfast in the faith. Wulfhere [q. v.], king of Mercia, hearing of this apostasy of the East-Saxons, sent Bishop Jaruman to preach to them, and he brought Sigheri and his party back to Christianity. The names of both Sigheri and Sebbi are affixed to a charter of extremely doubtful value purporting to have been granted by Wulfhere to the abbey of Medeshamstede, afterwards Peterborough; and in another spurious charter Sigheri is represented as confirming a grant to Abbot Egbald, after he had obtained the dominion over Kent, which Bishop Stubbs suggests may represent a tradition that the East-Saxon kings, probably as dependent on Mercia, had some authority in Kent [see under Sigered]. Sigheri and Sebbi were both reigning when Erkenwald [q. v.] was consecrated to the see of London in 675. Sigheri is said by Florence of Worcester and William of Malmesbury to have died before Sebbi, who then reigned alone. (Bishop Stubbs thinks, on the other hand, that as Sigheri's son is described as ‘juvenis’ in 709, Sigheri may have survived Sebbi.) Sigheri is said also to have shared the kingship with Sighard [q. v.] He appears in legend as the husband of the virgin St. Osyth [q. v.], and was the father of Offa (fl. 709) [q. v.], who became king of the East-Saxons after the reigns of Sighuard and Suefred, the sons of Sebbi.
[Bede's Hist. Eccles. iii. 30, iv. 6, v. 19; Flor. Wig. sub an. 664 and Geneal.; Mon. Hist. Brit. pp. 629, 637; Will. Malm. Gesta Regum, i. c. 98; A.-S. Chron. sub an. 656, Peterborough version (ed. Plummer, p. 32); Monasticon, i. 375; Kemble's Codex Dipl. No. 40; Dict. Chr. Biogr. art. ‘Sigheri,’ by Bishop Stubbs.]
SIGILLO, NICHOLAS de (fl. 1170), judge, was a royal clerk in the exchequer, where he held the office of Clericus de Sigillo, or Magister Scriptorii, in which capacity he ranked next to the chancellor. From his office he was called ‘De Sigillo,’ like Robert de Sigillo, the bishop of London, who held the same position in the reign of Henry I. Nicholas is said to have been archdeacon of Huntingdon in 1155, and in 1156 he accounted for two hawks in Lincolnshire, probably as a fine for his archdeaconry. Between 1157 and 1159 he appears as a witness to royal charters (Eyton, pp. 27–57), and in September 1173 he was one of the persons who held an assize on the king's demesnes (ib. p. 176). It does not seem certain whether Nicholas de Sigillo is distinct from Nicholas ‘capellanus regis,’ who was sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire from Michaelmas 1164 to Easter 1169, and dean of Tilbury in September 1169 (ib. p. 131). Mr. Eyton distinguishes them, but Foss treats them as one person. Nicholas, the king's chaplain, attended the council of Cashel, on the king's behalf, in November 1171, and was one of the witnesses to the treaty with Roderic of Connaught in October 1175 (Rog. Hov. ii. 31, 85). Nicholas ‘capellanus’ occurs as a witness to royal charters in July and October 1175 and September 1177. He was one of the itinerant justices appointed in March 1179, and about the same time was made archdeacon of Coventry (Eyton, pp. 192, 195, 219, 226). As Nicholas ‘capellanus’ he occurs as a witness to royal charters in June 1180 and in July and September 1186.
[Madox's Hist. Exchequer, i. 123, 710; Eyton's Itinerary of King Henry II; Foss's Judges of England.]
SIHTRIC, SIGTRYGGR, or SIDROC (d. 871), is the name of two earls, surnamed respectively the Old and the Young, who headed (with Earls Osbearn, Fræna, and Harold) one division of the heathen host at the battle of Æscesdun (Ashdown), 871, opposed to the Etheling Alfred, and both fell there.
[A.-S. Chron. s.a. 871.]
SIHTRIC or SIGTRYGGR (d. 927), surnamed Gale and Caech (cæcus), king of the Black Gall and White Gall, grandson of Imhar (Inguar) Ragnarsson, came to Dublin with a ‘great royal fleet’ in 888 (Annals of the Four Masters). He left Ireland for Scotland about 902, came back about 916 to Conn Fuait, near Wexford, where he won a battle (Cogadh Gadhael re Gallaibh), and went forth to plunder Leinster, Kildare, and the ‘greater part of the churches of Erin.’ He won back Dublin in 918 (ib.), and fought a battle at Kilmashogue on 15 Sept. 919 against King Niall (Blackknee) [q. v.], who was slain with fifteen other princes (ib.; Sym. Dunelm; Four Masters; A.-S. Chron. s.a. 921). He left Dublin, per potestatem divinam, and crossed to England, where he plundered Davenport (Cheshire) in 920 (Sym. Dunelm; Annales Ultonienses). He ruled the ‘Danes’ and Northumbrians in 925, after Ragnold; met Æthelstan at Tamworth, and married his sister (iii. Kal. Februarii, i.e. 30 Jan., A.-S. Chron. s.a. 925); and died, ‘immatura ætate’ (Ann. Ult.), in
