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 SIGEBERT OF GEMBLOUX (c. 1030-1112), medieval chronicler, became in early life a monk in the Benedictine abbey of Gembloux. Later he was a teacher at Metz, and about 1070 he returned to Gembloux, where, occupied in teaching and writing, he lived until his death on the 5th of October 1112. As an enemy of the papal pretensions he took part in the momentous contest between Pope Gregory VII. and the emperor Henry IV., his writings on this question being very serviceable to the imperial cause; and he also wrote against Pope Paschal II. Sigebert's most important work is a Chronographia, or universal chronicle, according to Molinier the best work of its kind, although it contains many errors and but little original information. It covers the period between 381 and mi, and its author was evidently a man of much learning. The first of many editions was published in 1513 and the best is in Band vi. of the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores, with valuable introduction by L. C. Bethmann. The chronicle was very popular during the later middle ages; it was used by many writers and found numerous continuators. Other works by Sigebert are a history of the early abbots of Gembloux to 1048 (Gesta abbatum Gemblacensium) and a life of the Frankish king Sigebert III. {Vita Sigeberti III. regis Austrasiae). Sigebert was also a hagiographer. Among his writings in this connexion may be mentioned the Vita Deodcrici, Mettensis episcopi, which is published in Band iv. of the Monumenta, and the Vita Wicberti, in Band viii. of the same collection. Dietrich, bishop of Metz (d. 984) was the founder of the abbey of St Vincent in that city, and Wicbert or Guibert (d. 962) was the founder of the abbey of Gembloux.

SIGEL, FRANZ (1824-1902), German and American soldier, was born at Sinsheim, in Baden, on the 18th of November 1824. He graduated at the military school at Carlsruhe, and became an officer in the grand ducal service. He soon became known for revolutionary opinions, and in 1847, after killing an opponent in a duel, he resigned his commission. When the Baden insurrection broke out, Sigel was a leader on the revolutionary side in the brief campaign of 1848, and then took refuge in Switzerland. In the following year he returned to Baden and took a conspicuous part in the more serious operations of the second outbreak under General Louis Mieroslawski (1814-1878.) Sigel subsequently lived in Switzerland, England and the United States, whither he emigrated in 1852, the usual life of a political exile, working in turn as journalist and schoolmaster, and both at New York and St Louis, whither he removed in 1858, he conducted military journals. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Sigel was active in raising and training Federal volunteer corps, and took a prominent part in the struggle for the possession of Missouri. He became in May a brigadier-general U.S.V., and served with Nathaniel Lyon at Wilson's Creek and with J. C. Frémont in the advance on Springfield in the autumn. In 1862 he took a conspicuous part in the desperately fought battle of Pea Ridge, which definitely secured Missouri for the Federals. He was promoted to be major-general of volunteers, was ordered to Virginia, and was soon placed in command of the I. corps of Pope's &ldquo;Army of Virginia.&rdquo; In this capacity he took part in the second Bull Run campaign, and his corps displayed the utmost gallantry in the unsuccessful attacks on Bald Hill. Up to the beginning of 1863, when bad health obliged him to take leave of absence, Sigel remained in command of his own (now called the XI.) corps and the XII., the two forming a &ldquo;Grand Division.&rdquo; In June 1863 he was in command of large forces in Pennsylvania, to make head against Lee's second invasion of Northern territory. In 1864 he was placed in command of the corps in the Shenandoah Valley, but was defeated by General John C. Breckinridge at Newmarket (15th of May), and was superseded. Subsequently he was in command of the Harper's Ferry garrison at the time of Early's raid upon Washington and made a brilliant defence of his post

(July 4-5, 1864). He resigned his commission in May 1865, and became editor of a German journal in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1867 he removed to New York City, and in 1869 was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for secretary of state of New York. He was appointed collector of internal revenue in May 1871, and in the following October he was elected register of New York City by Republicans and &ldquo;reform Democrats.&rdquo; From 1885 to 1889, having previously become a Democrat, he was pension agent for New York City, on the appointment of President Cleveland. General Sigel's last years were devoted to the editorship of the New York Monthly, a German-American periodical. He died in New York City on the 21st of August 1902. A monument (by Karl Bitter) in his honour was unveiled in Riverside Drive, New York City, in October 1907.

SIGER DE BRABANT [], French philosopher of the 13th century. About the facts of his life there has been much difference of opinion. In 1266 he was attached to the Faculty of Arts in the University of Paris at the time when there was a great conflict between the four "nations." The papal legate decided in 1266 that Siger was the ringleader, and threatened him with death. During the succeeding ten years he wrote the six works which are ascribed to him and were published under his name by P. Mandonnet in 1899. The titles of these treatises are: De anima intellectiva (1270); Quaestiones logicales; Quaestiones naturales; De aeternitate mundi; Quaestio utrum haec sif vera: Homo est animal nullo homine existente; Impossibilia. In 1271 he was once more involved in a party struggle. The minority among the " nations " chose him as rector in opposition to the elected candidate, Aubri de Rheims. For three years the strife continued, and was probably based on the opposition between the Averroists, Siger and Pierre Dubois, and the more orthodox schoolmen. The matter was settled by the Papal Legate, Simon de Brion, afterwards Pope Martin IV. Siger retired from Paris to Liege. In 1277 a general condemnation of Aristotelianism included a special clause directed against Boetius of Denmark and Siger of Brabant. Again Siger and Bernier de Nivelles were summoned to appear on a charge of heresy, especially in connexion with the Impossibilia, where the existence of God is discussed. It appears, however, that Siger and Boetius fled to Italy and, according to John Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, perished miserably. The manner of Siger's death, which occurred at Orvieto, is not known. A Brabantine chronicle says that he was killed by an insane secretary {a clerico suo quasi dementi). Dante, in the Paradiso (x. 134-6), says that he found " death slow in coming," and some have concluded that this indicates death by suicide. A 13th-century sonnet by one Durante (xcii. 9-14) says that he was executed at Orvieto: a ghiado il fe' morire a gran dolore, Nella corte di Roma ad Orbivicto. The date of this may have been 1283-1284 when Martin IV. was in residence at Orvieto. In politics he held that good laws were better than good rulers, and criticised papal infallibility in temporal affairs. The importance of Siger in philosophy lies in his acceptance of Averroism in its entirety, which drew upon him the opposition of Albertus Magnus and Aquinas. In December 1270 Averroism was condemned by ecclesiastical authority, and during his whole life Siger was exposed to persecution both from the Church and from purely philosophic opponents. In view of this, it is curious that Dante should place him in Paradise at the side of Aquinas and Isidore of Seville. Probably Dante knew of him only from the chronicler as a persecuted philosopher.

SIGHTS, the name for mechanical appliances for directing the axis of the bore of a gun or other firearm on a point whose position relative to the target fired at is such that the projectile will strike the target.

Gun Sights. — Until the 19th century the only means for sighting cannon was by the "line of metal" — a line scored