Sigismund (St), King of Burgundy

Sigismund (St.), King OF Burgundy

in the 6th century, was baptized in youth by Avitus, and succeeded his father, Gondebaud, in 516. In 517 he assembled a council at Ekaone, which was attended by twenty-seven Burgundian bishops, and fixed the limits of his kingdom. He governed with wisdom being very liberal towards the Church, he founded in 515, the monastery of Argaune at Maurice, in Valais, which became celebrated. He was assassinated in 524, in revenge for the execution of his son, Sigeric, by his first wife; and as he had already taken the tonsure and religious habit, he was canonized as a martyr, his festival being fixed on May 1. According to Savigny (Geschichte des romischen Rechts, vol. ii) it was Sigismund, and not his father, who compiled the Burgundian code called the Loi Gombette; but this is successfully disputed by Gaupp (Die germanischen Ansiedelungen [Breslau, 1844], p. 296317). See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v., Mrs. Jameson, Legends of the Monastic Orders, p. 173.