Sigeferth (Mercia) of Mercia

Died 1015 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

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Biography

Sigeferth was the son of Arngrim. He had one known sibling: Morcar.^[1] He and his brother were leading thanes of the Seven Boroughs, taken to be the five Mercian boroughs of Lincoln, Stamford, Leicester, Nottingham and Derby plus Torksey in Lincolnshire and possibly York.^[2]

Sigeferth married a woman named Ældgyth. Her parents are uncertain.^[1]

He is probably the Sigeferth mentioned in the will of Æthelstan, son of King Æthelred the Unready, as having received from him an estate at Hollingbourne in Kent.^[3]

In 1015 Eadric Streona lured him and his brother to the room where he was staying in Oxford and ordered his killing. According to the E manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Æthelred the Unready subsequently arranged for Sigeferth's widow to be held at Malmesbury. Edmund Ironside secured the lands of Sigeferth and Morcar, and, against the wishes of his father Æthelred, made Ældgyth his wife.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Charles Cawley. 'Sigeferth' (under 'Arngrim'), in "Medieval Lands" database (accessed 30 April 2021)
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Michael Swanton (translator and editor). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, revised edition, Phoenix Press, 2000, pp. 145-146
3. ↑ Dorothy Whitelock (ed.). English Historical Documents, Volume I, c.500-1042, 2nd edition, Eyre Methuen, 1979, pp. 593-596

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