Benedictine monk, born near Gembloux which is now in the Province of Namur, Belgium. He was apparently not a German, but seems to have been of Latin descent. He received his education at the Abbey of Gembloux and at an early age became a monk in this abbey; after this he taught for a long time at the Abbey of St. Vincent at Metz.

About 1070 he returned to Gembloux, where he was universally admired and venerated, and had charge there of the abbey school until his death. While at Metz he wrote several biographies. After his return to Gembloux he also wrote similar works for this abbey, namely: a long poem on the martyrdom of the Theban Legion, the De passione sanctorum Thebaeorum, as Gembloux had relics of its reputed leader Exuperius.

Later he became an imperial partisan in the great struggle between the empire and the papacy. In one of his treatises Sigebert defended the masses of married priests, the hearing of which had been forbidden by the pope in 1074. His most celebrated work, Chronicon sive Chronographia, is a chronicle of the world. The chronicle gained a very high reputation, was circulated in numberless copies, and was the basis of many later works of history.

The patron saint of the monastery of Gembloux was Saint Exuperius, (the presumed leader of the Sacred Band of Thebes, the Greek army consisting of 150 pairs of homosexual lovers) now "canonized" with all the Band. Sigebert, who was the lover of the Abbot Olbert, wove in memory of this army a garland of lowly privet blossoms, and wrote:

Clumsy the work, a silly weight to carry,
And yet revile it not, for it is love.

Gembloux (Gemblours, Gemblacum)

A suppressed Benedictine monastery about 7 miles (10 km) north-west of Namur on the river Orneau in Belgium, founded c. 945 by St. Guibert (Wibert) and dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle and the holy martyr Exuperius, presumed leader of the Theban Band.

Olbert (1012-1048), a pious and learned abbot, restored discipline, built a new abbey church in 1022, organized a rich library, and by encouraging sacred and profane learning gave the first impulse to the subsequent flourishing condition of Gemblours. During the period of its greatest intellectual activity flourished the famous chronicler Sigebert, who in a neat Latin style wrote a chronicle of the world from 381-1111, and other historical works of great value.

The abbey was pillaged by the Calvinists in 1598, and was partly destroyed by fire in 1678 and again in 1712. It was just beginning to recover from these heavy misfortunes when in 1793 the Government suppressed it. The buildings are now used for a state agricultural College.