SIGONIO, CARLO. — Historian, born in Modena in 1523 (?), died at his villa at Ponte Basso near Modena on 28 August 1584.
He taught in Modena (1546–52), Venice (1552–60), Padua (1560–63), and Bologna (1563), where he remained until his death. Turning his studies to the Middle Ages, he wrote in fluent and elegant Latin the *Historiarum de Regno Italiae ab anno 570 ad annum 1200* (1574); *Historiae ecclesiasticae libri XIV* (written at the request of Gregory XIII and left unfinished); and *Historiarum Bononiensium ab initio civitatis usque ad a. 1257 libri VI*.
In Sigüenza noteworthy are his passion for erudition and the search for documents, his personal criterion as an “humanistic” historian, and above all the emphasis he placed on the force of law in the varied evolution of political life.