Who was Isidore of Seville, and what did he write?

Isidore of Seville writes down the ancient world

Isidoro de Sevilla y las Etimologías

c. 600–636. Isidore succeeded his brother Leander as bishop of Seville around 600 and held the see until his death in 636.

Where: Spain, Seville

What happened

Isidore succeeded his brother Leander as bishop of Seville around 600 and held the see until his death in 636. In a kingdom where Roman schools were vanishing, he set out to save what could be saved: his Etymologies, a vast encyclopaedia organised around the supposed origins of words, gathered everything a learned person of his day could know, from grammar and law to animals and tools. Copied in hundreds of manuscripts, it became one of the most read books of the Middle Ages across Europe. Isidore also wrote a history of the Goths and worked with Recared's successors to bind Goths and Hispano-Romans into one Catholic people. The Eighth Council of Toledo in 653 called him the most learned man of the latter ages.

Say it

Isidoro de Sevilla escribió una gran enciclopedia.

Isidore of Seville wrote a great encyclopaedia.

Why it matters

Isidore is the first great writer of what would become Spain, and his habit of explaining things through the history of words is a very early form of the curiosity that language learners share.

Connected

• From Vulgar Latin to Castilian (c. 218 BC–1250)
• The Visigoths become Catholic (8 May 589)
• The Visigoths become Catholic (8 May 589)

• Before: The Visigoths become Catholic
• After: One law for Goths and Romans

Sources

1. St. Isidore of Seville — Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent)