Isidore of Seville lived at a time when the memory (or fantasy) of a homogeneous Roman culture was rapidly fading. It was a time to gather the last of the classical harvest into the barns. The conquering “barbarians,” the Visigoths, had now been ruling in Spain for centuries. They were no longer foreigners. Rather, a new culture was forming, a “melting pot” of Roman and northern elements. A man of holy ambition, Isidore laid strong foundations for the medieval European culture that would follow.

LINKS

Isidore of Seville, The Etymologies https://sfponline.org/Uploads/2002/st%20isidore%20in%20english.pdf

Isidore of Seville, On the Ecclesiastical Offices https://www.google.com/books/edition/Isidore_of_Seville/_YhkqmfNeIIC?hl=en&gbpv=1

Ernest Brehaut, An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages: Isidore of Seville (biography, with a detailed critical appreciation of his works and partial translation of The Etymologies) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51511

Mike Aquilina’s website https://fathersofthechurch.com

Mike Aquilina’s books https://catholicbooksdirect.com/writer/mike-aquilina/

Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed http://www.ccwatershed.org

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