We read of three Spanish ecclesiastics who bore this name, and who must be carefully
distinguished from each other. Of these by far the most remarkable was Isidorus, bishop of
Sevilla (Hispalensis), who flourished at the beginning of the seventh
century.
Isidorus, bishop of Cordova (Cordubensis), who is said to have
flourished about the end of the fourth century, but whose very existence has been called in
question by Nicolas Antonio in the
Isidorus, bishop of Badajos (Pacensis) flourished in the middle of the
eighth century.
ISIDORUSHISPALENSIS, whose merits are but imperfectly acknowledged when he
is pronounced to have been the most eloquent speaker, the most profound scholar, and the most
able prelate of the barbarous age and country to which he belonged. Descended from an
honourable Gothic stock, his father, Severianus, was governor, and his elder brother,
Fulgentius, bishop of Cartagena, while another brother, Leander, also his senior, presided
over the see of Sevilla. In the palace of the latter Isidorus passed his youth devoted to
study and to religious exercises, labouring at the same time with zeal and success in the
conversion of the Arian Visigoths. Upon the death of Leander, in A. D. 600 or 601, he
succeeded to his episcopal charge. One of his first acts was to establish a college for the
education of youth; soon after he repaired to Rome for the purpose of holding personal
communication with the great Gregory, in 616 (or 617), he presided at the second council of
Sevilla, and in December, ISIDORUS."
His numerous works display an extent of knowledge which, although at once superficial and inaccurate, must have caused them to be regarded as absolutely marvellous at the period when they were given to the world, exhibiting as they do a certain degree of familiarity with almost every branch of learning known even by name in those times. The fruits of this unremitting industry are even in the present day not altogether destitute of value, since considerable portions of the facts are derived from sources no longer accessible, although it may be doubted whether the ancient authorities were consulted directly or only through the medium of previous compilations drawn up during the fifth and sixth centuries. In giving a catalogue of the works of Isidorus, without attempting any regular or formal classification, which is scarcely practicable, we shall endeavour to rank those together which approach most nearly in the nature of their subjects, assigning the first place to the most important of all, namely,--
An Encyclopaedia of Arts and Sciences belonging to the same class with the medley of
Martianus Capella [CAPELLA], but far superior to it both in
matter and manner. From this book we can form a very distinct idea of the state of mental
culture at the epoch of its publication, when the study of the ancient authors was almost
entirely superseded by meagre abridgments and confused condensations, and it is of high
importance in so far as the history of education and literature during the middle ages is
concerned, since it was one of the very few manuals by means of which some acquaintance
with the Greek and Roman classics was kept alive during six hundred years. Prefixed is a
correspondence between Isidorus and his pupil Braulio, bishop of Saragossa, to whom we are
indebted for a " Praenotatio librorum Isidori," and who, together with another pupil,
Ildefonsus, bishop of Toledo, revised the production now before us. The first book treats
of grammar, with four chapters at the end, upon the nature, advantages, and different
species of history ; the second, of rhetoric and dialectics; the third, of the four great
departments of mathematical science, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy ; the
fourth, of medicine; the fifth, of law, to which is subjoined a dissertation on the
different measures of time, together with a short chronicle, extending from the creation of
the world to the reign of Heraclius; the sixth, of the canon of Scripture, of libraries, of
books in general, bookbinding, and writing materials, and of the determination of Easter,
concluding with an explanation of sundry sacred words and technicalities; the seventh, of
God, of angels, and of the various orders of holy men from patriarchs, prophets, and
apostles down to monks; the eighth, of the Jews and their sects, of the Christian church
and its heresies, of the gods, soothsayers, priests, and magicians of the pagans; the ninth
of languages, of the names of nations, of various political combinations, of the titles of
magistrates and military authorities ; and of the various grades of relationship; the
tenth, of topics purely etymological, expounding the derivation of a number of words
arranged in alphabetical order; the eleventh, of man and of monsters; the twelfth, of
domestic animals, and
The two following works belong to grammar :
De Differentiis s. De Proprietate Verborum, in
two parts, of which the first is less purely grammatical than the remainder, since it
treats chiefly of the precise meaning of various theological terms, many of which involve
abstruse questions of doctrine. The second part is borrowed in great measure from
Agroetius and other old writers upon the same subject. This treatise does not appear to
have been ever printed in a separate form, but will be found in editions of the collected
works.
Liber Glossarum Latinarum, a collection from various glossaries
circulated under the name of Isidorus.
The following work belongs to natural philosophy :--
De Rerum Natura, s. De Mundo, addressed to
king Sisebutus. It contains in forty-seven short chapters discussions on sundry questions
connected with astronomy, meteorolog and physical geography; such as the career of the sun
and of the moon, eclipses, falling stars, clouds, rain, winds, prognostics of the weather,
earthquakes, the ocean, the Nile, mount Aetna, and the great divisions of the earth. It
will be found in the collected works.
The four following works belong to history : --
Chronological tables from the creation of the world to the fifth year of the emperor
Heraclius, that is,
It was edited with much care by Garcia de Loaisa, Taurin. 4to. 1593, whose text has been followed by Roncalli in his
Historia Gothorum, a short account of the Goths from their first
collisions with the Romans in the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus down to the death of
Sisebutus.
Historia Vandalorum, from the time of their entrance into Spain
under Gunderic until their final destruction upon the fall of Gelimer, embracing a period
of one hundred and twenty-three years and seven months, which is comprehended within the
limits of a single folio page.
Historia Suevorum, equally brief, from their entrance into Spain
under Hermeric until their final destruction, one hundred and twenty-six years afterwards.
These three tracts will be found in their best form in the edition of the Chronicon by
Garcia de Loaisa named above, in the compilations of Labbé and Florez, and in the
Madrid edition of the collected works.
The following works belong to poetry : --
Among the collected works we find a sacred song in trochaic tetrameters cat., entitled
Some assign to Isidorus an astronomical poem in heroic verse more commonly ascribed to Fulgentius, the fragments of which are included in the collection of Pithou published at Paris in 1590.
Short sketches of sixty-five holy men belonging to the Old Testament history, and of twenty-two under the new dispensation, from Adam to the Maccabaean brothers, from Zacharias to Titus.
De Scriptoribus Ecclesiastics Liber, or simply, De
Viris Illustribus, or, as the title sometimes appears at greater length, Isidori Additio ad Libros S. Hieronymi et Gennadii de Scriptoribus
Ecclesiasticis, a continuation of the biographical sketches of eminent divines by
Hieronymus [HIERONYMUS ; GENNADIUS],
upon the same plan, commencing in the older editions with Osius, bishop of Cordova, and
ending with Maximus, bishop of Saragossa, including thirty-three individuals ; but in the
Madrid editions of the collected works we find several new lives prefixed, from a MS. not
before collated, reaching from Sixtus, bishop of Rome, down to Marcellinus.
The two following works belong to formal theology :--
De Officiis Ecclesiasticis Libri II., with a prefatory epistle
addressed to Fulgentius. The first book, which bears the separate title
It was published in
Regula Monachorum, a code of rules in twenty-one sections for the
government of the Coenobium Honorianum, founded by Isidorus himself. It is remarkable only
from displaying a more gentle spirit than such statute-books usually exhibit.
The four following works belong to exegetical theology : --
Liber Pröoemiorum, or Pröoemia in Libros
Veteris ac Novi Testamenti, a succinct outline of the contents of each of the books
which form the canon of Scripture.
Commentaria in Vetus Testamentum, or, Quaestiones
et Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum in Vetus Testamentum. An exposition of the
mystical, typical, and allegorical signification of the principal events recorded in the
Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings, Chronicles, Esdra, and the Maccabees, selected
from the writings of various fathers, of whom Origen, Victorinus, Ambrosius, Hieronymus,
Cassianus, Augustinus, Fulgentius, and Gregory are specially named in the preface, the
object of Isidorus being to render the researches of these wise and learned men accessible
to a greater number of readers by presenting them in a compressed and familiar form.
Published separately, Haganoae (Haguenau), 4to. 1529.
Short allegorical interpretations of many passages in the Old and New Testaments. The spirit of this piece is the same as that of the preceding, but the results are enunciated much more briefly.
The same principles are here applied to prove that Solomon's Song is a shadowing forth of the union of Christ with his church.
In the ten following works we have a mixture of dogmatical, speculative, sentimental, and practical theology, combined so intimately that not one of them can be said to belong to any single department exclusively.
A voluminous collection of short essays and dogmatic rules on a great multiplicity of
themes connected with speculative, practical, and ritual theology, forming a sort of Manual of Divinity, suited to the wants and taste of that epoch, and
possessing the same encyclopaedic character in this particular branch of knowledge which
the Origines exhibit in relation to a wider field. The whole is little more than a
compilation from Augustin and Gregory.
Published separately, Lovan. 4to. 1486, Lips. 4to. 1493, Paris, 4to. 1519, 12mo. 1538, Taurin. 4to. 1593, with the notes of Garcia de Loaisa.
De Nativitate Domini, Passione et Resurrectione, Regno atque
Judicio, addressed to his sister, St. Florentia, in sixty-one chapters, with an
Epilogue embodying a mass of prophetic passages from the Old Testament which indicate the
career and divinity of our Lord.
De Vocatione Gentium, addressed also to St. Florentia, in
twenty-six chapters, with a recapitulation pointing out how the prophets had clearly
foretold the abrogation of the ceremonial law and the free admission of the Gentiles to
all the benefits of the New Covenant.
The two last-named tracts are sometimes conjoined under the title
There is a very curious old German or Frankish translation of a portion of these
pieces, apparently as old as the eighth century. This has been carefully published by
Isidori de Nativitate Domini, &c., Carolsruh.
8vo., 1836.
Synonimorum, s. Soliloquiorum Libri II. Not,
as the former title might lead us to expect, a grammatical disquisition, but a series of
sacred meditations and moral precepts. At the commencement we find the lamentations of an
imaginary individual, the representative as it were of awakened sinners, who deplores his
lost state amid the vice and misery of this wicked world, and is upon the point of
abandoning himself to despair, when Ratio, or Reason, comes forward
to comfort him, and in the dialogue which follows proves that he may still hope for
pardon, teaches him how he may best avoid the snares of evil, and how he can most
fittingly repent of sin so as at length to become pure and holy, and to be able to look
forward with confidence to eternal happiness in heaven. The colloquial form is gradually
abandoned, and the moral precepts are arranged regularly under different heads, as
A sort of continuation of the foregoing, since here also we have a dialogue between an imaginary personage and Ratio, in which the latter descants upon a succession of religious and moral themes. Published separately, Venet. 8vo., 1523.
De Conflictu Vitiorum et Virtutum, erroneously ascribed by some to
Leo I., by others to Augustin, by others to Ambrose. It bears a strong resemblance in its
contents to the foregoing.
Exhortatio ad Poenitentiam cum Consolatione ad Animam de Salute
desperantem, in which the mercy of God is placed in opposition to the overwhelming
dread of future punishment. It is a mere repetition of certain portions of the
Norma Vivendi, a collection of apophthegms culled from the four
works last mentioned.
It only remains to notice, in the last place,--
A considerable number of letters, referring chiefly to questions of doctrine or
discipline. Thus there is one addressed to Ludifred, bishop of Cordova, Quodnam Episcopi et ceterorum sit Officium in Ecclesia ; another to Massanus,
bishop of Merida, Qui sunt reparandi post Lapsum vel qui non ; a
fragment, belonging perhaps to the last, Quare sit institutum post septem
Annos in pristinum Statum Poenitentes redire, and several others, the authenticity
of which is very questionable.
It will be seen from the above list, and much
See the