Isidore of Seville

Isidore of Seville (c. 560 in Cartagena, Spain, † April 4 636 in Seville) was the successor of his brother Leander bishop of Seville. In his encyclopedia Etymologiarum immersive originum libri XX, he compiled the west of the Mediterranean around 600 extant knowledge of antiquity ( → Books losses in late antiquity ) and made it his time available.

Life

Isidore of Seville, who came from a family of provincial Roman upper class, was one of the most important writers of the early middle ages and can be counted among the last writers of late antiquity, because he collected ancient knowledge still available and ordered at the same time. The Hispanic Visigothic kingdom was dominated in his time of mixing Latin and Germanic culture. Parts of the Iberian Peninsula - including Isidore's birth town of Cartagena - also detained after the mid-6th century temporarily under the control of the Eastern Roman Emperor, making access to ancient works was facilitated. From 600-636 Isidore, Archbishop of Seville was ( Hispalis ). In the year 619 he presided over a synod under King Sisebut ( which he also devoted his Etymologiae ), 633 he presided at the 4th Reich Council of Toledo under King Sisenand.

Work

His writings wrote Isidor in Latin; they were eagerly copied in the Middle Ages by monks. Some statements of ancient authors are known only by his quotes. Isidor dealt with very different areas of knowledge and left a large number of works. Particularly well known is his 20 books comprehensive encyclopedia Etymologiarum immersive originum libri XX (short: Etymologiae ). King Sisebut, whom it is dedicated, in the preface died already 621, but was the work 15 years later, when Isidore died, still unfinished, and was only sorted and published by his pupil Braulio. With this work, Isidor coined the knowledge of his era well into the early modern period; particularly effective in the first three books, the literary Trivium (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic ) and the mathematical quadrivium ( arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music ) were abhandelten. Such Isidore laid the foundation for every higher education in the Middle Ages.

His cosmographic designs in Chapters 3-6 and in chapter 8 of the mountains of the fourteenth book; in XIII. Book chapters on oceans, seas, the Gulf and other waters over and XV. Book about cities, exerted a lasting influence on the medieval cartography. His geographical indications then are remarks on the circularity of the earth and its T-shaped division forward in the fourteenth book. The interpretation of these rates is highly controversial: According to some sources, he had held the earth for a disk, the others argue that he with the " Circular " I only meant the inhabited part of the earth.

His work had an enormous influence on subsequent generations, both through his Bible exegesis and for its mediation ancient knowledge to the world of the Middle Ages. His writings were soon translated into other languages ​​and found wide distribution. His name was recognized but also used by other authors to give their works more authority. Among the mention was the mission of St. James in Spain and far more consequential: the reasoning of the papal claim to rule the world by the Decretals of Pseudo-Isidore ( Isidore Mercator). Of most general significance for the construction of realities in the next 1000 years was his "invention" of a universally applicable method of explaining the world by means of truth through language, which he called etymology. He understood etymology unlike today's linguistics. Isidore's etymology process, which was his main work, the title, can be paraphrased shortened as follows: " If you want to see some truth about the direction indicated by the word object in a word, then check the origin of the object, or its effect or the opposite of it whether you can find language and / or material / content similarities between word and thing. " an this way" etymologically " gained essential knowledge of a concept applies ( philosophical, scientific ) as profound than in comparison to other lessons learned.

Remembrance and appreciation

In 1598, Isidore was canonized. In 2001, he was the patron saint of the Internet in conversation. The Vatican has yet to be announced but no official patron saint of the Internet. In the same year, the Isidor Awards was donated to be awarded the shareware programs. His feast day is within the Catholic Church April 4 ( Not bid Memorial in general Roman calendar ).

Works

Received works of Isidore of Seville

• Allegoriae quaedam Sanctae Scripturae ( = De nominibus legis et evangelii )
• Chronica majora. In: Theodor Mommsen (ed.): Auctores antiquissimi 11: Chronica minora SAEC. IV V VI. VII (II). Berlin 1894, pp. 391-481 ( Monumenta Historica Germaniae, digitized )
• De ecclesiasticis officiis
• De fide Catholica contra Ioudaeos
• De rerum natura
• De ortu et obitu patrum
• De viris illustribus
• De summo bono. Ulrich Zell, Cologne around 1470, not 1472 ( digitized )
• Differentiarum libri duo ( = De differentiis verborum )
• Etymologiarum libri viginti
• Historia ( de Regibus ) Gothorum, Vandalorum, Suevorum. In: Theodor Mommsen (ed.): Auctores antiquissimi 11: Chronica minora SAEC. IV V VI. VII (II). Berlin 1894, pp. 241-390 ( Monumenta Historica Germaniae, digitized )
• In libros Veteris ac Novi Testamenti prooemia
• Regulators monachorum
• Sentences libri tres

Translations

• Part of Isidore's writings was translated into Old High German. The corpus of these writings is often called abbreviated " Isidore ". See also Mondseer fragments.
• The encyclopedia of Isidore of Seville. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2008 ( translated by Lenelotte Möller), ISBN 978-3-86539-177-3.
• The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Edited by Stephen A. Barney, WJ Lewis, JA Beach, Oliver Berghof. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006.

Fake plants

There are extensive forgeries from the 9th century, which were circulated under the name of Isidore. These forgeries had a huge influence. There are educated guesses about the authorship, but no final proof. These works bear today the artificial name Pseudo-Isidore as a writer.