The Spanish cleric and encyclopedist St. Isidore of Seville (560-636) is known for the legacy of ancient culture that he transmitted to the Middle Ages in his chief work, the Etymologies.

Isidore was born into a Hispano-Roman family about the time his father, Severianus, brought the family from Cartagena to Seville. The move from Cartagena was probably occasioned by the turmoil caused in Gothic Spain when Emperor Justinian sought to restore imperial power there. However, Visigothic rule survived and flourished. In Seville, Isidore's family became closely involved with the regime. His father died when Isidore was quite young, and he was raised and educated by his older brother, Leander.

Leander became archbishop of Seville and was King Reccared's chief adviser during the Third Council of Toledo (589). This council officially replaced the Arianism of the Visigoths with Roman Catholicism, till then the religion of the subject Hispano-Romans. The many...