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An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages

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An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages AN ENCYCLOPEDIST OF THE DARK AGES ISIDORE OF SEVILLE In saeculorum fine doctissimus (Ex concilio Toletano viii, cap. 2) BY ERNEST BREHAUT, Ph.D. Studies in History, Economics and Public Law Columbia University 1912 Introduction to the Digital Edition This text was prepared for digital publication by David Badke in November, 2003. It was scanned from the original text on an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo scanner and converted with OmniPage Pro 12. Author: Ernest Brehaut, at the time this book was written, was a professor at Columbia University. Copyright: The original printed text by Ernest Brehaut (1873-1953) as published by Columbia University (New York) in 1912 is believed to be in the public domain under Canadian copyright law. It is also believed to be in the public domain under the copyright law of the United States of America; it may or may not be in the public domain in other countries. If you believe that you have a legal claim on the original text, contact the editor of the digital edition at [email protected] with details of your claim. This digital edition is copyright 2003 by David Badke. Permission is hereby granted for any non-commercial use, provided that this copyright notice is included on all copies; for commercial use, please contact the editor at the above email address. Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to produce a digital edition that is accurate and equivalent in content to the original printed edition, the editor is not legally responsible for any errors or omissions. As with any information, use this edition with appropriate scholarly caution. If you discover errors in the text, please contact the editor at [email protected] with details, so corrections can be made. Edition: This digital edition includes the entire text of the printed book. All illustrations are also included. Formatting: The digital edition differs from the original printed text in layout, typeface and pagination, though all text of the original has been included as printed; no editing has been done and all original spelling and punctuation has been retained. Several typographic errors have been corrected; where these are significant, the change is indicated in a footnote. The illustrations appear in this digital edition in approximately the same position and size as in the printed edition; where this is not so, the change is noted. Some images have been digitally enhanced for clarity, but their content has not been changed. The page numbers shown in this edition (at the bottom of each page) do not match the page numbering of the original printed edition. The original page numbers have been added to allow references to the print edition to be located; the number indicates the start of the print edition page. These page numbers appear imbedded in the text, formatted like this: [27]. The page numbers shown in the Table of Contents are those of the print edition, as are page number cross references found in the text. The footnote numbering in the printed text started at 1 on each page; since the pagination in this edition does not match that of the printed edition, the footnote numbers do not match. The numbers in this edition are continuous. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The current version of this digital text edition can be found at: http://bestiary.ca/etexts/brehaut1912/brehaut1912.htm •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• PREFACE [7] THE writer of the following pages undertook, at the suggestion of Professor James Harvey Robinson, to translate passages from Isidore’s Etymologies which should serve to illustrate the intellectual condition of the dark ages. It soon became evident that a brief introduction to the more important subjects treated by Isidore would be necessary, in order to give the reader an idea of the development of these subjects at the time at which he wrote. Finally it seemed worth while to sum up in a general introduction the results of this examination of the Etymologies and of the collateral study of Isidore’s other writings which it involved. For many reasons the task of translating from the Etymologies has been a difficult one. There is no modern critical edition of the work to afford a reasonable certainty as to the text; the Latin, while far superior to the degenerate language of Gregory of Tours, is nevertheless corrupt; the treatment is often brief to the point of obscurity; the terminology of ancient science employed by Isidore is often used without a due appreciation of its meaning. However, the greatest difficulty in translating has arisen from the fact that the work is chiefly a long succession of word derivations which usually defy any attempt to render them into English. In spite of these difficulties the study has been one of great interest. Isidore was, as Montalambert calls him, le dernier savant du monde ancien, as well as the first Christian encyclopaedist. His writings, therefore, while of no [8] importance in themselves, become important as a phenomenon in the history of European thought. His resort to ancient science instead of to philosophy or to poetry is suggestive, as is also the wide variety of his ‘sciences’ and the attenuated condition in which they appear. Of especial interest is Isidore’s state of mind, which in many ways is the reverse of that of the modern thinker. It is perhaps worth while to remark that the writer has had in mind throughout the general aspects of the intellectual development of Isidore’s time: he has not attempted to comment on the technical details—whether accurately given by Isidore or not—of the many ‘sciences’ that appear in the Etymologies. The student of the history of music, for example, or of medicine as a technical subject, will of course go to the sources. The writer is under the greatest obligation to Professors James Harvey Robinson and James Thomson Shotwell for assistance and advice, as well as for the illuminating interpretation of the medieval period given in their lectures. He is also indebted to Mr. Henry O. Taylor and Professors William A. Dunning and Munroe Smith for reading portions of the manuscript. E. B. Columbia University, New York, February, 1912. 1 CONTENTS PART I INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I ISIDORE'S LIFE AND WRITINGS 1. Importance of Isidore .......................................................................................................... 15 a. Place in history of thought ............................................................................................. 15 b. Influence ........................................................................................................................ 17 2. Historical setting ................................................................................................................. 18 a. The Roman culture in Spain........................................................................................... 18 b. Assimilation of the barbarians ........................................................................................ I8 c. Predominance of the church........................................................................................... 19 3. Life ...................................................................................................................................... 20 a. Family ............................................................................................................................ 20 b. Leander.......................................................................................................................... 20 e. Early years and education .............................................................................................. 21 d. Facts of his life............................................................................................................... 22 4. Impression made by Isidore on his contemporaries ............................................................ 23 Braulio’s account ............................................................................................................... 23 5. Works .................................................................................................................................. 24 a. Braulio’s list................................................................................................................... 24 b. Works especially important as giving Isidore’s intellectual outlook ............................. 25 (1) Differentiae ........................................................................................................... 26 Stress on words.................................................................................................... 26 (2) De Natura Rerum .................................................................................................. 27 View of the physical universe.............................................................................. 27 General organization of subject-matter................................................................ 28 (3) Liber Numerorum.................................................................................................. 29 Mysticism of number........................................................................................... 29 (4) Allegoriae.............................................................................................................. 29 (5) Sententiae.............................................................................................................. 29 (6) De Ordine Creaturarum.......................................................................................
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