Isidore of Seville

Isidore was the Bishop of Seville and was recognised by his peers as the most learned person of his generation. He was a prolific author and is best known for his ‘Etymologies’ (c. 600-625).

The manuscript was an enormous encyclopaedia, made up of twenty volumes and four hundred and forty-eight chapters. Isidore synergised all the knowledge that he believed a well-educated person should know, such as grammar, rhetoric, Christian thought, spices, and cartography. The text contained the first printed T-O map, a symbolic form of cartography which was typically added to illuminated Medieval manuscripts. The map divides the Earth into three parts: Europe, Asia, and Africa, with Jerusalem at its centre.

The ‘Etymologies’ was extremely popular and continued to influence scholars for generations to come.