Isidore of Seville (560—636) was a crucial figure in the preservation and sharing of classical and early Christian knowledge. His compilations of the works of earlier authorities formed an essential part of monastic education for centuries. Due to the vast amountof information he gathered and its wide dissemination in the Middle Ages, Pope John Paul II even named Isidore the patron saint of the Internet in 1997. This volume represents a cross section of the various approaches scholars have taken toward Isidore’s writings. The essays explore his sources, how he selected and arranged them for posterity, and how his legacy was reflected in later generations’ work across the early medieval West. Rich in archival detail, this collection provides a wealth of interdisciplinary expertise on one of history’s greatest intellectuals.

Jamie Wood is Principal Lecturer in History at the University of Lincoln (UK). He works on the social and religious history of the late antique West, especially in the Iberian Peninsula and has published widely on the works of Isidore of Seville.Andrew Fear is Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Manchester and author of Rome and Baetica (Oxford, 1996), The Lives of the Visigothic Fathers (Liverpool, 1997) and Orosius: Seven Books of History against the Pagans (Liverpool, 2010).

PrefacePaul Fouracre, University of ManchesterChapter 1: IntroductionAndrew Fear and Jamie WoodA Family Affair: Leander, Isidore, and the Legacy of Gregory the Great in SpainDr Jamie Wood, University of LincolnVariations on a Theme: Isidore and Pliny on Human and Human-Instigated AnomalyMary BeagonPutting the Pieces back Together: Isidore and De Natura RerumDr Andrew Fear, University of ManchesterThe Politics of History-Writing: Problematizing the Historiographical Origins of Isidore of Seville in Early Medieval HispaniaDr Michael Kelly, University of LeedsIsidorian Texts in Seventy-Century IrelandMarina Smyth, University of Notre DameIsidore of Seville in Anglo-Saxon England: The Synonyma as a Source of Felix?s Vita S. GuthlaciClaudia Di Sciacca, University of UdineHispania et Italia: Paul the Deacon, Isidore, and the LombardsDr Christopher Heath, University of ManchesterRylands MS Latin 12: A Carolingian Example of Isidore?s Reception into the Patristic CanonMelissa Markauskas, University of ManchesterAdoption, Adaption, and Authority: The Use of Isidore in the Opus CaroliLaura Carlson