Editing Etymologiae (section)

== Background ==

Isidore of Seville was born around 560 in [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]], which was under the unstable rule of the [[Visigoths]] after the collapse of the [[Roman Empire]] in the West. His older brother, Leander, the abbot of a [[Seville]] monastery, supervised Isidore's education, probably in the school attached to his monastery. Leander was a powerful priest, a friend of Pope Gregory, and eventually he became bishop of Seville. Leander also made friends with the Visigothic king's sons, Hermenigild and Reccared. In 586, [[Reccared]] became king, and in 587 he converted to Catholicism under Leander's religious direction, and consequently controlled the appointment of bishops. Reccared died in 601, not long after appointing Isidore as bishop of Seville.

Isidore helped to unify the kingdom through Christianity and education, eradicating the [[Arian heresy]] which had been widespread, and led National Councils at Toledo and Seville. Isidore had a close friendship with king [[Sisebut]], who came to the throne in 612, and with another Seville churchman, [[Braulio of Zaragoza|Braulio]], who later became bishop of [[Saragossa]].

Isidore was widely read, mainly in Latin with a little Greek and Hebrew. He was familiar with the works of both the church fathers and pagan writers such as [[Martial]], [[Cicero]] and Pliny the Elder, this last the author of the major encyclopaedia then in existence, the ''Natural History''. The classical encyclopedists had already introduced alphabetic ordering of topics, and a literary rather than observational approach to knowledge: Isidore followed those traditions.{{sfn|Brehaut|2003 [1912]|p=22}} Isidore became well known in his lifetime as a scholar. He started to put together the {{lang|la|Etymologiae}}, a collection of his knowledge, in about 600, and continued to write until around 625.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=4–10}}<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Isidore of Seville |last=O'Connor |first=John Bonaventure |year=1913}}</ref>