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Isidor of Sevilla was quite remarkable, and his compendium of all human knowledge was surely remarkable not only for its time, but for centuries thereafter (when it was an important source for learning about Aristotle).

Few people know or recall that Seville and all of Southern Spain were actually Rome’s most important colonial area, and produced everything from “Roman” poets to emperors. It was an extremely cultured area and bustling with intellectual activity.

Then the Muslim invasions, only a few years after Isidor, put a stop to it. The first group of Muslims to invade that part of Spain were recently converted Baghdadis and Persians, who still retained some shreds of their highly developed pre-Islamic national cultures and learning, and they did appreciate Sevilla and the Jewish and Christian thinkers and scientists who were there when they invaded.

Unfortunately, their own cultural traditions in their homelands were extinguished by the anti-rationalism of Islam, and eventually they were regarded as heretics by other Muslims. Spain was then invaded by more orthodox, radical and uncultured groups of North African Muslims who drove out the more tolerant and cultured ones who had been the original invaders. And of course, by then Islam had reduced their native countries to swamps of ignorance, where “culture” consisted of a few wealthy monarchs who could afford to have pretty decorative items made.

So I think St Isidore is more relevant to us than we think.