Ernest Brehaut’s An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages is a study of Isidore of Seville, the seventh-century bishop whose great Etymologies became one of the most influential reference works of the Middle Ages. Brehaut examines Isidore’s vast compilation of knowledge, which sought to preserve the learning of the ancient world for a new Christian age, and assesses its character, sources, and enormous impact on medieval thought and education.
The book illuminates how a scholar of early medieval Spain gathered and transmitted classical and Christian learning across the centuries, shaping the medieval understanding of the natural world, the arts, and the sciences. Brehaut combines analysis with translated extracts from Isidore’s encyclopaedia. Readers interested in the early Middle Ages, the transmission of knowledge, or the history of education will find it valuable. This free EPUB edition makes available Brehaut’s study of Isidore of Seville and his Etymologies.