Isidore of Seville and List of U.S. state license plates: Difference between pages

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[[Image:Isidor von Sevilla.jpeg|thumb|right|Isidore, depicted by [[ Bartolomé Esteban Murillo|Murillo]]]]

'''Saint Isidore of Seville''' ([[Cartagena, Spain]], about [[560]] - [[April 4]], [[636]]) was [[Archbishop]] of [[Seville]] for more than three decades and has the reputation of being one of the great scholars of the early [[middle ages]]. All the later medieval history-writing of [[Spain]] were based on his histories.

This is a '''list of U.S. state license plates''', favoring the most current and the most-standard design. The plates shown on this page are representative of their designs only - they may or may not reflect the way a state numbers their plates. Note that most states have more than one license plate. For more information see [[U.S. and Canadian license plates]]

At a time of disintegration of classical culture, and aristocratic violence and illiteracy, he was involved in the conversion of the royal [[Visigoth]] [[Arianism|Arians]] to Catholicism, both assisting his brother Leander and continuing after his brother's death. Like Leander, he took a most prominent part in the Councils of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] and Seville. In all justice it may be said that it was in a great measure due to the enlightened statecraft of these two illustrious brothers the Visigothic legislation, which emanated from these councils, is regarded by modern historians as exercising a most important influence on the beginnings of representative government.

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==Life==

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===Childhood and education===

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[[Image:SanIsidoroBibNac.JPG|thumb|left|Statue of Isidore of Seville, outside of the [[Biblioteca Nacional de España]], in [[Madrid]].]]

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[[Category:United States state insignia|License]]

Isidore was born in [[Cartagena, Spain]], to [[Severianus]] and [[Theodora]], part of an influential family who were instrumental in the political-religious maneuvering that converted the Visigothic kings from [[Arianism]] to Catholicism, and were all awarded sainthoods:

*His elder brother [[Leander]] was his immediate predecessor in the Catholic Metropolitan See of [[Seville]], and while in office opposed king [[Liuvigild]]

*A younger brother, [[St. Fulgentius]], was awarded the [[Bishopric]] of [[Astigi]] at the start of the new reign of Catholic [[Reccared]].

*His sister [[Florentina]] was a nun, and is said to have ruled over forty convents and one thousand religious.

External link:

Isidore received his elementary education in the Cathedral school of Seville. In this institution, which was the first of its kind in Spain, the trivium and quadrivium were taught by a body of learned men, among whom was the [[archbishop]], [[Leander]]. With such diligence did he apply himself to study that in a remarkably short time mastered [[Latin]], [[Greek language|Greek]], and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]].

All 50 States plates, c. 1997-99: http://c2.com/ward/plates/table.cgi?width=300,columns=3

Whether Isidore ever embraced monastic life or not is still an open question, but though he himself may never have been affiliated with any of the religious orders, he esteemed them highly - on his elevation to the [[episcopate]] he immediately constituted himself protector of the monks and in [[619]] he pronounced anathema against any ecclesiastic who should in any way molest the monasteries.

===Bishop of Seville===

On the death of Leander, Isidore succeeded to the See of Seville.

His long incumbency in this office was spent in a period of disintegration and transition. The ancient institutions and classic learning of the [[Roman Empire]] were fast disappearing. In Spain a new civilization was beginning to evolve itself from the blending racial elements that made up its population. For almost two centuries the [[Goths]] had been in full control of Spain, and their barbarous manners and contempt of learning threatened greatly to put back her progress in civilization.

Realizing that the spiritual as well as the material well-being of the nation depended on the full assimilation of the foreign elements, St. Isidore set himself to the task of welding into a homogeneous nation the various peoples who made up the Hispano-Gothic kingdom. To this end he availed himself of all the resources of religion and education. His efforts were attended with complete success. [[Arianism]], which had taken deep root among the [[Visigoths]], was eradicated, and the new heresy of [[Acephales]] was completely stifled at the very outset; religious discipline was everywhere strengthened.

===Second Synod of Seville (November 618 or 619)===

Isidore presided over the Second Council of Seville, begun [[13 November]], [[619]], in the reign of Sisebut. The bishops of Gaul and Narbonne attended, as well as the Spanish prelates. In the Council's Acts the nature of Christ is fully set forth, countering Arian conceptions.

===Fourth National Council of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] ===

At this council, begun [[5 December]], [[633]], all the bishops of Spain were in attendance. St. Isidore, though far advanced in years, presided over its deliberations, and was the originator of most of its enactments.

The council probably expressed with tolerable accuracy the mind and influence of Isidore. The position and deference granted to the king is remarkable. The church is free and independent, yet bound in solemn allegiance to the acknowledged king: nothing is said of allegiance to the [[Papacy|bishop of Rome]].

It was at the Fourth National Council of Toledo and through his influence that a decree was promulgated commanding and requiring all bishops to establish seminaries in their Cathedral Cities, along the lines of the school associated with Isidore already existing at Seville. Within his own jurisdiction he had availed himself of the resources of education to counteract the growing influence of Gothic barbarism. His was the quickening spirit that animated the educational movement of which Seville was the centre. The study of Greek and Hebrew as well as the liberal arts, was prescribed. Interest in [[law]] and [[medicine]] was also encouraged. Through the authority of the fourth council this policy of education was made obligatory upon all the bishops of the kingdom.

==Works==

Isidore's Latin style in the ‘’Etymologiae‘’ and elsewhere, though simple and lucid, cannot be said to be classical, affected as it was by local Visigothic traditions. It discloses most of the imperfections peculiar to all ages of transition and particularly reveals a growing Visigothic influence, containing hundreds of recognizably Spanish words - his 18th-century editor [[Faustino Arévalo]] identified 1,640 of them: Isidore can possibly be characterized as the world's last native speaker of [[Latin]] and perhaps the world's first native speaker of [[Spanish language|Spanish]].

===''Etymologiae''===

Long before the [[Arabs]] had awakened to an appreciation of Greek Philosophy, he had introduced Aristotle to his countrymen. He was the first [[Christian]] writer to essay the task of compiling for his co-religionists a summa of universal knowledge, in the form of his most important work, the ''[[Etymologiae]]'' (taking its title from the method he used in the transcription of his era's knowledge). This [[encyclopedia]] - the first known to be compiled in western civilization - [[epitome|epitomized]] all learning, ancient as well as modern, forming a huge compilation of 448 chapters in 20 volumes. In it many fragments of classical learning are preserved which otherwise would have been hopelessly lost but, on the other hand, some of these fragments were lost in the first place because Isidore’s work was so highly regarded that it superseded the use of many individual works of the classics themselves, which were not recopied and have therefore been lost. .

The fame of this work imparted a new impetus to encyclopedic writing, which bore abundant fruit in the subsequent centuries of the [[Middle Ages]]. It was the most popular compendium in [[medieval]] libraries. It was printed in at least 10 editions between [[1470]] and [[1530]], showing Isidore's continued popularity in the [[Renaissance]]. Until the 12th century brought translations from Arabic sources, Isidore transmitted what western Europeans remembered of the works of [[Aristotle]] and other Greeks, although he understood only a limited amount of Greek. The ''Etymologiae'' was much copied, particularly into medieval [[bestiary|bestiaries]].

===Other works===

His other works include

*his ''Chronica Majora'' (a universal history)

*''De differentiis verborum'', which amounts to brief theological treatise on the doctrine of the Trinity, the nature of Christ, of Paradise, angels, and men.

*a ''History of the Goths''

*''On the Nature of Things'' (not the poem of [[Lucretius]])

*a book of astronomy and natural history dedicated to the Visigothic king [[Sisebut]]

*''Questions on the Old Testament''.

*a mystical treatise on the allegorical meanings of numbers

*a number of brief letters.

==Afterlife==

Isidore was the last of the ancient Christian Philosophers, as he was the last of the great Latin [[Church Father]]s. He was undoubtedly the most learned man of his age and exercised a far-reaching and immeasurable influence on the educational life of the Middle Ages. His contemporary and friend, [[Braulio]], Bishop of [[Saragossa]], regarded him as a man raised up by God to save the Spanish people from the tidal wave of barbarism that threatened to inundate the ancient civilization of Spain, The Eighth Council of Toledo ([[653]]) recorded its admiration of his character in these glowing terms: "The extraordinary doctor, the latest ornament of the Catholic Church, the most learned man of the latter ages, always to be named with reverence, Isidore". This tribute was endorsed by the Fifteenth Council of Toledo, held in [[688]].

*In [[Dante]]'s [[Divine Comedy#Paradiso|Paradise]] (''[[Divine Comedy#Paradise|Paradiso]]''' X.130), he is mentioned among theologians and doctors of the church alongside the Scot [[Richard of St. Victor]] and the Englishman [[Bede]].

*He was [[Canonization|canonized]] as a [[saint]] by the [[Catholicism|Roman Catholic Church]] in [[1598]] and declared a [[Doctor of the Church]] in [[1722]].

*In [[2003]] he was proposed as the patron saint of the Internet, but was not among the top six vote totals in an Italian language Internet poll (Google translation: [http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.santiebeati.it%2Fpatrono.html&langpair=it%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools])

Alternative spelling: Isadore.

==See also==

*[[Cartographer]]

==External links==

*[http://www.ccel.org/w/wace/biodict/htm/TOC.htm Henry Wace, ''Dictionary of Christian Biography'']

*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08186a.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', 1913: 'Isidore of Seville']

*[http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,49995,00.html?tw=wn_story_related St. Isidore proposed as patron saint of the Internet]

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[[category:saints]]

[[Category:Characters in the Divine Comedy]]

[[Category:Spanish saints|Isidore of Seville]]

[[Category:Roman Catholic archbishops|Isidore of Seville]]

[[Category:560 births|Isidore of Seville]]

[[Category:636 deaths|Isidore of Seville]]

[[Category: Encyclopedists|Isidore of Seville]]

[[Category:Doctors of the Church|Isidore of Seville]]

[[Category:Spanish philosophers|Isidore of Seville]]

[[Category:Spanish theologians|Isidore of Seville]]

[[bg:Исидор Севилски]]

[[de:Isidor von Sevilla]]

[[es:Isidoro de Sevilla]]

[[fr:Isidore de Séville]]

[[ia:Isidor de Sevilla]]

[[id:Isidore dari Sevilla]]

[[it:Isidoro di Siviglia]]

[[he:איזידור מסביליה]]

[[la:Isidorus Hispalensis]]

[[nl:Isidorus van Sevilla]]

[[pl:Izydor z Sewilli]]

[[pt:Isidoro de Sevilha]]

[[sk:Izidor zo Sevilly]]