Abstract

Modern criticisms of the historical works of Isidore of Seville have generally mistaken them for mere chronicle, and poor chronicle at that. Isidore saw biblical and secular history merging into a universal history moving toward "the divinely appointed consummation." This is a marked change from the emphasis of Augustine's Civitas Dei, and involves a different periodization of historical eras. Isidore's emphasis on social as well as temporal continuity is the result of a conscious effort toward universalism. He incorporates the literature and mythology of antiquity into a summation of history and an explanation of the origins of peoples and arts. Universal history is bound up with the history of the Universal Church. Isidore's works show the interaction of the historian and his "Sitz-im-Leben."