Saint Isidore of Seville was the greatest encyclopedist of the
Middle Ages, and a polymath.
What is an encyclopedist? It is just what it sounds like – a
person who writes an encyclopedia. The Oxford English Dictionary adds an additional definition: "One who attempts to deal with every branch of knowledge, or
whose studies have a very extensive range."
That was Isidore in a nutshell.
He wrote his own encyclopedia, The Etymologies, and without anyone’s
help. Today, of course, one couldn’t do that; there is just too much to know.
But, 1500 years ago, there wasn’t so much to know, so one person could master
the majority of his culture’s knowledge. Isidore was a priest and
historian and earns a place in the book of polymaths because
of a very simple rule (we can call it Isidore’s rule) – anyone who writes an encyclopedia
by himself is a polymath.
