Isidore's Sententiae, the Liber Iudiciorum, and Paris BnF Lat. 4667

KELLY MICHAEL; CASTRO DOLORES

Visigothic Symposia

Networks & Neighbours - Gracchi Books

Año: 2020 vol. 4

2475-7462

Isidore of Seville´s three-book theological treatise, the Sententiae, instructs readers in the principles of Catholic doctrine and morality, and on how faith can unite one with the eternal divine. Isidore began composing the Sententiae in the earlier 600s, likely first in the 610s, and edited it into finished form in the 630s. However, like its dating, various aspects of the text still confound scholars and tend to leave us debating more than agreeing. Part of the complexity of studying the Sententiae is that it became a foundational text in medieval Christianity. As such, it enjoyed multiple lives throughout the Middle Ages, just as it continues to find itself in novel contexts today. The two-part aim of this essay is first to elicit more about the symbolic structure of the Sententiae and then to analyze the ontology of one its actualizations, that one found at the start of Paris BnF Lat. 4667, a manuscript otherwise comprised of a version of the Liber Iudiciorum. This complementary approach to exploring Isidore´s aims with those of later copyists will help link the Sententiae and the Liber Iudiciorum into the wider historical plateau of Isidorian networks and performative nodal points.