YSIDRE (saint). Isidore of Seville, c. A.D. 560-636, was born into a noble family at Cartagena, Spain. He was bishop of Seville from 600 to 636, the year of his death. One of the most learned and prolific men of his age, he is best known for Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX, also called Etymologiae or Etymologies, an encyclopedia in twenty books, covering the seven liberal arts, the myths of the pagans, geography, law, medicine, gems, trees, foods, and much else, heavily influenced by Pliny's Natural History. One of the most important transmitters of classical learning during the medieval period, Isidore earned the name "Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages." He also wrote Historia Gothicum, Vandalorum, Suevorum or A History of the Goths, Vandals, and Suevi.

The Parson quotes Ysidre, ParsT 89. Skeat (V: 448) suggests as a source Isidore's Sententiarum libri tres, II.13, but also points out that the two quotations are not identical. The Parson uses Ysidre's comparison of the fires of rancor with the fire made from the kindling of the juniper tree, ParsT 550-552. A fire made from the wood of this tree will last a year or more if the coals are covered with ash, Etymologiae XVII.vii.35.

Ysidre, the OF variant, occurs ParsT 89, 551.