Table of Consanguinity
Etymologiae and Sententiae: De ortu Poncii Pilati; De ortu Jude Scarioht
St Isidore of Seville, late 12th century
St. John’s College Library, MS H.11
This first known European encyclopedia contains tables that categorise people so that they may follow the celestial origins of marriage prohibition (based on the proximity of ‘shared blood’). The large table on the left maps relations bilaterally in seven generations. The head at the top is that of Christ. The paternal side is marked by male heads on the left side of the page, while female heads depict the maternal side on the right. The extraordinary range of prohibited marriage degrees in this table made their actual application highly impractical and impossible to uphold. The table on the right depicts the same information in a different format.
