Hildegard of Bingen: An Introduction

Hildegard of Bingen is one of the many remarkable women of the Middle Ages. She lived through much of the tumultuous twelfth century (1098-1179). Like most of the women of the Middle Ages remembered by history, she was a nun.

Hildegard was far more than a simple nun, however. She was a remarkable thinker, philosopher, and playwright. She wrote on subjects ranging from mysticism to medicine, from theology to science. Today, she is often remembered for her musical compositions.

Hildegard was sent into the church by her family at eight years old, as, for lack of a better word, a tithe, having been dedicated to the church at birth. She remained at the anchorage, attached to the Benedictine church of Disibodenberg, under the tutelage of an anchoress name Jutta until she was 38. By the time Hildegard had grown to adulthood, the women gathered around Jutta had formed their own convent, and when Jutta died, Hildegard became abbess of the little convent.

Hildegard’s life remained largely unremarkable until 1141, when God spoke to her and gave her a deeper knowledge of religious texts and commanded her to share her vision. The remainder of Hildegard's life is by no means unremarkable. Hildegard's mystical visions are among the least remarkable of her accomplishments.

Politically and socially, Hildegard was one of the religious elite. Not only did she go on to found the convents at Bingen and Elbingen, but she was in regular communication with St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Pope Eugenius.

Hildegard's treatises on medicine and the natural sciences, while primitive by modern standards, were well founded in classical scientific knowledge and are a clear reminder of the brilliance of a woman living within the limited sphere of learning available to women.

For more information on Hildegard, please see http://tweedledee.ucsb.edu/~kris/music/H... http://www.uni-mainz.de/~horst/hildegard... While this site is significantly less scholarly than the others, it does include good representations of several of Hildegard’s manuscript illuminations. http://www.discoverynet.com/~bruce4j/hil...

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