Hildegard Of Bingen Summary

Hildegard of Bingen is a remarkable woman who lived during the twelfth century. During this period, most women did not have a voice nevermind access to a sophisticated education, yet Hildegard managed to attain both of these things. From a young age Hildegard lived in a monastery where she was able to receive a full education and knowledge from a variety of different people. When Hildegard’s superior at the monastery passed away she was elected majora but soon after she moved and created two of her own monasteries due to a vision. During her time at the monastery Hildegard wrote many books. These books included ones on her visions, biblical commentaries and a medical/natural-scientific text along with multiple musical compositions. It is thought

She was authorized by the pope himself to record her visions and turn them into works of art. Even though she experienced visions from a young age, she was only able to convert them into these artistic and social forms until midway through her life. Hildegard’s music was mostly about divine topics but also included her position on female roles in her society. To conclude this article, the author explains how Hildegard’s songs on women show that she believed women should have a radical and charismatic role in society/religion but how as Christianity grew this thought became completely ignored and the religion was replaced with a hierarchical priesthood of

The Proverbs and the Bible itself are mentioned when Hildegard’s studies and stances on specific religious topics are discussed. The practice of Cherokee curing spells is mentioned due to the fact that some historians perceived Hildegard’s therapeutic writing to be comparable to the Cherokees spells. The natural-scientific text known as “Physica” is mentioned because it is believed that Hildegard’s writing was combined with another source to create this text. Other natural-scientific texts are also mentioned because they resemble Hildegard’s work (i.e. “De philosophia mundi”, “Practica” and “De pulsis et urinis”). Lastly, Jewish mysticism and the Kabbalah is mentioned because it is thought that they, in part, aided Hildegard’s visions. Out of these references, ones that have been alluded to and/or covered in Humanities 1A/B are the Bible and Jewish mysticism. The Bible is something that has been studied thoroughly in Humanities and relates to Hildegard because she had visions that had to do with cosmology, relationship with God and human purpose; all things discussed in the Bible itself.

In all of the scholarly articles it is mentioned in some form how Hildegard’s work was lost for an extended period of time. This disappearance of her work can be hypothesized to be because of the idea of male superiority and the fact that men in power did not want common women to be aware