Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her AgeThe twelfth-century German abbess Hildegard of Bingen would have been remarkable in any age. Today, her growing reputation as a composer of religious music has overshadowed the astonishing variety of her accomplishments and her part in the scientific, cultural, and theological revolution of the pre-Renaissance, from religion and mysticism to medicine and sex. Scivias, her book of apocalyptic visions, with its extraordinary and compelling illustrations, would alone have been enough to endure her lasting fame. The story of Hildegard's life, from her entry into a monastery at Disibodenberg on the Rhine as a child, through the exploration of her pent-up genius in middle years, to her eventual admission to the German canon of saints, is here told against a rich background of the years of the Crusades, the flowering of monasticism, papal schism and heresy. The forceful character that emerges challenges any image of demurely subjugated womanhood associated with the period. Hildegard's story is as fascinating as that of any figure in the Middle Ages, and she and her musical legacy continue to be the subject of debate a thousand years later. |
Contents
CHAPTER | 10 |
CHAPTER THREE | 31 |
CHAPTER FOUR | 48 |
CHAPTER FIVE | 71 |
CHAPTER | 87 |
CHAPTER SEVEN | 103 |
CHAPTER EIGHT | 121 |
CHAPTER NINE | 130 |
Physician and Healer | 145 |
CHAPTER ELEVEN | 160 |
CHAPTER TWELVE | 184 |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN | 211 |
CHAPTER FIFTEEN | 236 |
Relighting the Flame | 251 |
Notes and Sources | 301 |
Common terms and phrases
abbess Abbot Abélard Archbishop of Mainz Baird and Ehrman Benedictine Bernard of Clairvaux Bishop blessed body brother canonisation Cathars Causae et Curae celebrated chant child Christ Christian Church Cistercian cloister colour convent Cuno daughter describes Disibod Disibodenberg Divine Office Eibingen Elisabeth Emperor evidence eyes flesh Frederick Barbarossa Gembloux German God's Guibert Hildegard of Bingen holy human Ibid known later Latin letter living Lord lust manuscript matter medieval menstruation Middle Ages monastery monastic monks mother mystical noble Notes for Pages nuns papal Patrologia Latina person Peter Abélard physical Pope Pope Eugene III prayer priest religious remains Rhine Rhineland Richardis Rüdesheim Rupertsberg Rupertsberg monastery saints Scivias semen sexual Silvas singing sisters songs soul spirit Sponheim St Disibod suffering survives things tion Trier twelfth century virgin visionary visions Vita Jutta Volmar woman women words writing written wrote