savasir
hildegarde-de-bingen
Hildegarde of Bingen was a very unusual woman who lived in 12th century Germany, near the Rhine. At the age of nine she joined a tiny nunnery attached to the Disibodenberg monastery. When the head of that nunnery died, Hildegarde picked up and moved to Bingen forming her own community.
Hildegarde had mystical visions and experienced what in Scotland is called "second sight" wherein she had premonitions of future events. She claimed these visions were "mysteries of God".
Hildegarde also wrote music, including an oratorio. She wrote of geology, botany and medicine. Today, she herself, is the most written about medieval woman of all time; there are thousands of books, articles and even CD's of her music available. She has been translated into a modern feminist hero. There is a bit of fly in the ointment, however. Hildegarde, like almost everyone else of her time was antisemitic. She also felt that females were 'weak in mind and spirit'. (1)
Aside from all this, Hildegarde wrote a medical treatise called Causae et Curae, which was a curious mix of surprisingly modern treatments, such as eliminating sugar from the diet of diabetics, to animistic, even possibly Celtic, magical beliefs, advising that the "touch of hot iron" would protect a woman in childbirth from evil spirits.
Causae et Curae is a valuable insight into the melding of a pre-christian, autochthonous culture with the eastern, latin, christianity of Rome. The area of the Rhine where Hildegarde began her life was also the place where Christian monks had so bitterly complained to the pope of the many "witches" practicing in the area, that he gave them permission to publish the Malleus Maleficarum. The area seems to have been a hotbed of pre-Christian medical practitioners. The semi-magical content of the Causae et Curae reflects the cosmos of 12th century Rhineland.
hildegarde-de-bingen
Hildegarde of Bingen was a very unusual woman who lived in 12th century Germany, near the Rhine. At the age of nine she joined a tiny nunnery attached to the Disibodenberg monastery. When the head of that nunnery died, Hildegarde picked up and moved to Bingen forming her own community.
Hildegarde had mystical visions and experienced what in Scotland is called "second sight" wherein she had premonitions of future events. She claimed these visions were "mysteries of God".
Hildegarde also wrote music, including an oratorio. She wrote of geology, botany and medicine. Today, she herself, is the most written about medieval woman of all time; there are thousands of books, articles and even CD's of her music available. She has been translated into a modern feminist hero. There is a bit of fly in the ointment, however. Hildegarde, like almost everyone else of her time was antisemitic. She also felt that females were 'weak in mind and spirit'. (1)
Aside from all this, Hildegarde wrote a medical treatise called Causae et Curae, which was a curious mix of surprisingly modern treatments, such as eliminating sugar from the diet of diabetics, to animistic, even possibly Celtic, magical beliefs, advising that the "touch of hot iron" would protect a woman in childbirth from evil spirits.
Causae et Curae is a valuable insight into the melding of a pre-christian, autochthonous culture with the eastern, latin, christianity of Rome. The area of the Rhine where Hildegarde began her life was also the place where Christian monks had so bitterly complained to the pope of the many "witches" practicing in the area, that he gave them permission to publish the Malleus Maleficarum. The area seems to have been a hotbed of pre-Christian medical practitioners. The semi-magical content of the Causae et Curae reflects the cosmos of 12th century Rhineland.