A History of the Church in the Middle Ages by F Donald Logan

Author:F Donald Logan [Logan, F Donald]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780415669948
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

Nonetheless, the archbishop ordered his cathedral clergy to withdraw the interdict, if suitable witnesses testified to the man’s reconciliation. And the crisis ended. Hildegard was then 80 years old and had only six more months to live. She died on 17 September 1179 at Rupertsberg. Her body now rests at Rüdesheim, across the river from Bingen.

If during her lifetime Hildegard was best known as a visionary prophet, she is best known to the modern world as an author. To mention her writings raises instantly the question of authenticity of the writings attributed to her. Within a decade of her life a dossier of writings, which the compilers attributed to Hildegard, was assembled at Rupertsberg. We cannot be equally certain of the authenticity of all the works in this codex and in other collections. Accepting that she used secretaries and scribes, there can be little if any doubt that she was the author of the Scivias and the considerable correspondence. The Liber divinorum operum (‘Book of Divine Deeds’), a description of later visions, raises some questions. Examination of the earliest extant manuscript (at Ghent) suggests to different scholars distinct alternatives, one being her non-authorship, although the evidence for this position seems not compelling. With scholarship divided about some of the works attributed to her, one might put aside for now books of questionable authenticity. These would include a book on medicine. Also, over 70 compositions of sacred music with words and music which are attributed to her clearly came from her monastery at Rupertsberg but might have come from her supervision rather than directly from her hand – still a notable achievement – although her amenuensis wrote, while away, how he missed ‘the voice of her melodies and a tongue not heard before’. When the air is cleared of mist, all doubt may well be dissipated and Hildegard’s achievement seen in an even brighter light. Yet were she to have written nothing but her letters and the Scivias, her place would be absolutely firm as a luminous figure of the twelfth century.

Two copies of the Scivias which were made during her lifetime at her monastery have survived, one, lost in 1945, now only in a photographic copy. They contain her visions in three books of unequal length. Each section describes a vision and then presents Hildegard’s interpretation. They cover a wide range of topics concerning the Christian life for religious and laity alike.

The nature of these visions interested her contemporaries as it indeed interests moderns. The insistent Guibert of Gembloux, a Walloon monk who later became her secretary, asked Hildegard about how she experienced her visions:

Is it true that you do not remember at all what you have spoken in a vision once your secretaries have written it down? Do you dictate them in Latin or in German with someone translating the German into Latin? Have you become learned in the scriptures by study or by divine inspiration?

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