A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

intertextuality in hildegard’s works 139
Hildegard employs not only the image of the wheels or the “wheel within
a wheel,” she refers as well to the four creatures, which are described
in Ezekiel in three ways: animals seated around the throne of Yahweh
(Ezek. 1:10–11, 43); a tetramorph with the faces of a man, a lion, an eagle,
and a bull (Ezek. 1:4–10, 28); and four wheels next to four cherubim each
covered with eyes (Ezek. 10:1–10, 22; 11:22–23).4 In addition, the magistra
cites other passages from the prophet, such as: 1:24 on the sound of the
waters; 7:27, where she interprets the mourning king as the repentant
soul; 18:30, in which the prophet calls people to repentance; 33:11, where
the Lord says he does not wish the death of a sinner; and 36:5 on the fijire
of God’s zeal.5
Letter 84R
Hildegard’s most direct interpretation of the four animals in Ezekiel
occurs in her Letter 84R, addressed to Mefffridus, prior of Eberbach around
1169.6 The prior had written her to request the words (litteras) that he
and his monks heard she had composed about the “secular and unlearned
people who have taken up the spiritual way of life,” those that they called
conversi.7 Hildegard responded with an exegetical letter, such as those
she composed to discuss thorny problems of Scripture, including Song of
Songs 4:6 and Psalm 103:8. Still other letters address theological controversies
on the Trinity.8 In addition, Guibert of Gembloux, on behalf of the
4 In this last instance, the wheels have four faces, but they are not exactly the same:
cherub, human being, lion, and eagle; the bull’s face is replaced by a cherub’s. On the
representation of the four in art, see Michel Fromaget, Le symbolisme des quatre vivants:
Ézéchiel, Saint Jean et la tradition (Paris, 1991). In Rev. 4:1–11, the four creatures reveal striking
similarities but intriguing diffferences that bedeviled patristic commentators. Placed
around God’s throne, the four show Ezekiel-inspired faces, wings, and eyes; however, there
are no wheels.
5 Ezek. 1:24: Diu. operum 1.4.39, p. 173, l. 5; Symph., 64, p. 464, ll. 7–8. Ezek. 7:27: Scivias 1.2.8,
pp. 170–71, ll. 405–14. Ezek. 18:20 on righteousness: Scivias 2.6, p. 313, ll. 215–28. Ezek. 18:30:
Scivias 1.2.8, pp. 17–18, ll. 190–202. Ezek. 33:11: Expo. Euang., 51, p. 320, ll. 52–53. Ezek. 36:5: Diu.
operum 2.11, p. 278, l. 5. In other instances, the allusion is not as direct, or another passage of
Scripture may be the source.
6 Letters, 1, 84R, pp. 183–91; Epistolarium, I, 84R, pp. 190–94.
7 Letters, 1, 84, pp. 181–82; Epistolarium, I, 84, pp. 188–89.
8 On Song 4:6, see Epistolarium, III, 380, pp. 138–39. On Ps. 103:8, see Epistolarium, III,
380, pp. 133–34. On the Trinity, see the correspondence on the Trinity with Odo of Soissons
and with Eberhard of Bamberg. Epistolarium, I, 40, 40R, pp. 102–05; 30, 30R, pp. 83–88. Bernard
McGinn discusses these in “Hildegard of Bingen as Visionary and Exegete,” in Umfeld,
pp. 321–50, at pp. 333–34. Anne Clark Bartlett highlights the tension between cloister and
schools in “Commentary, Polemic, and Prophecy in Hildegard of Bingen’s ‘Solutiones
triginta octo quaestionum,’” Viator 23 (1992): 153–65.