A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

intertextuality in hildegard’s works 141
but not in the manner of the Old Testament prophet’s jolting brightness
(quasi electri in medio ignis, Ezek. 1:4) or sparks (scintillae, Ezek. 1:7).13 She
then offfers a tropological interpretation of each of the animals as she conveys
teachings to various orders of people in society: monks, priests, lay
brothers, people in the world, and penitent sinners.
The fijirst creature, the lion, represents monks,14 who with the fortitude
of a lion remove themselves from worldly things.15 Their cowls, symbolic of
their way of life and focus on God, associate them with angelic garb and
angelic spirits who foreshadow them.16 The cowl holds their heads erect,
always regarding God and not turning to right or left, so that they not turn
away from good works.17
Hildegard next turns to women who choose such a way of life. Like the
“cowled men,” she says, “many virgins relinquish love of a man, wealth,
and indeed the whole world.”18 As the virgin ought to be removed from
the delights of the world, so too the “cowled throng” (turba cucullata)
ought to abandon the world so that they perform no worldly duties. Just
as the virgin is free from the care and power of a husband, so the monk
remains free and not subject to the world.19
Virginity signifijies the sun, the magistra asserts, and this association
leads her to link the virginity chosen by religious women with the Virgin
13 The image of fijire appears often in Hildegard’s works. For a few representative examples,
see Diu. operum 1.1.13, p. 56, ll. 1–2; 1.2.4, p. 67, ll. 1–7; 1.4.29, p. 163, ll. 15–16; and Expo.
Euang., 9, p. 213, ll. 80, 91–93. Gregory the Great discusses the fijire and sparks seen by
Ezekiel in Gregory the Great, Homiliae in Hiezechihelem prophetam, I, 3.5, pp. 35–36; I,
5.6–7, pp. 59–60.
14 Letters, 1, 84R, p. 185; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 192, ll. 88–89: “Quod dicitur: Animal hoc
primum cucullatos homines signifijicat.”
15 Letters, 1, 84R, p. 185; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 192, ll. 89–90: “qui primi in fortitudine
leonis se omnino a seculo abstrahunt.”
16 Letters, 1, 84R, p. 185; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 192, ll. 95–96: “Nam cuculla ejus ab
angelicis spiritibus praesignata est, qui in faciem Dei et non in alium aspiciunt.”
17 Letters, 1, 84R, p. 185; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 192, ll. 99–102: “Homines itaque isti cuculla
caput suum tegunt, ne ad sinistram uel ad dextram declinantes, recte coram se in impetu
spiritus gradiantur, Deum semper inspicientes, ne de bonis operibus reuertantur.”
18 Letters, 1, 84R, p. 185; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 193, ll. 124–25: “His quoque cucullatis
hominibus turba uirginum associatur, que uirum cum amore et diuitiis ac totum mundum
relinquunt.”
19 Letters, 1, 84R, p. 185; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 193, ll. 126–31: “Sicut enim uirgo deliciis
mundi ablata esse debet, ne ubera uoluptatis sugat, sic etiam turba cucullata, a mundo
relicta esse debet, ne ulla offfijicia saecularia cum illo exerceat. Et uirgo a uiro relicta est, ita
ut sub cura et potestate ipsius non est, sicut libera ab eo est; sic etiam monachus a mundo
relictus illi subjugatus non sit, sed liber ab illo maneat.”