A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

the medical, the magical, and the miraculous 251
diminished in importance. Encyclopedic works, such as The Canon of
Medicine by Avicenna (980–1037), were translated into Latin. Greek medical
texts were reclaimed from obscurity, and the contributions of Islamic
medicine were discovered as contact with the Arabic world increased.
Medicine became the domain of the newly established European universities
beginning in the second half of the 12th century. Nonetheless, the
leading monastic order of the time, the Benedictines, maintained its tradition
of medical study and practice.7 Scholars have suggested a connection
between the medical school at Salerno and the monastery at Monte
Cassino, and the subsequent transmission of medical manuscripts from
Italy to other Benedictine communities throughout Europe.8 The separation
between the spiritual healer, the Seelenarzt, and the healer of the
body, the Leibarzt, began to manifest itself more clearly, as fijirst monks
and canons, and then secular clergy, were forbidden to leave the monastery
to study medicine. Even in the face of such prohibitions, religious
men and women continued to care for the sick until the licensing of physicians
became a commonplace.
Despite the introduction of a more scientifijic approach to medicine, traditional
belief in the magical and the miraculous continued throughout
the Middle Ages. The art of magic was associated with magi, sorcerers,
or magicians, individuals who already in biblical and classical times were
identifijied as those who consorted with demons.9 Those engaging in such
supernatural practices often do so for personal gain or to achieve their
own purposes, good or bad. Miracles traditionally have been associated
with events considered to be wonderful, wondrous, or marvelous (mira).
They evoke awe and have positive outcomes—hence, their association
with benevolent supernatural powers and the divine. Because miracles
are seen to represent divine intervention or will, the agents who carry
them out—the elect and the saints—may be assumed to enjoy a special
relationship to the Divine.10
Within the Christian tradition, there have been numerous attempts
to diffferentiate as well as to reconcile the magical and the miraculous.
7 Odilo Engels, “Die Zeit der Heiligen Hildegard,” in Hildegard von Bingen 1179–1979. Festschrift
zum 800. Todestag der Heiligen, p. 20.
8 Hildegard von Bingen: Ursachen und Behandlung der Krankheiten (Causae et curae),
trans. Hugo Schultz, 4th ed. (Heidelberg, 1983), p. 9.
9 With regard to the Classical tradition, the “Twelve Tables” of early Roman law condemned
practitioners of malefijicium to death; Cicero, De legibus, 3.11, 44.
10 Caroline Walker Bynum explores this topic in “Wonder,” The American Historical
Review 102.1 (1997): 1–26.