A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

252 debra l. stoudt
St Augustine (354–430) claimed that, because the initial creation was a
miracle, all that was within creation continued to be miraculous; however,
since it became mundane to humankind, it was not viewed with
the same awe as events that surpassed the routine, the supra naturam.11
Scholastics such as Peter Abelard (1079–1142) and St Thomas Aquinas
(1225/1227–1274) were particularly concerned with the interrelationship
between natural magic, miracles, and demonic forces.12 Aquinas held that
a true miracle was an event or act that humans could only understand
through supernatural revelation.13 The scholastics conceded, however,
that acts of natural magic were subject to manipulation by both divine
and diabolical entities.
Whether an act or event is deemed magical or miraculous depends
in part on the individuals involved, as well as on those who report or
record it. As Benedicta Ward notes: “‘Magic’ was . . . the accusation passed
on miracles not acceptable to another party. The miracles of heretics are
condemned as magic.”14 In designating an act as magic or miracle, the
perceived orthodoxy of the individual involved may be of greater signifijicance
than the act itself.
Along with medicines, surgery, and diet—the three types of treatment
identifijied in the Etymologiae of St Isidore of Seville (c.560–636)—charms,
amulets, and ritual healing remained commonplace as means to care for
and cure the sick throughout the Middle Ages. Reflexes of all of these
methods are referenced among Hildegard’s healing arts.
The Acta inquisitionis de virtutibus et miraculis sanctae Hildegardis, prepared
in 1233 in support of Hildegard’s canonization, refers to two medical
works by her, the Liber simplicis medicinae (Book of Simple Medicine), and
the Liber compositae medicinae (Book of Composite Medicine);15 however,
no manuscripts with these titles are extant.16 Today the former work is
11 Benedicta Ward, Miracles and the Medieval Mind. Theory, Record and Event 1000–1215,
rev. ed. (Philadelphia, 1987), pp. 3–4.
12 Noel L. Brann, Trithemius and Magical Theology: A Chapter in the Controversy over
Occult Studies in Early Modern Europe (Albany, 1999), pp. 17–27, offfers a fijine summary of
the assertions made about magic and miracles by medieval religious.
13 Brann, Trithemius, p. 21.
14 Ward, Miracles and the Medieval Mind, p. 12.
15 Acta inquisitionis de virtutibus et miraculis sanctae Hildegardis, eds. Charles Daremberg
and F. A. Reuss, PL 197:139. Henceforth referred to as Acta inquisitionis.
16 Regarding the manuscripts of Hildegard’s medical and scientifijic works, see also
Michael Embach’s essay in this volume, pp. 273–304, especially pp. 298–300.