A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

the medical, the magical, and the miraculous 265
tion of how the remedies are to be prepared and applied. In addition, 31
incantations are included in the Physica text: 14 regarding stones, nine
concerning animals, six referencing trees, and one each in the books on
plants and elements. The Cause et cure manuscript includes only a single
set of four charms, found almost verbatim in the Physica’s book on animals.
Recitation of the formulaic cures sometimes is accompanied by the
use of an amulet. In each, the spoken or written word functions slightly
diffferently in the healing process.74
The mandrake, for example, long associated with ritual magic because
of its properties and shape, is recommended in the Physica for various
conditions. First, it is to be pulled from the earth and cleansed in spring
water to remove any bad humors or magic. As a cure for pain and weakness
in the heart, the ailing individual should take the root and place it in
his own bed, and then call upon God, who created Adam from the earth
and without pain, to take away the pain from his “earth,” i.e. his body.75
A second incantation also focuses on the element of the earth: in the
description of a remedy using “greenish earth” (terra subviridus) to cure
numbness, the soil, which is cold and dry, is to be dug up from beside the
bed of the patient and put under his head and feet. As the affflicted person
absorbs the “vital greenness” (viriditatem) of the soil, the earth itself is
addressed twice, the second time in the name of the Trinity.76
The signifijicance of the special power of stones in the Physica is commensurate
with references in the Scivias as well as Hildegard’s letters.77
74 Richard Kieckhefer offfers a useful description of diffferent types of verbal formulas
used for healing purposes in Magic in the Middle Ages, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 2000),
pp. 69–75. Several resources in German are Irmgard Hampp, Beschwörung, Segen, Gebet.
Untersuchungen zum Zauberspruch aus dem Bereich der Volksheilkunde (Stuttgart, 1961) and
Gerhard Eis, Altdeutsche Zaubersprüche (Berlin, 1964). The Handwörterbuch des deutschen
Aberglaubens, eds. Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli and Eduard Hofffmann-Krayer (reprint; Berlin,
1987) provides detailed information on certain types of charms. Moulinier, “Magie, médecine
et maux de l’ȃme,” comments on the role of incantations in the Physica and the Cause
et cure and provides commentary on several of the formulas, pp. 546–50.
75 Physica, 1.56, p. 89: “deus qui hominem de limo terre absque dolore fecisti, nunc terram
istam que numquam transgressa est, iuxta me pono, ut etiam terra mea pacem illam
sentiat, sicut eam creasti.”
76 Ibid., 2.12, pp. 176–77: “Tu terra, in homine isto N. dormis,” and “Tu, terra, in homine
isto N. viriditatem recipe et cresce et profijice in nomine patri set fijilii et spiritus sancti, qui
omnipotens et vivens deus est.” “N” or “N.” is a common placeholder for the Nomen, the
name of the affflicted, in incantations.
77 Scivias 2.2, pp. 127–28, ll. 110–34; Epistolarium, I, 77R, pp. 164–75, here p. 172, ll. 149–59;
and Epistolarium, II, 149R, pp. 333–37, here p. 335, ll. 51–58. For more on this topic, see
Peter Riethe, “Die medizinische Lithologie der Hildegard von Bingen,” in Hildegard von
Bingen 1179–1979. Festschrift zum 800. Todestag der Heiligen, pp. 351–70, as well as Newman,