A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

HILDEGARD OF BINGEN (1098–1179): A HISTORY OF RECEPTION*
Michael Embach
Preliminary Remarks
Hildegard of Bingen is currently considered to be the best known woman
from the Middle Ages, and possibly even the most important one. However,
this modern evaluation cannot simply be transferred onto the medieval
or early modern periods. Instead, this conclusion is the result of a broadly
diversifijied and protracted history of reception, which includes the targeted
dissemination of manuscripts, publication of her texts in print form,
a continual and continuing citation of Hildegard in literary and historiographic
texts, the fostering of her memoria, and also an engagement with
Hildegard as a person within visual and graphic arts, literature, and fijilm.
The image of Hildegard that has been created over the centuries is not
free from internal tensions and contradictions. In particular, the accentuation
of Hildegard as a healer, doctor, and cook is a view (especially in
its most extreme emphasis) that arose only in past decades, and for which
the historical transmission of her works offfers neither a secure nor a sufffijicient
foundation. Perhaps no other medieval fijigure has been as subject to
transitions that have strayed so profoundly from an authentic impression,
moving through myth and legend, and fijinally into pure fijiction.
The Manuscript Transmission of Hildegard’s Works: An Overview
The transmission of Hildegard’s works in manuscript form amounts to
approximately 360 codices worldwide.1 This number also includes the
* Translated by Rebecca L. Garber.
1 The basis for this number is shaped by the compilation Conspectus der Handschriften
Hildegards von Bingen (Münster, 2013) by Michael Embach and Martina Wallner. This refers
to a complete index of all manuscripts that include works by Hildegard, including Gebeno
of Eberbach’s Pentachronon and other pseudepigraphical texts. Regarding the reception,
see Michael Embach, Die Schriften Hildegards von Bingen. Studien zu ihrer Überlieferung
und Rezeption im Mittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit, Erudiri Sapientia 4 (Berlin, 2003).
Regarding the German reception, see Michael Embach, “Hildegard von Bingen [Korrektur/
Nachtrag],” in Verfasserlexikon 2nd ed., vol. 11 (Berlin, 2002), cols. 658–70.