A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

10 kienzle and stoudt
over the course of the text can be and is interpreted through this foundational
image. The anchoring of themes to a single image results in a text
in which the reader can mark and learn individual themes according to
the elements of the image. Readers can replay the relationships before
their eyes. In all of Hildegard’s visionary works, the entirety of theology
remains constantly in view. Each of the three visionary texts, however,
has a diffferent focus on the whole. Even the call to conversion and penance,
which appears in all three works, has diffferent characteristics in
each. Ruge argues that the Liber vite meritorum, as a sermon calling for
self-examination and personal penance within a theologically comprehensive
image, represents the visionary work of Hildegard that addresses
individual believers most strongly.
Debra L. Stoudt’s essay, “The Medical, the Magical, and the Miraculous
in the Healing Arts of Hildegard of Bingen,” focuses on the scientifijic and
medical writings by or commonly attributed to Hildegard. The relationship
of the magistra’s views concerning the healing arts to her theology is
compelling. Despite her cloistered status, Hildegard had strong ties to the
world around her, as evidenced in her letters, with their prophecies and
advice to political leaders. From her travels and the visitors she received,
she had the opportunity to become aware fijirsthand of current knowledge,
theories, beliefs, and practices regarding the healing arts. The 12th century
witnessed changing attitudes toward magic and the rediscovery of medical
texts, while belief in and reverence toward the miraculous remained a
constant. Stoudt’s essay examines the categories of medical, magical, and
miraculous, how Hildegard considers those ways of healing in her oeuvre,
and how the magistra’s characterization of healing difffers in her various
writings. Stoudt compares Hildegard’s medical views with those of her
contemporaries in the scientifijic and theological fijields, and she discusses
the impact of sociohistorical factors on her perspectives.
Michael Embach, in “Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179): A History of
Reception,” explores the widespread reception history of Hildegard’s
works, which include manuscripts, early printed books, and mentions
of Hildegard in various literary contexts. Embach demonstrates that the
efffect of Hildegard in her lifetime was strongly felt in the monastery of
Rupertsberg and other abbeys and monasteries, such as the abbeys of Sts
Eucharius and Matthias in Trier, and the abbeys in Zwiefalten and Gembloux.
Hildegard was soon regarded not only by Benedictines but also by
Cistercians as a great visionary and monastic reform author. The targeted
dissemination of manuscripts proceeded at this time in a highly authorcontrolled
and corporate way. At the center of this early phase of recep-