A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

hildegard of bingen: a history of reception 285
prophecies of the end times with those of Joachim of Fiore. Both prophetic
authors describe a period of reform in the Church prior to the appearance
of the Antichrist. Henry also mentions Hildegard in a sermon, Sermo
de ascensione Domini, which he delivered in Vienna on Ascension Day
in 1390. In this case, he compares Hildegard with Methodius of Olympus
and positions her within a series of other (nameless) sibyls. The Hildegard
excerpts employed by Henry of Langenstein are of importance to
modern scholars because they demonstrate a familiarity with Hildegard’s
writings that extends beyond the Pentachronon compiled by Gebeno of
Eberbach.
The same can be said about Dietrich of Nieheim (c.1340–1418), a notary
to the papal chancery and ecclesio-political author. Dietrich employed
texts from the Pentachronon as well as from Hildegard’s original works in
his Privilegia aut iura imperii circa investituras episcoporum et abbatum,
written in 1413–1414. Proof of the high degree of appreciation in which
Dietrich of Nieheim held Hildegard can be established from a visit he
made to the visionary’s grave, presumably around 1408/1409. He later
claimed that it was during this time that he became familiar with Hildegard’s
writings. However, it has been assumed that Dietrich did not have
his copies prepared at the Rupertsberg, but instead in Italy. In his Privilegia,
Dietrich presents his own view that the empire has declined during
the previous two centuries, as evidenced by the position of the House
of Luxembourg, and fijinds confijirmation for this perception of events in
one of Hildegard’s prophecies. Dietrich’s major themes, which he holds up
to the newly crowned Hapsburg emperor as a Mirror of Princes, concern
the schism, conciliarism, the need for reform in both the Church and the
empire, and also a revival of crusading ideology.
An interesting document in relation to the history of influence exerted
by the “Illuminated Scivias” appears in the Adamas colluctancium aquilarum
(Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Pal. Lat. 412), written by
Winand of Steeg (1371–1453), a jurist and author of ecclesiastical texts who
also contributed to the 55 ink wash drawings. The Adamas is considered
to be a mystical-allegorical work of symbolic nature. Winand describes
the manifestations of the Church by means of its temporal controversies.
His own era (the years of the Council of Constance, 1414–1418) was,
according to him, marked by heresy, schism, and simony. Within his text,
Winand includes a seven-page quotation from Hildegard’s Scivias (2. 3.1–
16), in which four illustrations appear, composed in the tradition of the
“Illuminated Scivias.” They take quite a few liberties with the original and
are characterized by anti-Semitic tendencies. This dovetails with the fact