A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

294 michael embach
Hildegard in his world chronicle, which is largely based on that of Matthew
Paris. The same is true for Richer of Sens (d. c.1267) and also for
the anonymous continuator of Matthew Paris’s Flores historiarum. The
latter cites Hildegard’s letter to Philip of Heinsberg, cathedral deacon in
Cologne, in which the oppression of the Benedictine monasteries by a
new Order is predicted.
Some of Hildegard’s prophecies that did not relate to the end of the
world gained entry into the Chronica Sancti Pantaleonis, in a continuation
of the Gesta Treverorum, and also in the Chronica by Alberic of Trois-
Fontaines (d. after 1251). Based on the last reference, Martin Haeusler draws
the conclusion that Hildegard’s authority as a prophet was obviously still
an efffective force, “particularly among conservative, monastic circles.”31
A curious document within the history of Hildegard’s 13th-century
reception appears in the anonymous continuation of the chronicle begun
by Magnus of Reichersberg (d. 1195). The unknown author sees the fulfijillment
of a vaticinium, which he ascribes to Hildegard, in the victory of
Rudolf I of Hapsburg over Otakar following the Battle on the Marchfeld
(1278).
An Expositio super Apocalypsim, composed around 1305/1306 and
ascribed to (pseudo-) Arnaldus of Villanova (c.1240–1311) from Catalonia,
mentions Hildegard of Bingen in addition to an Abbot Joachim (of
Fiore?) and Cyril of Constantinople. (pseudo-) Arnaldus thus profffers an
important indication about Hildegard’s history of influence in the Franco-
Spanish border region. The French Dominican John of Paris, called Quidort
(d. 1306), was also active within (pseudo-) Arnaldus’s circle of discussants.
Quidort is considered to be a speculatively gifted thinker and an
important representative of the Thomistic School in Paris. He also refers
to Hildegard in his treatise on the Antichrist; however, he presents her as
a Cistercian from the Brabant region. Like (pseudo-) Arnaldus, Quidort
also refrains from citing a date or concrete time frame for the appearance
of the Antichrist, a fact that also pertains to Henry Harclay (c.1270–1317),
who served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford beginning in 1312.
Harclay represented the interests of his university against the Dominicans
at the Papal court in Avignon; theologically he appears among those
who opposed Thomas Aquinas and the disciples of Duns Scotus. In his
text Utrum astrologi vel quicumque calculatores possint probare secundum
31 Martin Haeusler, Das Ende der Geschichte in der mittelalterlichen Weltchronistik
(Cologne, 1980), p. 65.