A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

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saint’s nimbus and holding a martyr’s palm, demonstrating a high degree
of fijictionality.
Another chronicler who mentions Hildegard is Martin of Troppau
(d. 1278), a Dominican whose Chronicon serves as the starting point for
the corresponding entry in Johannes Lonus de Ypra’s Chronica monasterii
Sancti Bertini.
Hildegard’s role within the universal histories composed during the
medieval period becomes clearly manifest in the Liber de rebus memorabilibus
sive Chronicon, written by Henry of Herford, OP (documented
between 1326 and 1370). His chronicle, which extends up to the year 1355,
shows the influence of Vincent of Beauvais; although he shows an interest
in Joachim of Fiore and Hildegard of Bingen, he expresses a correspondingly
more skeptical attitude. Hildegard is indeed cited, yet only according
to the Pentachronon, and Henry does not quote any of the prophetic
sections, confijining himself to some biographical material and Hildegard’s
epistolary exchange with Bernard of Clairvaux. At another point, he
deploys Hildegard’s saying about the tempus muliebre, which Vincent of
Beauvais had also quoted from the Pentachronon. However, since Henry
altered Hildegard’s seasonal references and did not indicate a beginning
for the tempus muliebre, the prophecy loses its meaning here. The reason
for the circumspect use of Hildegard’s prophecies, which is even more evident
in his treatment of Joachim of Fiore, appears to lie in Henry’s reluctance
to posit any speculation about the imminent end of the world.
An additional witness to Hildegard’s presence within the universal histories
written in the later Middle Ages appears in the Mare historiarum,
composed around 1340 by the Dominican John Colonna (c.1298–1343),
who resided in Avignon around 1330 and is famous for his friendship with
Petrarch. The heading De Hildegarde prophetissa Theutonice appears over
a tabular outline of the material that he had edited. The text itself, however,
does not appear to have ever been published.
An interesting trace of Hildegard’s history of influence appears in the
text composed by Michael De Leone (c.1330–1355), De cronicis temporum
modernorum hominum. This involves a versifijied prophecy, purportedly
envisioned by Hildegard, which is linked in the work to the phenomenon
of the penitents and flagellants. The verses themselves were composed
by a contemporary of Michael and attributed to Hildegard in order to
gain greater authority for the text. The poem appears chronologically
between Michael’s report about the penitents appearing in Würzburg on
May 2, 1349, and Pope Clement VI’s bull about the flagellants, which was