A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

what do we know about the life of jutta and hildegard 37
completely conceals the geographic advantages of Bingen,114 describing
Rupertsberg as a “withered region lacking all comfort,” in opposition to “the
place in which nothing is lacking.” She and her 20 noble nuns supposedly
found “no place to live” at Rupertsberg. On the other hand, Gottfried—
who as a monk of Disibodenberg and provost of Rupertsberg wanted to be
fair to both sides and clearly attempted to portray the release of the nuns
as a harmonious occasion—reports that the abbot and monks supported
the nuns to the best of their ability. Specifijically he tells the story of the
conversus Arnold, who was dissuaded by a miracle from his opposition to
the move, only to become all the more eager to assist in constructing a
residential building for the nuns.115
In Hildegard’s often dramatic depiction of her activities and sufffering,
the signifijicance that she attributed to the “emancipation” (the term used
in the Vita)116 from Disibodenberg becomes clear; she herself describes
it as a “release,” a “liberation,” comparing herself to Joseph in Egypt. It is
true that she had to do without the fijinancial means supplied by the sisters
at Disibodenberg, receiving a quite meager sum in compensation; nevertheless,
she quickly found, as the archiepiscopal property record shows,117
not only the space for the monastic buildings, provided by the cathedral
chapter and the count of Hildesheim, but also a solid economic ground
for her foundation, and in 1158 she fijinally obtained acknowledgement of
her independence, guaranteed by the archbishop in a solemn privilege.
Her fijinal victory appears in the right of her sisters to elect their “spiritual
mother” in a free vote according to the conditions of the Benedictine rule
(ch. 64). The monastic bond to Disibodenberg was preserved, but only in
the sense of the obligations of the abbot: he had to send the nuns suitable
priests upon request and leave them there as long as the sisters wished.
He was bound to consecrate nuns and assist in every way, whenever the
sisters asked. However, the archbishop himself undertook the protection
of Hildegard’s convent without a reeve and granted them, a monastery of
nuns, all of the rights in spiritual matters that other monasteries under his
protection enjoyed.118 Hildegard herself stressed the fijinancial importance
114 These have been emphasized by Alfred Haverkamp, “Hildegard von Disibodenberg-
Bingen. Von der Peripherie zum Zentrum,” in Umfeld, pp. 15–69.
115 V. Hild., 1.5, pp. 10–11.
116 Ibid., 2.6, p. 31.
117 MzUB 2, 230.
118 Ibid., 231. For the specifijic “freedom” of monasteries in the diocese of Mainz, see
Ludwig Falck, “Die Mainzer Erzbischöfe und ihre Klöster in der ersten Hälfte des 12. Jahrhunderts,”
(Diss., Marburg, 1952); Ludwig Falck, “Klosterfreiheit und Klosterschutz. Die