A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

hildegard of bingen and the hirsau reform 59
informed narrative that relies on sources subsequently lost in the wars of
religion.6 It is a perspective that deserves respect.
Disibodenberg and Monastic Renewal in the Late 11th Century
Trithemius identifijied Disibodenberg as one of many abbeys founded or
reformed under the influence of Hirsau.7 While the specifijic documentary
evidence that he used to make this claim has been lost, it is supported
by the fact that the chronicle of Disibodenberg singles out a connection
between William of Hirsau and Anselm of Bec, as part of a broader
account of St Anselm.8 Under the year 1094, the chronicle praises the
example of the abbey of Bec, in Normandy, and the achievement of St
Anselm (1033–1109) in “instructing his monks in the paths of righteousness
by means of the word of doctrine and the carrying out of most sacred
works.” The chronicler reported that the liberal arts were studied at Bec as
part of the monastic life: “among the varied studies of the students, some
applied themselves to the reading of secular books, some to the reading
of sacred books.”9 He also reported a number of stories that he had heard
about Bec, including one about a monk who saw a vision of an Ethiopian
who collected crumbs of food that other monks had carelessly allowed to
fall from their table, and who would show them at the day of Judgement:
“Accordingly, we wish that all equally, brothers and lords, rich and poor of
both sexes be warned so that they may lay these things to heart, and not
misuse the gifts of the Lord, but rather fijill the laps of the needy from those
things which seem to you less abundant, from the crumbs I say, yes even
from fragments.”10 This story about visionary perception of monastic carelessness
provides a valuable insight into the climate of renewal in which
6 Trithemius provided a full account of Hildegard in his Chronicon Hirsaugiense, under
the year 1150, published in Opera historica, ed. Marquard Freher, 2 vols., vol. 2 (Frankfurt,
1601; reprinted Frankfurt, 1966), pp. 233–35.
7 Disibodenberg is identifijied in a list of houses reformed by Hirsau, along with St Alban’s
and St James, Mainz, initially listed by Trithemius in his Annalium Hirsaugiensium (1690),
reprinted in PL 150:926A, and discussed in Wollasch, “Spuren Hirsauer Verbrüderungen,”
pp. 187–88. Kassius Hallinger associated St Disibod with Gorze without supplying fijirm
evidence, Gorze-Kluny. Studien zu den monastischen Lebensform und Gegensätzen im Hochmittelalter,
Studia Anselmiana 22–23 (Rome, 1950), p. 241, and Jakobs hinted at “fraternal”
associations with Hirsau, without going into detail, in Die Hirsauer, p. 76.
8 Annales Sancti Disibodi, ed. Georg Waitz, MGH SS 17 (Hannover, 1861), pp. 4–30; Anna
Silvas, trans., Jutta and Hildegard: The Biographical Sources (Turnhout, 1998), pp. 7–27.
9 Annales Sancti Disibodi, MGH SS 17:14; Silvas, Jutta and Hildegard, p. 9.
10 Annales Sancti Disibodi, MGH SS 17:15; Silvas, Jutta and Hildegard, p. 11.