Hildegard of Bingen
16:37 Share

Over a thousand years ago, a wealthy family in Germany gave birth to their tenth child, a daughter. They gave their child to the church, as was the custom in those days. She eventually grew up to become the leader of her monastic community. But more than that, she became one of the leading thinkers of her era. She composed music, wrote about medicine and theology, revolutionized brewing, and corresponded with kings and emperors.

Learn more about Hildegard of Bingen, the most influential woman of the Middle Ages, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This podcast is brought to you in part by Stash.

Are you still putting off savings and investing because you'll get to it someday? Stash turns someday into today. Stash isn't just an investing app. It's a registered investment advisor that combines automated investing with dependable financial strategies to help you reach your goals faster. They'll provide you with personalized advice on what to invest in based on your goals. Or if you just want to sit back and watch your money go to work, you can opt into their award-winning expert-managed portfolio that picks stocks for you.

Stash has helped millions of Americans reach their financial goals and starts at just $3 per month. Don't let your savings sit around. Make them work harder for you. Go to get.stash.com slash everything to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures. That's get.stash.com slash everything.

Paid non-client endorsement. Not representative of all clients and not a guarantee. Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. Investing involves risk. Offer is subject to Ts and Cs. This episode is sponsored by Mint Mobile. I don't know about you, but I like to know where my money is going. The problem is that big mobile companies like money too.

After years of paying a ton for wireless services, I finally got fed up with crazy high wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks that actually cost more money in the long run, and just switched to Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile is here to rescue you with premium wireless plans starting at just $15 a month. All plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network.

Use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all of your existing contacts. Nothing has to change. Ditch overpriced wireless and get three months of premium wireless service from Mint Mobile for just $15 a month. If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at mintmobile.com. That's mintmobile.com.

Upfront payment of $45 for three months, five gigabyte plan required, equivalent to $15 a month. New customer offer for first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. If you've never heard of Hildegard of Bingen, also known as Hildegard von Bingen, you probably aren't alone. And she is also someone that you probably should be aware of. Hildegard of Bingen has been called the most influential woman of the Middle Ages. And by the end of this episode, you will understand why.

She was a true polymath who excelled in multiple fields. Some of the fields she influenced included music, medicine, brewing, ecology, and theology. Some of her work can still be seen in the world today, over a thousand years after her birth. So, who was Hildegard of Bingen? Born in the year 1098 in Bachelheim, Germany to a noble family, she was the tenth child and was dedicated to the church from a very young age.

This notion of giving a child to the church to enter the clergy was not uncommon, especially with ten children. It was considered a form of tithing. From childhood, Hildegard experienced profound mystical visions, which would later become a defining characteristic of her spiritual and intellectual life. At the age of eight, she was sent to a Benedictine monastery to be educated by Jutta of Sponheim, an anchoress who became her mentor.

And I should briefly explain who Jutta of Sponheim was and what an anchoress is. Jutta of Sponheim was a German noblewoman who became a Benedictine and is primarily known as the spiritual mentor of Hildegard of Bingen. Jutta was known for her ascetic lifestyle and deep piety, serving as a model of religious discipline. Her guidance had a profound impact on Hildegard's early spiritual development and education, helping to shape the future visionary and leader.

Now, an anchoress is a woman in the medieval Christian tradition who chose to withdraw from the world to live a life of prayer, solitude, and religious devotion, usually in a small cell or room called an anchor hold attached to a church. Once enclosed, the anchoress would remain in that space for the rest of her life, often receiving food and necessities through a small window and offering spiritual counsel to visitors through another.

Despite suffering what many historians now believe were debilitating migraines that contributed to her visionary experiences, Hildegard developed a remarkable intellectual curiosity and spiritual depth that would define her entire life. After Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard succeeded her as the head of her Benedictine community. By this time, she had accomplished quite a bit, having ascended to the leadership of her convent.

In 1141, at the age of 42, Hildegard of Bingen experienced a powerful and transformative vision that she described as a divine command to record the revelations that she had been receiving since childhood. This particular vision was more intense and more distinct than any before. She claimed it filled her with both light and understanding, which she interpreted as coming directly from God.

She described seeing a great light from heaven that ignited her inner senses, giving her clarity and the ability to interpret scripture and divine mysteries. When she received her vision, she felt as if God had told her to write. And so write she did. The vision marked the beginning of her first major work, Scywios, short for Scytovias Domini, or Know the Ways of the Lord. The experience was so overwhelming that Hildegard initially hesitated to act on it, feeling unworthy.

But after falling physically ill from resisting the divine call, she finally began to write, with the help of a monk named Volmar and her secretary, Ricardus of Stade. The visions in Scywitas are deeply symbolic and theological. They're filled with vivid imagery, such as cosmic wheels, towers, rivers of fire, and luminous figures, depicting the structure of the universe, the relationship between God and humanity, and the path of salvation.

These visions were eventually reviewed and approved by church authorities, including Pope Eugenius III, that gave Hildegard recognition and legitimacy as a true visionary. As an abbess, Hildegard founded two monasteries, first at D.C. Bodenburg and later at Rupertsburg near Bingen. She was revolutionary in her approach to monastic life, advocating for intellectual and spiritual development alongside religious devotion. Her leadership was characterized by a profound understanding of community, compassion, and intellectual growth.

She later wrote two more visionary works, Liber Vitae Meritorium, or Book of Life's Merits, and Liber Divinorum Operum, or Book of Divine Works. Her religious visions were a big part of her fame at that time. However, if that was it, I probably wouldn't be doing an episode about her. There is a whole lot more that she wrote and did. The first topic I'll cover are her musical compositions.

Hildegard of Bingen made remarkable contributions to the field of music, distinguishing herself as one of the earliest known female composers in Western history. She composed a large body of sacred music, over 70 liturgical songs, which were collected in a volume called Symphonia Harmoni Celestium Revelatorium, or Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations.

Her compositions are unique for their expressive melodies, rich poetic imagery, and wide vocal range, which set them apart from the more restrained plain chant typical of her time. Her most notable music work is the morality play Ordo Virtutum, or The Play of Virtues, a sung allegorical drama that features personified virtues battling the devil for the soul of a human being. It's considered one of the earliest known examples of liturgical drama and the oldest surviving morality play with original music.

If you want to hear some of her music yourself, she is an artist on Spotify with millions of listens. The music is very medieval, so expect something kind of similar to Gregorian chant. Nonetheless, the fact that her music has millions of listens over a thousand years after her birth is a testament to the timeliness of her music. Despite being a prolific composer, she did much more.

Hildegard of Bingen's work Cause et Cure, Causes and Cures, is a comprehensive medical and natural philosophy text that reflects her deep interest in the human body, health, and spiritual causes of illness. Written in the 12th century, it explores the origins of disease and offers a wide range of treatments and remedies, blending empirical observations with theological and spiritual insights.

The text begins with a cosmological and theological explanation of the human body, rooted in Hildegard's belief of the interconnectedness of the universe, nature, and the divine. She describes how physical and mental health are influenced by natural elements, diet, temperament, and moral behavior. Her medical theory integrates ideas from ancient Greek medicine, such as the four humors, but also adds a uniquely spiritual dimension, arguing that sin, emotions, and spiritual imbalance can lead to physical illness.

In Cause et Cure, Hildegard gives practical advice on treating a wide range of ailments, from fevers and digestive issues to more obscure conditions using herbal remedies, dietary recommendations, and lifestyle adjustments. While some treatments reflect the limited medical knowledge of her time, others are surprisingly detailed and show a sharp observational eye. She also advocated many things that turn out to just be false, including a belief in using bleeding as a medical instrument.

She later expanded her views in the book Physica, also known as Liber Simplicis Medicina, or The Book of Simple Medicine. It's a natural history and medical text that catalogs the healing properties of various elements in nature. It's a companion work to Cause et Cure, but Physica is more focused on practical remedies drawn from plants, animals, stones, and metals.

Much of her writing in Physica doesn't necessarily come from her religious views, but rather from her experience working in the convent garden with herbs and reading medical books from her library. Physica is organized into nine books, each devoted to a different category of natural substances. Plants, the elements, trees, stones, fishes, birds, animals, reptiles, and metals.

Each entry typically describes the nature or temperament of a substance, whether it's warm, cold, dry, moist, etc., and details its medicinal uses. Hildegard often includes instructions on how to prepare and apply these substances to treat specific conditions, such as fevers, wounds, or digestive problems.

However, the biggest impact from Physica had nothing to do with medical herbs. It had to do with what was no more than a couple lines of text which changed the brewing of beer forever. Hildegard of Bingen is often credited with being the first known person to describe and recommend the use of hops in beer for both its preservative and medicinal qualities.

In Physica, she wrote about hops and noted that they had a bitter flavor that could help preserve beverages, making them particularly useful in beer brewing. She noted, "...it is warm and dry and has a moderate moisture, and is not very useful in benefiting man because it makes melancholy grow in man and makes the soul of man sad and weighs down his inner organs."

But yet, as a result of its own bitterness, it keeps some putrefactions from drinks, to which it may be added so that they may last much longer. Before hops became widespread, beer was typically flavored and preserved with a mix of herbs known as Gruet, which included ingredients like yarrow, rosemary, or mugwort. They had various effects and limited preservative power.

Hildegard's endorsement of hops helped draw attention to their antibacterial properties, which made beer last longer and taste cleaner. Over the centuries, hops became a more important ingredient in beer, both as a preservative as well as for taste. Today, the use of hops in beer is at an all-time high, with the popularity of hop-heavy beers such as India Pale Ales. All of these beers owe a debt of gratitude to Hildegard of Bingen, who was the first person to suggest using hops.

In addition to everything else I've mentioned so far, Hildegard of Bingen also created a secret language called the Lingua Ignata, or Unknown Language, a unique invented language that she likely used for mystical or symbolic purposes. It consists of around a thousand invented words, mostly nouns, along with an accompanying alphabet called the Literae Ignotae.

Scholars believe Hildegard may have used this language as a private spiritual code to express divine mysteries or to deepen the sacred nature of her writings. Although it's not a full language with its own grammar, Lingua Ignata is one of the earliest known constructed languages in Europe and reflects Hildegard's extraordinary creativity and mystical worldview.

Despite being a woman in a deeply male-dominated medieval society, Hildegard wielded considerable influence. She corresponded with powerful figures of her time, including emperors, popes, and prominent church leaders. She was not afraid to speak truth to power, writing critical letters to ecclesiastical and secular leaders when she felt moral or spiritual principles were at stake.

Her preaching tours across Germany were extraordinary for a woman of her time. She traveled and delivered public sermons, which was almost unheard of for women in the 12th century, challenging social norms and demonstrating remarkable personal courage. Hildegard of Bingen passed away in 1179 at the age of 81.

It took a long time, but in 2012, Hildegard of Bingen was declared a saint in the Catholic Church by Pope Benedict XVI, who also declared her a doctor of the Church, a rare and significant honor, and only one of four women to receive the title, recognizing her theological and spiritual significance.

The legacy of Hildegard of Bingen spans multiple disciplines, theology, music, medicine, natural science, and philosophy. She represents a remarkable example of intellectual and spiritual achievement during a period when women were typically marginalized. Because of her many accomplishments across such a wide range of subjects, in my mind she has earned the title of the most influential woman of the Middle Ages.

The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Okun and Cameron Kiefer. Today's review comes from listener JRP Rise Up over on Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write, Finally, I did it. I listened to all the episodes and this podcast is a godsend. It's been with me during my workout journey. Gary has been my workout partner for 600 plus days in a row and has helped me lose over 100 pounds.

I could not have done it without Gary's storytelling and dry humor. Some days I want to cut my five mile short, but I'm able to go the distance because I get sucked into some obscure moment in history and want to know more. Thank you, Gary, for always being with me and helping me better my health and my mind. By the way, I'm an Auburn University alum, and they've had a historic basketball season, which I hope ends in cutting down the nets. Please give me a war eagle on the air. Well, thanks, JRP Rise Up. And let me just say, well done. Well done indeed.

You have taken enormous steps, not just to improve your body, but also to improve your mind. You have accomplished something that everyone should aspire to. And as for Auburn, I wish them the best of luck in the NCAA tournament. They seem to be on an excellent position to make the Final Four, which is more than I can say for the Wisconsin Badgers. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boost-o-gram, you too can have it right on the show.