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Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary Life
Until recently, Hildegard of Bingen has been known only to a handful of scholars. Now available in a paperback edition, Sabina Flanagan's book makes her remarkable life accessible to the general reader. Drawing on contemporary sources, the text unfolds Hildegard's life from the time of her entrance into an anchoress's cell--where a woman would remain in pious isolation--to her death as a famed visionary and writer, abbess and confidante of popes and kings, more than seventy years later. Against this background the author explores Hildegard's vast creative work, encompassing theology, medicine, natural history, poetry, and music.
227 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 6, 2015
A deeply flawed book about a fascinating subject. The most significant flaw by far is the author's total failure to understand the nature of prophetic gifting -- a significant drawback when writing about a prophetess. As a result, the book dips into psychologizing and the physiology of migraines at points, straining to explain Hildegard's extraordinary revelations when the answer to the question is right there in the subtitle of the book. That aside, the book is exceptionally well-researched, and a good introduction to Hildegard's life and work. Unfortunately the writing is dry, and peppered with unnecessary pearl-clutching over the sexism of the 12th century.
December 14, 2020
Очень интересные главы, в которых обсуждается субстрат святости. Во-первых, глава о том как она решала конфликты с майнцкими прелатами, если с одной стороны ты признанный пророк, а с другой стороны понятно, что это такая вещь которой лучше не злоупотреблять.
Во-вторых, последняя глава где очень аккуратно рассказывается о том, как мы могли бы соотнести более-менее общепризнанную гипотезу о том, что Хильдегарда испытывала целый спектр мигреней с более-менее общепризнанной гипотезой о том, что Хильдегарда была выдающимся mystic and visionary. Другими словами, в воздухе висит вопрос про возможность шарлатанства и вообще сохранения integrity, и на этот вопрос можно ответить бережно.
Я так понимаю, что Хильдегарда научилась находить в медитации корректное внутреннее состояние, которое она могла быстро провалидировать своими сигнальными симптомами (которые были сигналами в первую очередь для нее, то есть это была такая калибрация), и находить это состояние по запросу, просьбе или по вызовам момента.
Еще там есть отличная реконструкция того момента когда она смогла написать свой первый труд, Scivias, несмотря на то, что ее социальный контекст был скажем так таким что сама возможность написать такой труд была highly unlikely (вообще конечно никакой текст про Хильдегарду не может не быть феминистским, это банальное замечание). Как известно, первое предложение заняться этим текстом Х. проигнорировала, в результате чего получили somatic response, выдающийся даже по собственным стандартам. Дальше уже она в целом более-менее следовала указаниям. Но опять же возникает интересный вопрос про то, как ты отличаешь внутри себя эти указания. И про это прекрасный параграф с панчлайном:
Hildegard could certainly distinguish between human invention (adinventio mentis) and divine inspiration and was careful to make all her public writing and pronouncements dependent on the latter. This was not, however, because she lacked modern psychological understanding or was ignorant of medieval epistemology, but because of her particular neurophysiological makeup. She was careful to never to take stylus and wax tablets in hand until she had a vision to reveal.
Во-вторых, последняя глава где очень аккуратно рассказывается о том, как мы могли бы соотнести более-менее общепризнанную гипотезу о том, что Хильдегарда испытывала целый спектр мигреней с более-менее общепризнанной гипотезой о том, что Хильдегарда была выдающимся mystic and visionary. Другими словами, в воздухе висит вопрос про возможность шарлатанства и вообще сохранения integrity, и на этот вопрос можно ответить бережно.
Я так понимаю, что Хильдегарда научилась находить в медитации корректное внутреннее состояние, которое она могла быстро провалидировать своими сигнальными симптомами (которые были сигналами в первую очередь для нее, то есть это была такая калибрация), и находить это состояние по запросу, просьбе или по вызовам момента.
Еще там есть отличная реконструкция того момента когда она смогла написать свой первый труд, Scivias, несмотря на то, что ее социальный контекст был скажем так таким что сама возможность написать такой труд была highly unlikely (вообще конечно никакой текст про Хильдегарду не может не быть феминистским, это банальное замечание). Как известно, первое предложение заняться этим текстом Х. проигнорировала, в результате чего получили somatic response, выдающийся даже по собственным стандартам. Дальше уже она в целом более-менее следовала указаниям. Но опять же возникает интересный вопрос про то, как ты отличаешь внутри себя эти указания. И про это прекрасный параграф с панчлайном:
Hildegard could certainly distinguish between human invention (adinventio mentis) and divine inspiration and was careful to make all her public writing and pronouncements dependent on the latter. This was not, however, because she lacked modern psychological understanding or was ignorant of medieval epistemology, but because of her particular neurophysiological makeup. She was careful to never to take stylus and wax tablets in hand until she had a vision to reveal.
July 14, 2017
A more academic look at Hildegard's life than most biographies and much more contextual information about the times, people and places that inhabited her life and visions than the visions themselves.
Flanagan's interpretations of Hildegard's "celestial harmonies" are delightful: "The choice of Mary is also warranted by the appositeness of a second woman overturning the evil done by the first (Eve)...the antiphon does not call upon Mary directly, but the salvific function to which she lent herself, and more especially, her rehabilitation of womankind." Clearly early feminist whispers.
Especially interesting are Flanagan's theories and thorough analysis of migraines as the source of Hildegard's visions. Not intended to discount Hildegard's good intentions or her aim to understand the divine in order to bring humankind closer to salvation. "To these ends, the migraine experience was a wonderfully adaptable instrument..." Nor does Flanagan suggest the possible infirmity detracted from Hildegard's brilliant imagination, intelligence, zeal, capacity, and ability to face adversity, especially in a woman whose major accomplishments took place AFTER she turned 60.
"Hildegard persisted because no rebuff by mortal man could undermine her faith in herself."
Flanagan's interpretations of Hildegard's "celestial harmonies" are delightful: "The choice of Mary is also warranted by the appositeness of a second woman overturning the evil done by the first (Eve)...the antiphon does not call upon Mary directly, but the salvific function to which she lent herself, and more especially, her rehabilitation of womankind." Clearly early feminist whispers.
Especially interesting are Flanagan's theories and thorough analysis of migraines as the source of Hildegard's visions. Not intended to discount Hildegard's good intentions or her aim to understand the divine in order to bring humankind closer to salvation. "To these ends, the migraine experience was a wonderfully adaptable instrument..." Nor does Flanagan suggest the possible infirmity detracted from Hildegard's brilliant imagination, intelligence, zeal, capacity, and ability to face adversity, especially in a woman whose major accomplishments took place AFTER she turned 60.
"Hildegard persisted because no rebuff by mortal man could undermine her faith in herself."
December 7, 2017
This book was more on the scholarly/academic side than I thought it would be. It's not one I would really recommend to a lay person who was just interested to know more about Hildegard von Bingen - who is a fascinating historical figure!
This book is well-researched, well-written, and fairly thorough. But it is quite dry and is not a traditional biography. There is no timeline of Hildegard's life or anything similar. Rather, the chapters talk in depth about her various writings and tries to suss out WHY she wrote rather than telling us about her as a person or giving a clear picture of what her life was like.
This book is well-researched, well-written, and fairly thorough. But it is quite dry and is not a traditional biography. There is no timeline of Hildegard's life or anything similar. Rather, the chapters talk in depth about her various writings and tries to suss out WHY she wrote rather than telling us about her as a person or giving a clear picture of what her life was like.
December 6, 2019
The most complete and definitive biography of Hildegard.
April 27, 2022
Flanagan offers a comprehensive overview of Hildegard's life and works. Her detailed descriptions, somewhat disappointingly, offer little analysis of how we are to understand them now. I found myself craving a more thorough explanation of how the Medieval psyche differs from our contemporary perspectives and ways of constructing knowledge. The one exception is the final chapter, in which the author (finally!) offers her opinion as to the driving force behind Hildegard's vision. In all, this book gave me a clearer understanding of the work that this visionary produced, but too little context for understanding its significance.
January 25, 2015
There is a lot of good scholarship and careful consideration of Hildegard's life and work. I wish she had treated the music as music rather than poetry.
September 11, 2018
Hard to know how to rate this. I went in knowing absolutely nothing about Hildegard of Bingen. Now I know some things about Hildegard of Bingen. So I guess it worked?
March 26, 2021
Hildegard of Bingen is an extraordinarily interesting person. This book is dry and academic, but it is full of very interesting information about Hildegard if you're able to wade through the style.
Hildegard was a nun in the 1100s who wrote books about spiritual visions she had, along with writings about health and medicine, numerous letters, and some theological writings. She also composed musical pieces, likely to be performed by choirs at the monastery.
Many reasons she is worth learning about:
-Hildegard was the most widely published woman of the 12th century -- in fact, probably the most prolific female author in over a thousand years.
-Hildegard is the earliest female composer whose work was written using the type of notation we use today therefore the first female composer whose music we can still sing (this detail wasn't mentioned) -- and the most prolific female composer probably until the 20th century
-Hildegard was exceptionally famous in her day.
-Hildegard preached - PREACHED - in churches around Europe in the 12th century. This is astounding!
A few oddities about the book:
--The author does not seem to think that Hildegard experienced spiritual visions. Flanagan asks a lot of questions about why Hildegard would organize something in a particular way or why she chose to juxtapose certain ideas in a vision -- but Flanagan does not seem to accept that Hildegard might have done those things because that's what she saw in her visions. This is a strange framework for this book. Many people who are interested in Hildegard are interested in her *because* she was a woman who had visions, but Flanagan seems to want to explain away the vision part as though Hildegard made them up herself.
--The author also seems not to have much experience with liturgical worship music. Flanagan again raises questions about why certain songs were published in a particular order, when most people who have been church musicians would simply understand that most likely Hildegard was bored of singing that same song in that week for the last 40 years and wanted something new.
--This book has almost no discussion of the *musical* quality of Hildegard's work, only the lyrical portion. Again, many people who are interested in Hildegard are interested *because* they are musicians and her work is among the oldest available in our modern notation style.
The chapter about her letters and correspondence is very engaging and illustrative. I thought the section about her health concerns was also interesting.
In sum: Hildegard is definitely someone you should learn about. This book isn't gripping, but it would give you the basics. I read it because it's the only book my library had about Hildegard. If you have another option available to you, maybe try that instead.
Hildegard was a nun in the 1100s who wrote books about spiritual visions she had, along with writings about health and medicine, numerous letters, and some theological writings. She also composed musical pieces, likely to be performed by choirs at the monastery.
Many reasons she is worth learning about:
-Hildegard was the most widely published woman of the 12th century -- in fact, probably the most prolific female author in over a thousand years.
-Hildegard is the earliest female composer whose work was written using the type of notation we use today therefore the first female composer whose music we can still sing (this detail wasn't mentioned) -- and the most prolific female composer probably until the 20th century
-Hildegard was exceptionally famous in her day.
-Hildegard preached - PREACHED - in churches around Europe in the 12th century. This is astounding!
A few oddities about the book:
--The author does not seem to think that Hildegard experienced spiritual visions. Flanagan asks a lot of questions about why Hildegard would organize something in a particular way or why she chose to juxtapose certain ideas in a vision -- but Flanagan does not seem to accept that Hildegard might have done those things because that's what she saw in her visions. This is a strange framework for this book. Many people who are interested in Hildegard are interested in her *because* she was a woman who had visions, but Flanagan seems to want to explain away the vision part as though Hildegard made them up herself.
--The author also seems not to have much experience with liturgical worship music. Flanagan again raises questions about why certain songs were published in a particular order, when most people who have been church musicians would simply understand that most likely Hildegard was bored of singing that same song in that week for the last 40 years and wanted something new.
--This book has almost no discussion of the *musical* quality of Hildegard's work, only the lyrical portion. Again, many people who are interested in Hildegard are interested *because* they are musicians and her work is among the oldest available in our modern notation style.
The chapter about her letters and correspondence is very engaging and illustrative. I thought the section about her health concerns was also interesting.
In sum: Hildegard is definitely someone you should learn about. This book isn't gripping, but it would give you the basics. I read it because it's the only book my library had about Hildegard. If you have another option available to you, maybe try that instead.
December 26, 2024
Don’t get me wrong, I love Hildegard, but this book took all the fun out of learning about her. It was informative, for sure. It was well researched. It’s a perfect resource for anyone desiring to read a comprehensive and objective account of her life. I guess I just wasn’t desiring that. I mean, I thought I was when I started reading. But as the pages wore on I grew tired. I put the book away.
Last month, I was in freakout mode. I like to think of myself as a reader, and I like to support that self-identification with solid Goodreads stats at the end of the year. And how am I going to manage with such miserable stats caused by half a dozen unfinished books? So I picked this one up again. And I pushed through, by the grace of all that is good and holy.
So this was my fall-asleep-book for another few weeks. And then today I found myself nine pages from the end, and I bagged that bastard.
In honest criticism though, this book really just summarizes her life. It doesn’t have any angle to play really. It just condenses a lot of other writings and compiles it in a survey. And it reads basically like someone’s thesis, except without a real thesis statement. It tackles each subject of her life with zero pretense, just kinda lays it out there. It’s also decidedly an historical perspective, rather than any kind of religious perspective. The last chapter I found particularly frustrating because it dealt with the authenticity of Hildegard’s visions.
I don’t have a problem with historical, objective accounts of saints’ lives. Much less do I object to the questioning of the authenticity of different spiritual or miraculous elements of their lives (we need SOOO much more of that among today’s scholarship). But ultimately when that is the only way a book tries to tackle a saint, they inevitably end up falling flat. Because the saints’ lives ultimately cannot be described in a satisfactory way absent of their spiritual lives, the substance of their saintliness, the stuff of their sanctity. And that is the side of Hildegard that I believe the author utterly failed to capture.
There is a science, a knowledge, which may accept premises or axioms exogenous to the model and then operate based on those assumptions. In fact, no science can operate otherwise. But with the saints, it must operate this way. The historian has to enter that saint’s world to do them true justice. Ethnographers know this, social scientists know this. Why not historians and researchers? And this cuts to the (basically harsh) reality of personalism, that there remains within each person, each soul, something utterly incommunicable. But we can come to know a holy person only by entertaining the idea that holiness is real. And I think science can handle that as a first principle, even if just for the sake of trying.
Last month, I was in freakout mode. I like to think of myself as a reader, and I like to support that self-identification with solid Goodreads stats at the end of the year. And how am I going to manage with such miserable stats caused by half a dozen unfinished books? So I picked this one up again. And I pushed through, by the grace of all that is good and holy.
So this was my fall-asleep-book for another few weeks. And then today I found myself nine pages from the end, and I bagged that bastard.
In honest criticism though, this book really just summarizes her life. It doesn’t have any angle to play really. It just condenses a lot of other writings and compiles it in a survey. And it reads basically like someone’s thesis, except without a real thesis statement. It tackles each subject of her life with zero pretense, just kinda lays it out there. It’s also decidedly an historical perspective, rather than any kind of religious perspective. The last chapter I found particularly frustrating because it dealt with the authenticity of Hildegard’s visions.
I don’t have a problem with historical, objective accounts of saints’ lives. Much less do I object to the questioning of the authenticity of different spiritual or miraculous elements of their lives (we need SOOO much more of that among today’s scholarship). But ultimately when that is the only way a book tries to tackle a saint, they inevitably end up falling flat. Because the saints’ lives ultimately cannot be described in a satisfactory way absent of their spiritual lives, the substance of their saintliness, the stuff of their sanctity. And that is the side of Hildegard that I believe the author utterly failed to capture.
There is a science, a knowledge, which may accept premises or axioms exogenous to the model and then operate based on those assumptions. In fact, no science can operate otherwise. But with the saints, it must operate this way. The historian has to enter that saint’s world to do them true justice. Ethnographers know this, social scientists know this. Why not historians and researchers? And this cuts to the (basically harsh) reality of personalism, that there remains within each person, each soul, something utterly incommunicable. But we can come to know a holy person only by entertaining the idea that holiness is real. And I think science can handle that as a first principle, even if just for the sake of trying.
May 16, 2022
A little disappointing. Quite a good outline of Hildegard’s life and times, as well as her work and visions, but the early parts of the book seemed to lack flow.
I probably also found some of Hildegard’s writings, as quoted, quite disappointing, although I realise they reflect the theology of her time.
I probably also found some of Hildegard’s writings, as quoted, quite disappointing, although I realise they reflect the theology of her time.
August 11, 2024
This book judiciously treats the various aspects of Hildegard’s integral life with originality and insight. Most chapters are exceptional. The one on her medical writings is a bit tedious and overlong. The final chapter analyzing her visionary gifts and illnesses is a bit speculative and reductive. Otherwise, this is an excellent work for anyone who wants to get to know this monumental figure of the twelfth century.
December 22, 2025
I seem to be hard pressed when trying to find a good book about one of the most interesting figures in history. How is that possible? This lady literally created pumpkin spice while composing music, channeling plants, seeing angels, impacting politics, etc. and every book about her is bland.
February 19, 2019
I was looking for a biography of her and this just didn't fit the bill.
May 10, 2023
This book is a biography of St. Hildegards visionary life and work.
October 16, 2025
I was very disappointed in this book. The author recounted the life story in a flat, dry style. It was like reading a dictionary and did not reflect the richness and achievements of her life.
August 6, 2014
Solid introduction to this fascinating figure. This biography is comprehensive and accessible to non experts. This isn't a biography as period history a la Brown's Augustine or Everritt's Cicero. As a non-religious person and someone not familiar with medieval history, I would have appreciated more explanation of the period/ religious history. But what the book does well is cover all of Hildegard's life and her writings. The middle chapters offer great summaries of her works that were a little slow for me, but may be really useful for grad students in this field. My biggest complaint is that Flanagan devotes a chapter to redeeming the scientific and medical writings of Hildegard, which some class as spurious, but the final chapters refer almost exclusively to the visionary writings, as if F. hasn't redeemed the scientific writings.
Want to read
April 23, 2016Nice story
September 12, 2016
Love this book.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews