INTRODUCTION 315
it in depraved men.... Beware,therefore, of wanting to associate yourself with the
ways of the pagans, lest you fall.*In addition to letters, Hildegard’s works include an explication of the Rule of
St. Benedict (a list of rules used to govern monastic life), commentaries on the
Gospels, scientific and medical treatises, poetry, songs, and the earliest known
morality play. But Hildegard is best known for her visionary trilogy,Scivias.
Perhaps from as early as age three, Hildegard had visions, and she continued to
have them throughout her life. As she explained in her preface to the Scivias,these
visions did not come to her while sleeping or in a trance, “but by God’s will [I]
beheld them wide awake and clearly, with the mind, eyes, and ears of the inner per-
son.” In the passage from this work, reprinted here as translated by Mother
Columba Hart and Jane Bishop, Hildegard relates a vision of a fetus receiving a
soul. She goes on to discuss the relation between the body and the soul, as well as
the interrelations among the various parts of the soul: senses, intellect, will, reason.
She ends this interesting discussion with a pictorial analogy that illustrates her
visual style.For an overview of mysticism, begin with the classic by Evelyn Underhill,
Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual
Consciousness, 12th edition (London: Methuen, 1930). W.T. Stace,Mysticism
and Philosophy(London: Macmillan, 1960); M.D. Knowles,The Nature of
Mysticism(New York: Hawthorn Books, 1966); Georgia Harkness,Mysticism: Its
Meaning and Message(Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1973); and S.T. Katz,
Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis(New York: Oxford University Press,
1978) also give good general introductions. Paul E. Szarmach,An Introduction to
the Medieval Mystics of Europe(Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1984) provides
sketches of virtually every major medieval mystic.
For a study of Hildegard of Bingen’s life and thought, see Sabina Flanagan,
Hildegard of Bingen, 1098–1179: A Visionary Life(London: Routledge, 1989);
and Renate Craine,Hildegard: Prophet of the Cosmic Christ(New York:
Crossroads, 1997). Surveys with sections on Hildegard include Lina Eckenstein,
Women under Monasticism(New York: Russell and Russell, 1963); Peter Dronke,
Women Writers of the Middle Ages(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1984); Margaret Alic,Hypatia’s Heritage: A History of Women in Science from
Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century(Boston: Beacon Press, 1986); and
Elisabeth Gössmann, “Hildegard of Bingen” in Mary Ellen Waithe,A History
of Women Philosophers, Volume II: Medieval, Renaissance and Enlighten-
ment Women Philosophers, 500–1600(Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer
Academic, 1989).*Hildegard of Bingen,Mystical Writings,edited by Fiona Bowie and Oliver Davies, translated by
Robert Carver (New York: Crossroads, 1990), p. 134. Portentously, Pope Anastasius IV died soon after this
letter was sent.