Belatedly canonized on 7 October 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI, Christian mystic and visionary Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179) (http://www.hildegard-society.org/faq.html) had been revered in the Roman Catholic Church for centuries. Apart from her work as an abbess of a Benedictine convent, and for her scholarship, Hildegard is one of the earliest known composers in the Western tradition.
Since their rediscovery in recent decades her compositions have been widely recorded and performed. This book by Sabina Flanagan draws on contemporary sources, unfolding Hildegard’s life from the time of her entrance into an anchoress’s cell – where she 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.
244 pages in Routledge
ISBN 978-0415185516
Depiction of Hildegard of Bingen