McGarry 1
Sibyl of the Rhine: Hildegarde of Bingen’s Unusual Success
Works of art and science surviving the medieval period are not as plentiful as those from
adjoining ages. Among these few, even fewer were authored by women, largely eschewed from
education and intellectual pursuits as they were. 11th century abbess St. Hildegarde of Bingen
stands out as an exception to this convention, not only among women, but among the entire cast
of medieval authors, composers, and poets whose bodies of work yet survive. Her music and
writings were popularly read during her time, not met with distrust as the work of those other
women who were able to write and create as she was, and her relatively extensive surviving body
of work reflects her contemporary success. The unique circumstances surrounding St. Hildegarde
to allow her the unusual influence and success she had included the extremely public approval of
her writing by Pope Eugene III in at the Synod 1148. Hildegarde of Bingen was afforded a
prolific career, even during a time of ubiquitous silencing of women, because she conformed to
acceptable feminine standards and because of the benefaction of the powerful Pope Eugene III.
Medieval women were. Church views of women, in 1000s Germany
Gender in monasticism was.
Hildegard began a monastic life early, sent by her affluent family to the Disibodenberg
Benedictine monastery at the age of 8, in 1106.1 Vows at 1113.
Her rise in influence couldn’t be contained by the monastery, when she left to become the
abbess of her own convent at Rupertsberg, away from any men.
Hildegard’s Scivias is largely regarded as her magnum opus.
1Vivianne Crowley, "Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179)," In Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions:
Faith and Culture across History, edited by Susan J. De-Gaia, 204-206, Vol. 1. San Rafael, Mexico: ABC-
CLIO, 2019, Gale eBooks (accessed December 14, 2023). https://link-gale-com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/apps/
doc/ CX7632500096/ GVRL?u=s1185784&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=c830375d.
McGarry 2
Preaching tours
Eugenius III’s progressive views
St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s support 2
Reception at Synod of Bishops at Trier
Hildegarde is an unusual case
Singular as she was, Hildegard was not, in fact, the only woman in medieval Europe to be
regarded as an intellectual and respected mind. Elisabeth of Schonau 3 4
Hildegard of Bingen’s voice, obfuscated as it may be through centuries of cultural shift
and loss of context, still rings with some truth of women’s experience in the middle ages and
today. Her ideas were preserved, available for modern study and appreciation, while those of so
many other women were never heeded and forever forgotten. Her contributions to music,
theology, and medicine were undeniable, but perhaps most important was her contribution to our
understanding of the female experience. While women are conspicuously absent from much of
the medieval historical record, at least one woman’s mind was appreciated and laid the way for
her intellectual successors.
2Bernard of Clairvaux, Bernard of Clairvaux to Hildegarde of Bingen, 1146. In Letters of
Hildegard of Bingen: Volume 1. Cary: Oxford University Press, Incorporated.
3Elizabeth Petroff, “Medieval Women Visionaries: Seven Stages to Power,” Frontiers: A Journal of
Women Studies 3, no. 1 (1978): 34–45, https://doi.org/10.2307/3345990.
4 AnnStorey, “A Theophany of the Feminine: Hildegard of Bingen, Elisabeth of Schönau, and Herrad of
Landsberg,” Woman’s Art Journal 19, no. 1 (1998): 16–20, https://doi.org/10.2307/1358649.
McGarry 3
Bibliography
Bingen, Hildegard of. Hildegarde of Bingen to Bernard of Clairvaux, 1146. In Letters of
Hildegard of Bingen: Volume 1. Cary: Oxford University Press, Incorporated.
Bynum, Caroline Walker. “Jesus as Mother and Abbot as Mother: Some Themes in Twelfth-
Century Cistercian Writing.” The Harvard Theological Review 70, no. 3/4 (1977): 257–
84. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1509631.
Clairvaux, Bernard of. Bernard of Clairvaux to Hildegarde of Bingen, 1146. In Letters of
Hildegard of Bingen: Volume 1. Cary: Oxford University Press, Incorporated.
Crowley, Vivianne. "Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179)." In Encyclopedia of Women in World
Religions: Faith and Culture across History, edited by Susan J. De-Gaia, 204-206. Vol. 1.
San Rafael, Mexico: ABC-CLIO, 2019. Gale eBooks (accessed December 18, 2023).
https://link-gale-com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/apps/doc/ CX7632500096/ GVRL?
u=s1185784&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=c830375d.
Fonnesberg-Schmidt, Iben, and Jotischky, Iben, eds. 2018. Pope Eugenius III (1145-1153) : The
First Cistercian Pope. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Accessed December 19,
2023. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Petroff, Elizabeth. “Medieval Women Visionaries: Seven Stages to Power.” Frontiers: A Journal
of Women Studies 3, no. 1 (1978): 34–45. https://doi.org/10.2307/3345990.
Storey, Ann. “A Theophany of the Feminine: Hildegard of Bingen, Elisabeth of Schönau, and
Herrad of Landsberg.” Woman’s Art Journal 19, no. 1 (1998): 16–20. https://doi.org/
10.2307/1358649.
