An Examination of the Cosmology and Medical Astrology of St. Hildegard of Bingen (CA. 1097 – †1179 CE)

In the heart of the twelfth century renaissance in the Latin west, the polymath, magistra, foundress and consecrated Benedictine virgin, St. Hildegard of Bingen, invites the superlative among all who encounter her and her vast and varied oeuvre. The twelfth century was a time of intellectual ferment, access to new Latin translations of astrological treatises from their eastern sources, and widespread social change against a background of anticipation of the end of humankind; the imminent apocalypse. This study is a text-focused analysis of selected extracts from two complementary manuscripts attributed to Hildegard: • Hildegardis Bingensis, Codex Berolinensis, MS Lat. Qu. 674, folios 103ra-116ra. TheThuringiae Revelationes (The Berlin Fragment), and; • De duodecim signis et planetis (On the Twelve Signs and the Planets) in Liber 1 of Beate Hildegardis, Cause et cure de mundi creatione, København, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Ny royal collection, MS 90b.2°. For eight centuries, the Berlin Fragment of the Codex Berolinensis, attributed to Hildegard and enigmatically connected to her medico-scientific apocalyptic work – Causæ et curæ – awaited a full translation. Appearing in fresh translation, the study examines these manuscript sources for evidence of new perspectives on Hildegardian Neoplatonic cosmological views which could advance recent scholarship. The findings of the study create new tensions for scholars in three broad categories: 1) The Berlin Fragment is composed in an aphoristic but antiphonal, rhythmic style which echoes the structure of medieval Latin lyric poetry; 2) It introduces a planetary melothesia which has no apparent analog to prior forms of astral medicine unless juxtaposed to illuminated images from Visio II, II and IV of Hildegard’s Liber Divinorum Operum (Book of Sacred Works), and; 3) The new translation of De duodecim signis et planetis, re-examined astronomically with the aid of digital retrospective simulations of the medieval sky, argues for a reinterpretation within the context of eyewitnessed historical astronomical phenomena; then reconstructed and revealed in the medieval, zodiacal, astrological allegorical prose of Causae et curae.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Murray, John James

• B Athroniaeth (Cyffredinol)

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:3028