“The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity. This Word manifests itself in every creature.” Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)
We want to put this saint in perspective of people who are more familiar to us from this era. Whilst Hildegard was having visions when she was not singing and gardening, Henry II of England (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), was marrying Eleanor of Aquitaine and subsequently fighting with her for the next 30 years over real estate, claiming vast tracks of France so that the English and French could be at each other's throats for the next 900 years, wrangling with Thomas Becket over who was smarter, Henry or God and producing really awful children. Who do we remember in history? Henry II...plus we hope and pray he looked like Peter O'Toole in A Lion in Winter. What pop culture creatures we are!
The quieter people who leave a legacy of exquisite music and philosophy and some fabulous gardening tips don't necessarily make the headlines in our sphere of knowledge until we come into our wisdom and begin to value the rich lasting gifts of the Muses.
Born around 1098 in what is now Germany, Hildegard of Bingen began to experience visions at a very young age. She grew up to take vows in the Benedictine Order, and her life as a nun is filled with stories of her brilliance in writing, language, philosophy, composing....and gardening.
In addition to her many skills, Hildegard was known for her prowess in healing. This means she got her hands in the dirt. She approached medicine as a type of gardening, viewing the herbs she cultivated in her monastery’s gardens as directly in correlation with the functions and humors of the human body. Hildegard von Bingen was an experimenter in all herbal remedies. She catalogued the effects of over 200 herbs and plants and their medicinal effects on the human body, collecting them in epic volumes for future generations to discover. Her work in the garden inspired much of her scientific writing, and she is still today associated with veriditas, the idea that the health of humans is directly correlated to that of the earth.
It just so happens that this very subject came came up while a group of us were reading Emily Wilson's new, compelling translation of, The Illiad. Right in the middle of a Henry II style battle scene with a blood thirsty Agamemnon going for broke on the battle field and a sublime, bedecked Hector, with the help of Zeus, making glorious headway to save his homeland, the action stops so that Agamemnon can assess the severity of the damage done to his brother, Menelaus, the cuckolded husband of Helen of Troy. He implores the doctor Machaon to come and assist him. Each brother thinks of the well-being of the other: Agamemnon of his brother’s health, and Menelaus of assuaging his brother’s fear. We see them as feeling something besides blood lust and revenge. It is rather sweet. Menelaus' wound gives the reader a moment to consider their deep commitment to to one another and to winning the war.
In this high relief, “Agamemnon sends for Machaon, a warrior but more importantly, a doctor, "Who is worth more than all the warriors," according to Gig A. It describes Machaon’s medical skills as it appears in verses 210-219, Book IV of the Iliad, when he treats King Menelaus of Sparta, husband of Helen, by first removing an arrow from his chest and drawing black blood from the wound (so that no venom might enter his body) before applying a healing salve to the wound. “ OUCH….
The group stopped reading mid-battle and began to discuss what herbs might have been applied to stench the flow of blood and ease the pain.....silence. What grows in Greece that would make such a healing ointment? One sage reader contributed this....
There is a long walk between ancient Greece, 1250 B.C.E. and Hildegard's gardening years, let's say about 1150. Herbs are cultivated, used in an advance way, forgotten in various disruptions of civilization and then rediscovered.
Kenneth Clark in his Civilization series, Part II, The Great Thaw talks of a massive high point in advancement of all arts and sciences, from the building of the monastery of Cluny to the building of Chartes. This is Hildegard's era. She was the right girl for the right time. It does happen now and again. This does not mean it was an easy political atmosphere for her and her Benedictine convent. She was also in the middle of Germany in a geographically undesirable central position that attracted Vikings, German Robber Barons und so weiter. Every age has its Agamemnon whether you are a saintly gardener with herbs in your pocket or not.
We recognize her first as a composer of sublime, euphoric choral and solo compositions. Click to hear a glorious, transcendent solo.
You can find her works in a lovely book on herbalism here.
There is even a Hildegard Forum
What did she grow?
Costmary, hyssop, anacyclus, wormwood, elecampane, black cumin, calendula, feverfew, milk thistle, garden sage, lavender, scarlet sage, hollyhock, savory, parsley, groundcherries, fennel, celery, onion, garlic, dill, lovage, peony, rue, lemon balm, Madonna lily, bergamot mint, horse mint, field mint, parsnip, brassica rapa, coltsfoot, betony, hart's-tongue, yellow gentian, celandine, yarrow, columbine, tansy, oregano, wormwood, primrose, mullein, burdock, lungwort, comfrey, valerian, baldmoney, male fern, arnika, perennials elder, dog rose, redleaf rose, hops, red bryony, ivy, blackberry, laurel, juniper, aloe, fig tree, olive tree…
Imagine the scent of a border garden ala Hildegard.
In these less than even times I'll be celebrating National Women's History Month, giving girls who garden a shout out and thus finding a sense of peace in the sunrise, recalling, with hope that Hildegard managed to leave us a legacy in the midst of the usual mayhem.
I appreciated this post about an impressive woman. I'm very interested in herbal medicine and Benedictines anyway, but I have to admit, not to be flippant about a great woman's legacy, that I've been curious about her specifically ever since I became aware of this Youtube account: https://www.youtube.com/@Hildegardvonblingin
This is one of your best. Just loved it!