I'm not normally a reader of religious biographies, but this is the second one I've read about Hildegard, a 12th century mystic, composer, writer, and philosopher whose advice and intercession were avidly sought by prelates, nobles, and common folk. Her work in music is what sparked my interest in her. That and the fact that she was tithed to the Church by her parents and spent at least some of her youth living with an anchorite at an otherwise male Benedictine monastery. The age of her enclosure is variously thought to be between 8 and 14. Just the thought of enclosure, a life of perpetual imprisonment, really gives me the willies.

The book is primarily a biography and history of the times. There are a couple of chapters which digress to discuss her spiritual and medical writings, and I largely skipped these since it's the music in which I was most interested. Except for those two chapters, and one on her music, this is a highly readable and informative general biography. Hildegard is considered by many to be a saint, although the canonization process has never been completed. But in 2012 she was named a "Doctor of the Church", an extraordinarily rare and high honor with only 35 recipients over the Church's history.

Hildegard was among the very first woman whose music was written down, and she is believed to have written the earliest allegorical morality play by more than a century. I once tried to transcribe one of her songs into modern notation, but it's pretty much impossible because of the lack of defined tempo. We have no sure knowledge of how Hildegard's music was performed, but modern scholarship gives us some hints, and during the 20th century recordings were made by several groups in line with suggestions of how they might have been sung. You can hear one of these interpretations at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei88J4lERbk. ( )

Knowing nothing about Hildegard von Bingen except for her music, I picked this book up to find out more about her.
The subtitle of the book is "The Woman of her Age" and she certainly was a woman of the age--with all the common thoughts and constraints, but able, because of her visions and increasing fame, to contravene some of the constraints imposed on women of the time--at least the constraints that she felt should be bent.
This book seems to give quite a good historical account of her life, her writings, her illnesses, her visions, and her conflicts with her superiors.
A solid book that gives a picture of the society and the church of the time, as well as this incredible woman. ( )

This is a fascinating biography of a female religious leader in the 12th century. Hildegard of Bingen entered monastic life as a child, experienced visions, and eventually assumed a leadership role and founded her own abbey. She operated within a highly patriarchal society in which nuns were cloistered and lived in quiet solitude. Yet Hildegard overcame those barriers, corresponding frequently with political and religious leaders of her day, and even preaching outside the abbey for a period of time. Her writings were widely read and she was well-known for providing spiritual guidance. She is perhaps best known today for her music, having been one of the earliest female composers.

I approached this book knowing very little about Hildegard of Bingen. Her views were conservative, even reactionary; she and I would not see eye to eye. I was astounded at the way religious women were treated in those days, and at the prohibitions on manner of dress and friendships. Male clergy had much greater privilege and freedom. Yet Hildegard did not let this stand in the way of sharing her inspiration and divine messages. She enjoys a cult-like following to this day.

Not only did I learn a great deal about this historic figure, I also was constantly surprised by things I "knew," but wasn't initially conscious of. For example, while Hildegard composed music, this was done before the advent of the fixed pitch system (i.e.; a note called "C" which has an associated sound). Music also had to be committed to memory, since musical notation was in its early stages, and very few people would have been able to read it, anyway. Understanding more about the world in which Hildegard lived further enhanced this very interesting book. ( )