Lane

Weak and Worthless Woman

Figure 8: Hildegard of Bingen

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Journal of Historical Studies: Vol. XXIV

A Weak and Worthless Woman:

The Impact and Strategy of Hildegard of Bingen’s
12th Century Correspondence

Hannah Lane

Hannah Lane is a freshman English major in the Honors Program from Colorado
Springs, Colorado. She wrote this paper for Honors Western Thought and Expression
to the Renaissance in the fall of 2015.

The medieval period was a time of significant change for Europe politically,
intellectually, philosophically, economically, and spiritually. The era marked a distinct
shift in the culture of the continent as new forms of religious practice became central to
the now widespread Christian faith. Papal authority became the final say on all matters
spiritual and religious, at times even overshadowing the word of the king. Town life
revolved around the church or cathedral, each of which was a thriving cultural and
community center as well as a religious outlet. The monastic system became increasingly
popular as spiritual devotees strove to live a life separated from the pressures of the
changing society. The monastic system was responsible for many of the documents—
scriptural, musical, and epistolary—that survived from the Middle Ages to influence
and inform later generations. Due to the androcentric nature of medieval culture,
men are responsible for the majority of monastic literature available today. However,
to consider only men’s written contributions to the Middle Ages would exclude the
wide range of incredibly influential and insightful literature written by the women of
the cloth. One of the most remarkable of these women was a German nun named
Hildegard of Bingen. Hildegard made important contributions to the collection of
scriptural texts, sermons, music, scientific work, and letters written during her lifetime;
the latter, however, had the most significant impact on revolutionizing the religious
culture. Through her correspondence with important religious and political figures of
the Middle Ages, Hildegard of Bingen paved the way for recognition and respect of
women in the church by emphasizing women with divine gifts as more authoritative
than societal gender constructs.

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Weak and Worthless Woman
Hildegard of Bingen was born to a family of lower nobility in what is now
Germany sometime during the first decade of the 12th century. She was sickly from
birth, a trait that continued into her adulthood and became a tool that she used to her
advantage throughout her life. At a very young age Hildegard entered the monastery
at Disibodensburg as an oblate, under the tutelage of a nun named Jutta of Disibod.
During her time in the monastery, Hildegard gained respect and a reputation as a wise
woman, which eventually led to her approval and accreditation as a visionary and
mystic. Because of this standing, she received a letter of papal approval that allowed
her to found a monastery of her own at Rupertsburg, where she became the abbess.
She remained in residence at Rupertsburg until her death, though she also traveled
around Germany on preaching tours on four separate occasions. Hildegard was one of
the first female saints to be canonized into the Catholic Church and was only the fourth
woman to be given the title “Doctor of the Church.”1 Hildegard’s prolific literary
offerings are quite impressive considering that the overall culture of the medieval
period was misogynistic: women had no voice in social issues and often experienced
discrimination for being “weak,” “slow minded,” or “overemotional.” During her
lifetime she composed a book of music and a morality play entitled the Ordo Virtuem;
two medical texts, Causae et Curae and Physica; and three visionary texts, Scivias, for which
she is best known, Liber Vitum Meritorum, and Liber Divinorum Operum. She published her
first work, the visionary text Scivias, at the age of forty-two after receiving a letter of
papal approval, which signified the authenticity of her visions. While Hildegard is best
known for these other works, her exhortative, rebuking, and visionary letters to her
contemporaries had the most profound and permanent effect on her culture.
During her lifetime, Hildegard proved herself a prolific letter-writer, penning
numerous dispatches to other women and men of the cloth and important political
figures. Her letters changed in tone depending on their audience and subject. Most of
her letters to men were self-deprecating and contained gentle and pleading rebukes. An
example of this first tone of voice can be seen in her letters to Pope Eugene III, whom
she asks for a letter of papal approval to publish her visionary writings:

1. Anna Silvas, trans., Jutta and Hildegard: The Biographical Sources (University Park, PA:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 40.

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Journal of Historical Studies: Vol. XXIV
O gentle father, poor little woman though I am, I have written those things to
you which God saw fit to teach me in a true vision, by mystic inspiration. O
radiant father…I send this letter to you now, as God has instructed me. And
my spirit desires that the Light of Light shine in you and purify your eyes and
arouse your spirit to your duty concerning my writing so that your soul may be
crowned, which will be pleasing to God. In their instability, many people, those
wise in worldly things, disparage these writings of mine, criticizing me, a poor
creature formed from a rib, ignorant of philosophical matters.2

Hildegard used to her advantage the submissive voice that men in an androcentric
culture would expect from a woman. She claimed the imposed “disability,” which
women inherited because of their supposedly weak nature, as a tool to help her achieve
what she wanted. This manipulation of the system set a template for other women of
the Middle Ages to use: though a strongly worded letter declaiming the wrongs of the
religious patriarchy is more in line with modern ideals of feminism, the use of sexist
standards against the very misogynistic culture that upheld them made larger strides for
women’s rights than a rebuke of inequality could. Hildegard’s technique surreptitiously
put so-called “weak willed” women in power over men. On the other hand, Hildegard
did not refrain from strong language when it was necessary. In her visionary letters, in
which she spoke with the power of a divine revelation, she came across as commanding
and powerful, her voice bearing the authority of deity. In many of her other letters,
such as her missive directed in rebuke of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, she took on
the voice of a vessel of the divine, speaking with intense anger and force without self-
deprecation, towards even the most powerful men of her time. Her letter to Frederick
minced no words and clearly condemned his actions in trying to assume control over
the papacy:

O king, it is imperative for you to have foresight in all your affairs. For in a
mystic vision I see you like a little boy or some madman living before Living
Eyes. Yet you still have time for ruling over worldly matters. Beware, therefore,
that the almighty King does not lay you low because of the blindness of your
eyes, which fail to see correctly how to hold the rod of proper governance in
your hand. See to it that you do not act in such a way that you lose the grace
of God.3

2. Hildegard, The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen, Volume I, ed. Joseph L. Baird and Radd
K. Ehrman (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 32.

3. Hildegard, The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen: Volume III, ed. Joseph L. Baird and
Radd K. Ehrman (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 113.

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Weak and Worthless Woman

This language, from an already established female visionary, created a distinct sense
of authority that the men to whom Hildegard wrote felt compelled to obey. Although
Hildegard and other female mystics had to first receive papal approval in order for their
visions to be considered valid, Hildegard used this declaration of validity to make direct
critiques on men far more powerful than herself. Since according to McGinn “fully a
third of the abbess’s letters contain references to visions,” Hildegard’s letters frequently
drew rhetorical power from her unique status.4 This paved the way for other female
visionaries—such as Elisabeth of Schonau, with whom Hildegard also corresponded—
to have their voices heard and their opinions recognized as authoritative. Hildegard’s use
of both these approaches established her as a figure of authority. Apart from her letters
to Pope Eugene III and Frederick Barbarossa, Hildegard also had correspondences
with many other significant male figures of the Middle Ages, including Pope Eugene
II, Pope Anastasias, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Abbot Suger, all of whom she wrote to
using both her unassertive voice and her tone of divine rebuff.
In Hildegard’s correspondence with women, however, her tone was entirely
different. Instead of being self-deprecating or divinely authoritative, her letters were
warm, effusive, exhortative, and encouraging. While Hildegard wrote to dozens of
nuns and abbesses throughout Europe, three female figures stand out as significant
in her correspondence. The first was Gertrud of Stahleck, one of Hildegard’s fellow
noblewomen who felt that God was calling her to join the cloth. However, Gertrud was
afraid to take any action for fear of the backlash she would receive and the new life
of discomfort and increased oppression she would face as a nun. Hildegard’s letters to
Gertrud were simultaneously encouraging, urging Gertrud to persevere in the faith;
and authoritative, commanding Gertrud to act as she believed God had called her.
Ulrike Whiethaus describes the situation: “Gertrud decided to take the veil…Hildegard
prepared her for the shock this change of life would create. ‘Don’t let your heart be
confused,’ she admonished…To give up comfort would be painful, but, as she consoled

4. Bernard McGinn, “To the Scandal of Men, Women Are Prophesying: Female
Seers of the High Middle Ages,” in Fearful Hope: Approaching the New Millennium (Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1999), 65.

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Journal of Historical Studies: Vol. XXIV
Gertrud, ‘God loves those who are chastised.’”5 In subsequent letters, Hildegard’s tone
became admonishing, telling Gertrud to take heart and trust God, “O daughter of
God, deep inside, you are always worried about the state of souls…O beloved child of
God, in your soul you are always worried!”6 Hildegard’s letters to Gertrud encouraged
the younger nun to stay true to the course she was called to despite difficulty, and her
tone was exhortative and encouraging, characteristics not found in her letters to men.
Hildegard also wrote to the Archbishop Eberhard on behalf of Gertrud and entreated
him to find a convent for her friend. According to Wiethaus, “Hildegard obviously
played an important part in finding [a convent] for Gertrud: using her authority, she
wrote a letter to Eberhart and asked successfully for his support of Gertrud.”7 These
letters from Hildegard to Gertrud demonstrate Hildegard’s strong advocacy for her
fellow women and her willingness to use her influence on their behalf. This assistance
set a standard for other women of the cloth to use the influence Hildegard helped them
achieve to, in turn, advocate for other women.
The second woman with whom Hildegard had significant correspondence was
Elisabeth of Schonau, a fellow mystic who desired the support of the already established
seer to validate her as an authoritative source of wisdom. In return, Elisabeth discussed
her own thoughts and visions in a way that much resembled the discussion of ancient
philosophers. Wiethaus says that, “Both women exchanged thoughts about their public
‘work,’ their calling, their literal profession as visionaries…Hildegard acknowledged
in the letters that she and Elisabeth worked against the corruption of contemporary
society, and that they were carrying out a divine mission.”8 In her letters to Elisabeth,
Hildegard maintained much of the same exhortative language that she used with
Gertrud, but her tone also adopted the deferential self-deprecation that was present in
her writing to men:

Rather than speaking from a position of human authority, Hildegard began by

exchanging her title ‘magistra’ with the self-deprecating formula that she uses
5. Ulrike Wiethaus, “In Search of Medieval Women’s Friendships: Hildegard of
Bingen’s Letters to Her Female Contemporaries,” in Maps of Flesh and Light: the Religious
Experience of Medieval Women Mystics (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1993), 100.

6. Ibid., 100.

7. Ibid., 100.

8. Ibid., 103.

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so often in her letters to men to depict herself as a visionary, calling herself
a ‘miserable form’ and a ‘fragile vessel.’ The point of reference is divine and
implicitly critiques human power structures. What matters is not that Hildegard
is older and has more experience, but that the divine chooses some human
beings over others to become visionaries.9

This undermining of social structures shows that Hildegard possessed true respect
for her position as revered mystic and did not take her responsibilities lightly. The
submissive voice Hildegard used with Elisabeth did away with traditional gender
standards, in which deference to men was customary, and instead showed respect for
Elisabeth as a visionary rather than a woman. For Hildegard to address Elisabeth in
this manner demonstrated that she saw all visionaries as powerful individuals to be
revered, regardless of social constructs.
The third woman with whom Hildegard exchanged letters was her pupil and
close friend Richardis of Stade. Richardis was very dear to Hildegard, and as a result
their letters were extremely personal and familial. In reference to Richardis, Hildegard
once wrote, “I loved the nobility of your conduct, your wisdom and chastity, your soul
and the whole of your life so much that many said: what are you doing?”10 However, a
rift grew between Hildegard and Richardis when the younger nun felt she was called
to leave Rupertsburg. As this chasm divided the two women, Hildegard’s tone became
distinctly more pleading; she begged the young woman to stay at the monastery, saying,
“pain rises up within me. Pain kills the great trust and the solace that I found in a
human being.”11 These letters reveal the humanity of the mystic and, on a deeper level,
the isolation that Hildegard herself felt as a woman fighting a solitary battle against the
patriarchy. Though these letters to Richardis did not directly change the role of women
in the church, they shed light on the depth of oppression women faced: Hildegard
felt so isolated from her high-status fellow religious devotees—who were almost solely
male—that the thought of her only friend leaving her caused intense feelings of loss
and grief. The fact that Hildegard, a respected and established mystic, harbored these
anxieties hints at the oppression to which women who had no specific abilities or traits
to set them apart must have been subjected, and what their emotions must have been.
9. Wiethaus, 104.

10. Ibid., 106.

11. Ibid., 107.

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Inasmuch as Hildegard’s letters to men proclaim her a formidable writer capable of
manipulating language to use patriarchal standards to her own benefit, her letters to
women show a much more vulnerable and human individual, who served as a powerful
ally to women seeking recognition across Europe.
Hildegard of Bingen significantly influenced the prominence and role of
women in the religious culture of the Middle Ages. Through her letters, she impacted
not only women themselves but also the church culture of the Middle Ages. She herself
described her mindset in relation to women and their role in the church: “And therefore
now women are prophesying to the scandal of men, and it will go on like this until the
time when justice will arise after the destruction of some of the churches.”12 Her letters
to other women provided a platform for female religious devotees to make their voices
heard. Hildegard’s letters encouraged women to take action as they felt called. Because
of Hildegard’s status, these women had justification for their actions, which allowed
them control over their own lives that superseded male interference. Even though
Hildegard had, as she said herself, “no formal training at all, for I can only read at a
simple level, and not in an analytical manner…for I am untaught by any teacher in
external matters, but I am taught internally, in my soul. Hence my uncertain speech,”13
her letters were incredibly insightful and demonstrated a wisdom beyond education.
Her letters inspired other women with similar educational backgrounds to offer their
own thoughts as valid opinions. Her ability to persuade the pope, and the two examples
of papal approval that she received (to publish Scivias and to found the monastery at
Rupertsburg), established a precedent for other women to petition the pope for their
requests. After Hildegard’s death, women had a platform to make authoritative remarks
on the actions of powerful men, cite their visions, and have influence on the church.
Women had an example to turn to as they petitioned monarchs and powerful clergymen
alike for permission and support as they founded monasteries, published texts, received
financial aid, and accredited theories. Her writing bolstered the collective female spirit
of the medieval period.

12. McGinn, 59.

13. Beverlee Sian Rapp, “A Woman Speaks: Language and Self-Representation in

Hildegard’s Letters,” in Hildegard of Bingen: A Book of Essays (New York: Garland Publishing,
1998), 13.

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Hildegard’s correspondence also affected the church as a whole as she asserted
a woman’s ability to have authoritative influence over men. As men across medieval
Europe wrote to Hildegard for advice, or assented to her requests, they unknowingly
set themselves in a place of submission to the female mystic, taking the patriarchal
standards of the era and inverting them to the benefit of women. As Beverlee Sian
Rapp states: “Once her authority was established, Hildegard was able to engage some
of the most prominent minds of the twelfth century in correspondence…Hildegard
became known through Europe as a holy woman, and her aid was increasingly sought
on various matters.” 14
Hildegard’s use of self-deprecating language mirrored that
of many holy men who wrote letters during the medieval period; her adoption of
this technique allowed her simultaneously to set herself at a low position, thereby
presenting her ideas and questions as nonthreatening and easily grantable, and to press
the men into the same traditional language in their replies, which removed their implicit
authority over Hildegard. A lack of dominance allowed Hildegard to have full authority
over men when she rebuked them with her visions and created a culture in which the
male power could be subject to a new class of divine power: the female mystic. This
dichotomy integrated the authority of men with the jurisdiction of women, paving a
way for female religious figures to have influence in the church.
Because of the shift that Hildegard induced in the women and men of the
church and the church as a whole, she also played an instrumental part in causing
significant change in the medieval era as a whole. In her own era and those that
followed, she stood as a symbol of the indomitable female spirit, creating a way for
her fellow women of the cloth to have their voices heard, recognized, and valued.
Hildegard’s invaluable contribution to the extensive literary development of the Middle
Ages through her wise and influential correspondence, as well as her fight for women’s
rights through the manipulation of an androcentric culture’s social structures, establish
her as one of the most pivotal figures of the medieval period.

14. Rapp, 5-6.

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