{"id":15879,"date":"2022-07-05T11:06:47","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T09:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=211152"},"modified":"2022-07-05T11:24:10","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T09:24:10","slug":"15-minutes-of-fame-janina-ramirez-chooses-hildegard-of-bingen","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/15-minutes-of-fame-janina-ramirez-chooses-hildegard-of-bingen\/","title":{"rendered":"15 minutes of fame | Janina Ramirez chooses Hildegard of Bingen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Dr Janina Ramirez\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 05 July 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Who was Hildegard of Bingen?<\/h2>\n

Hildegard of Bingen was born in the Rhineland in 1098, a time when a cultural and artistic renaissance was happening in and around Germany. Brought up in a monastery in Disibodenberg, Hildegard went on to be a highly influential polymath during her long life, dying at the age of 81.<\/p>\n

Her long life is of great importance to historians, explains Ramirez. If she had died at the average age for the 12th century (in her 40s or 50s), we would not have much work to look at, \u201cbecause Hildegard created the majority of her key works in later life\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Janina Ramirez chooses Hildegard of Bingen (Photo by Fran Monks)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Hildegard of Bingen\u2019s life<\/h2>\n

From an early age, perhaps as young as four or five, Hildegard had told people of the visions she had. When one seemingly came true \u2013 a calf was born that fit a description Hildegard had given prior to its birth \u2013 she was sent to be trained by Jutta von Sponheim, who, according to Ramirez, was the thought to be the brightest female mind of her time. Under Jutta\u2019s guidance, Hildegard became a nun. Ramirez points out that \u2018nun\u2019 had different connotations in the 12th century to what we might think of now: nuns were creatives, artists, intellectuals. Convents were \u201cpowerhouses of these incredibly important people that were changing the climate of the time\u201d, so Hildegard grew up in a very powerful place.<\/p>\n

Her reported visions were widely known, but Hildegard did not write about them until they became more intense later in her life. In the mid 12th century (c1151\/1152) she published an illustrated work called Scivias<\/em>, created with her confidante Richardis and a scribe, Volmar. This book detailed her visions, as she tried to describe what was considered indescribable.<\/p>\n

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