Women Who Shaped Garden History
Abbess, visionary, composer, writer, and herbalist, Hildegard of Bingen was one of the most remarkable figures of the medieval period. Her botanical and medical writings cataloged the healing properties of hundreds of plants, making her one of the earliest named authorities on medicinal gardening in the Western tradition.
Hildegard was born into a noble family in the Rhineland and was placed in the care of the anchoress Jutta of Sponheim at age eight. She took monastic vows, eventually becoming abbess, and founded two convents. She is best known for her mystical visions, but her contributions to natural history are equally significant.
Hildegard's Physica (also known as Liber Simplicis Medicinae) is a comprehensive guide to the natural world, organized into sections on plants, elements, trees, stones, fish, birds, animals, reptiles, and metals. The plant sections describe the medicinal properties of hundreds of species, from common herbs like fennel and mint to more obscure remedies. Her companion work, Causae et Curae, addresses the causes and treatments of disease, drawing heavily on her knowledge of plants.
What makes Hildegard's work remarkable is its combination of classical learning, personal observation, and spiritual insight. She drew on the works of Galen and Dioscorides, but she also recorded her own experience growing and using plants in the convent garden. Her descriptions of plant remedies are specific and practical, suggesting long experience with the plants she described.
Hildegard's gardens at the convents of Rupertsberg and Eibingen were both productive gardens and places of contemplation. She grew medicinal herbs, food plants, and flowers, and she understood the garden as a microcosm of the divine creation. Her concept of viriditas — a Latin word she used to describe the greening, life-giving force of nature — was central to her theology and her understanding of plants.
Hildegard was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 and declared a Doctor of the Church, one of only four women to hold that title. Her botanical works were widely copied in the medieval period and have enjoyed a revival of interest in recent decades. She is a reminder that women's contributions to botanical knowledge long predate the formal discipline of botany.