Physica (Hildegard)

The Physica (Medicine),^[1] also known as the Liber simplicis medicine (Book of Simple Medicine), is a 12th-century medical text by Hildegard of Bingen.

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Publication history

Hildegard of Bingen served as an infirmarian at her first monastery and was well-acquainted with various medical traditions.^[2] What was subsequently given the conventional title of Physica, or Medicine, by Johannes Schott^[3] is part of Hildegard's lost medical collection, the Subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum libri novem (Nine Books on the Subtleties of Different Kinds of Creatures),^[4]^[1] written between 1151 and 1158.^[1]

In 1222, Gebeno [de], prior of the Cistercian monastery at Eberbach, claimed in the foreword of his Speculum futurorum temporum (Mirror of Future Times; a compilation of prophecies by Hildegard) that she had written a "book of simple medicine" (librum simplicis medicine).^[5] A decade later, the Physica (under the title of Liber simplicis medicine) was submitted to Rome as part of Hildegard's canonisation inquiry, alongside the Liber composite medicine (Book of Compound Medicine),^[a] another entry in Hildegard's Subtilitatum.^[7]

The Physica survives in at least nine manuscripts dating from as early as the thirteenth century, five of which contain the full text.^[8]

Content

The Physica comprises nine books on plants (230 chapters),^[8] elements (63 chapters),^[b]^[10] trees (63 chapters),^[10] stones (26 chapters),^[11] fish (37 chapters),^[11] birds (72 chapters),^[c]^[12] animals (45 chapters),^[d]^[14] reptiles (18 chapters),^[15] and metals (8 chapters).^[15] Each chapter discusses the medicinal properties of an entity based on the ideas of hot, cold, wet, and dry.^[3]

Legacy

According to Lois N. Magner, the Physica was "probably the first book by a female author to discuss the elements and the therapeutic virtues of plants, animals, and metals", as well as the first book on natural history composed in Germany.^[4]

Notes

^ This text is now conventionally referred to as Cause et cure (Causes and Cures).^[6]
^ Namely various types of air, "water" (rivers), and "earth" (such as calamine and clay).^[9]
^ Possibly including certain unidentified flying insects.^[12]
^ Namely various quadrupeds.^[13]

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c Hozeski 2001, p. x.
^ Sweet 2014, p. 222.
^ ^a ^b Wallis 2021, p. 146.
^ ^a ^b Magner 1992, p. 109.
^ Wallis 2021, p. 147.
^ Wallis 2021, p. 144.
^ Wallis 2021, p. 148.
^ ^a ^b Kitchell & Resnick 1998, p. 28.
^ Wallis 2021, p. 156.
^ ^a ^b Kitchell & Resnick 1998, p. 29.
^ ^a ^b Kitchell & Resnick 1998, p. 30.
^ ^a ^b Kitchell & Resnick 1998, p. 33.
^ Wallis 2021, p. 155.
^ Kitchell & Resnick 1998, p. 43.
^ ^a ^b Kitchell & Resnick 1998, p. 45.

Works cited

Hozeski, Bruce W. (2001). Hildegard's Healing Plants. Beacon Press. ISBN 9780807021088.
Magner, Lois N. (1992). A History of Medicine. CRC Press. ISBN 9780824786731.
Kitchell, Kenneth F.; Resnick, Irven M. (1998). "Hildegard as Medieval "Zoologist": The Animals of the Physica". In Maud McInerny (ed.). Hildegard of Bingen: A Casebook. Garland Publishing Company. pp. 25–52.
Sweet, Victoria (2014). "Hildegard of Bingen". Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 222–223. ISBN 9781135459321.
Wallis, Faith (2021). "Hildegard of Bingen: Illness and Healing". In Jennifer Bain (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen. Cambridge University Press. pp. 144–169. ISBN 9781108471350.

This page was last edited on 9 April 2024, at 14:52

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