The natural history and medical writings of Hildegard von Bingen (1098 to 1179), which are united under the title: “Liber subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum = The book of the inner essence of the various natures of creatures”, include the Liber simplicis medicinae (mostly called Physica) and the Liber compositae medicinae (known under the title Causae et Curae). While Physica describes the healing powers inherent in plants, elements, trees, stones, animals and metals, Causae et Curae has as its subject “a systematic cosmology and anthropology, especially in this also a pathology and therapy”. Whole passages in both writings are word for word identical. ... Hildegard's knowledge of natural history is certainly related to that of the Benedictine monks of the early and high Middle Ages, but the congeniality that we admire in Hildegard's writings is lacking there. Each of the books, with the exception of the second, begins with a preface in which Hildegard presents her views on the origins and properties of the natural bodies in question. In keeping with the nature of the medieval worldview, Hildegard places faith and superstition side by side in the realm of animate and inanimate nature. ... Various considerations have also led us to attempt a condensed and abbreviated translation of the individual chapters of all books in the order of the Migne edition, rather than a complete translation. Particularly important sections have been treated in toto. This work is not a new study, but an attempt to provide a summarized translation of the Liber simplicis medicinae for the first time. - [Author]

Language: Latin, German