Hildegard von Bingen

Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179)
Credit: Wikipedia

Hildegard von Bingen was born in 1098 in Germany, and although she spent her life dedicated to the church, she didn't let the fact that she was a woman prevent her from studying such diverse topics as herbology, cosmology, medicine, and biology. Hildegard came from an upper-class German family and was the youngest of ten children. At the age of seven, her parents sent her to a convent where she was placed under the care of Abbess Jutta von Sponheim. Jutta taught Hildegard how to read and write and introduced her to music.

Hildegard claimed to have suffered visions since she was a young girl, and these visions helped her navigate the church's inner workings. She wrote down what she saw and what she thought these visions meant and thus became a well-established visionary, renowned for her wisdom, and much sought after for counsel. Inspired by these visions, Hildegard wrote her first book, the Scivias (the shortened Latin form of Scito vias Domini, or "Know the Way of the Lord"), which she worked on from 1142 - 1151.

Hildegard had unique thoughts on cosmology and the study of the universe. She preached that the Earth was a sphere composed of the four elements - wind, air, fire, and water - and that it was surrounded by layers of water and air which were in turn encased in an egg-shaped universe with an external shell. Hildegard's scientific views came from the ancient Greek cosmology of the four elements (wind, air, fire, and water).

Hildegard von Bingen's illustration of the universe.
Credit: Wikipedia