Written work · Essential works
Physica (Book of the Subtleties of Creatures)
Physica (Liber subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum)
Nine books describing plants, elements, trees, stones, fish, birds, animals, reptiles and metals, with their qualities (hot, cold, moist, dry), their 'subtlety' and medicinal uses, often giving the German name of the plant beside the Latin. It blends Galenic learning, monastic tradition and Rhenish observation; its posterity is modern 'Hildegard medicine', which the work supports only in part.
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Authorship note
Composed around 1151–1158. Hildegard attributes it to no vision. No Rupertsberg manuscript survives; transmission is late (13th–15th c.) and the text was first printed in Strasbourg in 1533. Recent critical edition: Hildebrandt and Gloning (De Gruyter, 2010).
Editions and translations
Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.
English
Hildegard von Bingen's Physica: The Complete English Translation
Healing Arts Press (Inner Traditions), 1998
Translation: Priscilla Throop
ISBN 9780892816613
Deutsch
Heilkraft der Natur. Physica
Pattloch, 1997
Translation: Marie-Louise Portmann
ISBN 9783629005670
Latín
Hildegard of Bingen
Physica. Liber subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum. Textkritische Ausgabe
The Conscious LibraryPhysica. Liber subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum. Textkritische Ausgabe
De Gruyter, 2010
ISBN 9783110215892
Edición de Reiner Hildebrandt y Thomas Gloning.
Other works by Hildegard of Bingen
- Scivias (Know the Ways) · 1151
- The Book of Life's Merits (The Book of the Rewards of Life) · 1163
- The Book of Divine Works · 1174
- Causes and Cures · 1158
- Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations · 1158
- Ordo Virtutum (The Play of the Virtues) · 1151
- Unknown Language and Unknown Letters · 1158
- Letters · 1179
- Homilies on the Gospels · 1170
- Minor Works · 1170
- Life of Saint Hildegard · 1187
- Life of Saint Disibod · 1170
- Life of Saint Rupert · 1170
- Explanation of the Rule of Benedict
- An Explanation of the Athanasian Creed
- Solutions to Thirty-Eight Questions · 1176
- On the Excellence of Saint Martin
- Pentachronon, or Mirror of Future Times · 1220
Sources
- Flanagan, Sabina. Hildegard of Bingen, 1098–1179: A Visionary Life. Londres: Routledge, 1989 (2.ª ed., 1998).
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