Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age - Tapa dura

This is history as it ought to be written - with clarity, authority and wit. Hildegard is an intriguing subject and Fiona Maddocks brings her vividly to life. - Terry Jones ,... spirited, readable biography... there is no better introduction to this mother superior of the millennium' - Sunday Telegraph If Hildegard is to avoid being lost again once fashions change, much of the credit will be down to this book - Independent Maddocks's is a pragmatist's account, continually emerging out of a tangle of opinion with an argument resonating with wit and fairness... Maddocks's is a wonderful, subtle portrait, which lets the subject emerge half out of the shadows, without pouring conclusions and diagnoses on her head - Observer Meticulously researched and the subjct brought to life through close and unfussy interpretations of Hildegard's own writings - TLS

This text provides an insight into the life of Hildegard of Bingen, a nun from the age of 18 in medieval Germany. Hildegard was a religious leader, who founded two monasteries, a poet, a celebrated visionary from whom Popes and Emperors lived in fear of receiving a letter, a writer of medical treatises, including the use of a broth made from pounded hamster liver, and a composer. Through her writings, this book presents her views on sex, love and marriage, medicine and music.