ONE OF MY FAVORITE!!!! Hildy!!!!

Physica

By Hildegard

von Bingen

•Born at Böckelheim on the Nahe, 1098

•Died on the Rupertsberg near Bingen, 1179

•Age of 8 she was placed under the care of Jutta, sister of Count Meginhard

•Started having visons as a young age

•Given the command from the Church to record what she saw

•Illness over came her often

•Physica is her only known non-metaphysical book

•German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary

•First book in which a woman discusses plants and trees in their relation to medical properties.

•

Earliest book on Natural History written in Germany.

•While Brunfels, Fuchs and Bock are called the German Fathers of Botany, really we are more indebted to the German Mother of Botany.

•Included recipes handed down through the generations by her predecessors.

•Considered a great look into the folk medicine of Germany

•Woodcuts from Physica had little to do with the material within. They were borrowed from another medical book.

•Original Manuscript c. 1150 – Not Extant

•1st Edition – 1533

•Book One : Plants

•Book Two : Elements

•Book Three : Trees

•Book Four : Stones

•Book Five : Fish

•Book Six : Birds

•Book Seven : Animals

•Book Eight : Reptiles

•Book Nine : Metals