u/Ornery_Tangerine9411

Text source: Hildegard of Bingen, Liber Divinorum Operum I.4.11 (PL 197, col. 812B). English translation from the Latin.

Latin text:

https://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/it/fnm.htm

Photo: Diego Delso, delso.photo, License CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped/resized and text added.

Original image:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carraca\_lila\_(Coracias\_caudata),\_parque\_nacional\_Kruger,\_Sud%C3%A1frica,\_2018-07-26,\_DD\_17.jpg

License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

«“Beer makes the flesh of a person fuller and gives his face a beautiful colour, because of the strength and good juice of the grain.”»

On drunkenness

«“Whenever a person drinks wine or another liquid from which he can become drunk beyond measure and without moderation, all his blood is liquefied and runs and spreads irregularly here and there through his veins, so that even the whole intellect and perception of that person are confused, just as rivers overflow and rush into flood through an excessive inundation of rain.

“And because the human intellect in that person is confused beyond measure, the good knowledge in him tends toward good, so that he then often speaks words that seem holy, but disorderly and without discernment, through ignorance; and the evil knowledge in him tends toward evil, so that he also utters shameful and evil words without shame and ignorantly. For from this he has an intellect more mad and ungoverned than a sound perception, because rationality is then suffocated and submerged in him.”»

— Hildegard of Bingen, Causae et Curae, Book II, pp. 150–151, sections De cerevisia and De ebrietate, ed. Paul Kaiser, Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1903.

Hildegard never follows this quotation with a convenient list, so the six plants in the picture are my best candidates. Not an official “top six” given in the Physica.

Why these six? Because their individual chapters use unusually strong language:

- Galangal is “entirely hot,” contains no coldness and is virtuosum—powerful.

- Zedoary is moderately hot and possesses “great power.”

- Cinnamon is very hot, has “strong powers” and reduces harmful humours.

- Nutmeg has great heat and a well-balanced power.

- Clove is very hot, with a pleasant moisture compared to honey.

- Wormwood is very hot and powerful—and is even called principalis magistra ad omnes languores: roughly, “the chief mistress of all ailments.”

So these are Hildegard’s botanical heavy hitters: intensely aromatic, warming, bitter or astringent plants to which she attributes unusually broad effects.

Why could they “restrain many evils”?

In Hildegard’s humoral medicine, a remedy did not necessarily target one named disease. A strongly warming, bitter and aromatic plant could oppose several cold, damp or corrupted humours at once, strengthen digestion and prevent bodily “decay.”

Her word mala—“evils”—also includes a spiritual dimension. She believed malignant spirits disliked these plants and their powers. For her, medicine, nature and the spiritual world were not separate subjects.

And the modern herbalism angle?

The strong aromas really do signal concentrated chemistry: cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon, eugenol in cloves, galangin and related compounds in galangal, sesquiterpenes in zedoary, myristicin and macelignan in nutmeg, and absinthin and thujone in wormwood.

Laboratory research has found antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, analgesic and digestive activity among these compounds. Human evidence is much less even, but there are some interesting signals:

- A small "cinnamon trial in people with prediabetes" (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33123653/) reported improved fasting glucose and glucose tolerance.

- In a clinical experiment, "clove gel reduced needle pain" (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16530911/) similarly to benzocaine.

- A "ginger–galangal extract" (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11710709/) produced a modest reduction in osteoarthritis knee pain.

- A very small "wormwood trial in Crohn’s disease" (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17240130/) reported reduced symptoms and steroid requirements.

That does not prove every remedy in the Physica, much less the part about spirits. Nutmeg and zedoary in particular still have mostly preclinical rather than convincing human evidence.

But it supports a narrower and rather interesting idea: extremely aromatic and bitter plants are often pharmacologically active. Hildegard’s sensory method was not modern science, but it was not random either.

Small safety footnote: culinary use is not the same as medicinal dosing. High-dose nutmeg can cause genuine "poisoning" (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24452991/), while the EMA warns that thujone-rich "wormwood preparations" (https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/herbal-monograph/final-european-union-herbal-monograph-artemisia-absinthium-l-herba-revision-1\_en.pdf) can be neurotoxic.

Her work "Physica" in original latin:

https://monumenta.ch/latein/verzeichnis4.php?tabelle=Hildegardis_Abbatissa&xy=Hildegardis%20Abbatissa,%20Physica&level=3&nummer=&apparat=&step=&domain=&lang=0&inframe=1&hide_apparatus=1

For the original latin texts of physica, liber divinorum operum and scivias:

https://monumenta.ch/latein/xanfang.php?n=23

Causae et curae, latin:

https://archive.org/details/hildegardiscaus00hildgoog

Liber vitae meritorum, latin:

https://archive.org/stream/analectasacrasp05pitrgoog/analectasacrasp05pitrgoog_djvu.txt

Picture: AI-generated illustration inspired by medieval Hildegard manuscript illuminations.

Quelle: Wikimedia CommonsLizenz: CC0 1.0 / Public DomainBild: St. Hildegard von Bingen (attr. Wilhelm Fassbinder, 1898)

„Ein anderes Leben kenne ich nicht als dieses, das ich sehe und berühre und mit den Händen betasten kann. Welchen Lohn sollte mir ein zweifelhaftes Leben geben?

Über dieses Leben aber sage ich: Es ist da — oder es ist nicht da. Und indem ich so suche und wieder suche, sehe, höre und erkenne, finde ich nichts.

Wenn ich aber durch die Erscheinung der Schöpfung manchmal etwas sehe, das mir nützt — was sollte mir daran schaden?

Ich gehe auf keinen Wegen und bewege mich in keiner Wissenschaft, außer in denen, die ich gut kenne. Denn wenn ich auf den Flügeln der Winde fliegen will, werde ich auf die Erde niedergeworfen. Und wenn ich Sonne und Mond frage, was ich tun soll, antworten sie mir nur wenig.

Oder wenn ich irgendeinen Klang höre, weiß ich nicht, ob er mir nützt oder ob er mir schadet. Denn ich weiß nicht, was Vorherwissen/Voraussage ist; nur das, was ich sehe, das weiß ich.

Viele Gerüchte, viele Reden und viele Lehren höre ich, die ich nicht kenne. Darum werde ich tun, was immer für meinen Nutzen am besten ist.“

Später im gleichen Werk:

Über die Buße des Unglaubens

Und ich sah und erkannte dies. Und wiederum hörte ich aus dem vorgenannten lebendigen Licht eine Stimme, die zu mir sagte:

„Das, was du siehst, ist wahr.

Die Menschen aber, die im Unglauben dahinschwinden, sollen — damit sie die Geister überwinden, die ihnen diesen Unglauben eingeben, und damit sie sich aus diesen Strafen herausreißen — sich durch Fasten und Züchtigungen, durch Gebete und Kniebeugen zur Ordnung rufen.

So soll die göttliche Kraft die Taten und Worte des Unglaubens von ihnen abwenden.“

Quelle: Hildegard von Bingen, Liber vitae meritorum / Buch der Lebensverdienste, Pars III.

Lateinischer Text: J.-B. Pitra (Hg.), Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis opera, in: Analecta sacra spicilegio Solesmensi parata, Bd. 8, Monte Cassino, 1882.

Verwendete Stellen:

1. Pars III, XI, §16 — Verba Infidelitatis / „Worte des Unglaubens“

2. Pars III, LXI, §77 — De poenitentia infidelitatis / „Über die Buße des Unglaubens“

Online-Text:

https://archive.org/stream/analectasacrasp05pitrgoog/analectasacrasp05pitrgoog\_djvu.txt

Übersetzung: eigene Arbeitsübersetzung aus dem lateinischen Text; keine offizielle veröffentlichte Übersetzung.

Hildegard of Bingen, Physica II.1 — On Air

Air is a breath which, in the dew of humors, sweats into germinating things, so that all things grow green; and through its blowing it brings forth flowers, and through its warmth it strengthens all things toward maturity.

But the air which is nearest to the ordering of the moon and the stars moistens the heavenly bodies, just as earthly air gives life and movement to the earth and to rational and sentient living beings according to their nature; and for this reason it is diminished in itself.

But when those same living beings die, the same air returns to its former state. It is not increased from them or in itself, but remains as it was before.

And the earthly air which moistens the earth makes trees and herbs grow green and move. And when it is in these things, it does not fail in itself; nor, when they are cut off or pulled up and it goes out from them, does it increase in itself, but remains in its state as it was before.

Source: Hildegard of Bingen, Physica II.1, De Aere, ed. Migne, via Monumenta.

Link: https://www.monumenta.ch/latein/text.php?domain=&hide\_apparatus=1&inframe=1&lang=0&level=4&links=&links=1&rumpfid=Hildegardis+Abbatissa%2C+Physica%2C+2%2C++++1&tabelle=Hildegardis\_Abbatissa

Translation mine. Own photo.

Fennel has a pleasant warmth and is neither of a dry nor of a cold nature. Eaten raw, it does not harm a person. And in whatever way it is eaten, it makes a person cheerful, brings pleasant warmth and good sweat, and produces good digestion. Its seed is also of a warm nature and useful for human health, if it is added to other herbs in medicines.

For whoever eats fennel or its seed daily while fasting reduces bad phlegm and corruptions within himself, checks the foul smell of his breath, and makes his eyes see clearly through its good warmth and good powers.

But whoever is troubled by some contrary condition and cannot sleep, if it is summer, let him moderately crush fennel and twice as much yarrow, press out the water, and place these warm herbs around his temples, forehead, and head, and bind a cloth over them. He should also take green sage, sprinkle it moderately with wine, and place it over his heart and around his neck; then his sleep will be relieved.

But if it is winter, let him cook fennel seed and yarrow root in water and place them around the head as described above. And let him put powdered sage, moderately moistened with wine, over his heart and neck, and he will be better.

When someone with grey eyes has dimness and pain in them in some way, while the pain is still recent, let him crush fennel or its seed, take its juice, and also take dew that he finds on upright grass, together with a little fine wheat flour. Let him mix this into a small cake or paste, place it around his eyes at night, bind it with a cloth, and he will be better.

And if someone has eyes like a cloudy mist, neither fully fiery nor fully dark, but somewhat grey-green, and suffers dimness and pain in them, then, if it is summer, let him crush fennel; or if it is winter, let him use crushed fennel seed. Let him place it in clear egg white that has been well skimmed of foam, and when he goes to sleep, let him lay it over his eyes; it will lessen the dimness of the eyes.

If excessive pain has arisen in a person’s nose because of much discharge, let him take fennel and four times as much dill. Let him place them on a stone roof tile, or on a thin brick heated by fire, and turn the fennel and dill this way and that so that they give off fumes. Let him draw this smoke and its scent inward through his nose and mouth, and then eat those heated herbs with bread. He should do this for four or five days, so that the flowing humors may separate more gently.

A person who has a bad livid disorder in his weak stomach should take fennel, and a little more nettle, and twice as much lovage as those two. With a little flour or a little bread, let him make food from these and eat it often; it will take away the bad livid disorder from the weak stomach.

A person whom melancholy harms should crush fennel into juice and often anoint his forehead, temples, chest, and stomach with it; and the melancholy in him will cease.

And if someone has eaten roasted meat, roasted fish, or any other roasted thing, and has pain from it, let him immediately eat fennel or its seed, and he will have less pain.

If at times a very bad swelling rises up from bad humors in a man’s genitals and causes him pain there, let him take fennel, three times as much fenugreek, and a little cow’s butter. Let him crush these together and place them on top; they draw out the bad humors. Then the same man should take the little cakes from which beer is made, moisten them moderately with warm water, warm them, and place them over the swelling mentioned above.

And if a pregnant woman labors greatly in childbirth, then with fear and great moderation let gentle herbs, such as fennel and asarum, be cooked in water. After the water has been pressed out, they should be placed warm around her thighs and back, and gently held there with a cloth tied over them, so that the pain and the closed passages may be released more gently and easily.

A person should also take fennel seed, and half as much galangal, and the same half amount of dittany, and half as much hawkweed as dittany. Let him powder these together and strain the powder through a cloth. A little while after a meal, let him put this powder into warm wine, not boiling wine, and drink it.

This powder keeps a healthy person healthy, strengthens a sick person, prepares digestion, gives strength, and provides a good and beautiful color to the face. It is beneficial to every person, whether healthy or sick, when taken after food.

And if sheep begin to become sick, let him take fennel and more dill, and put them into water so that the water takes on their flavor. Then let him give this to the sick sheep to drink.

Source: Hildegard of Bingen, Physica I.66, De Feniculo, ed. Migne, via monumenta.ch. Translation mine.

https://monumenta.ch/latein/text.php?nf=1&rumpfid=Hildegardis+Abbatissa%2C+Physica%2C+1%2C+++66&tabelle=Hildegardis_Abbatissa

Note: This is a historical translation of Hildegard’s text, not modern medical advice.

Image: Foeniculum vulgare C.jpg by Wouter Hagens, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. No changes made.