(B) is also at Wiesbaden, and will be cited here as the _Wiesbaden
Codex B_. It contains the _Scivias_ only, and is a truly noble volume
of 235 folios, beautifully illuminated, in excellent preservation,
and of the highest value for the history of mediaeval art. It has
been thoroughly investigated by the late Dom Louis Baillet,[11] who
concluded that it was written in or near Bingen between the dates 1160
and 1180. Its miniatures help greatly in the interpretation of the
visions, illustrating them often in the minutest and most unexpected
details. In view of the great difficulty of visualizing much of her
narrative, these miniatures afford to our mind strong evidence that the
MS. was supervised by the prophetess herself, or was at least prepared
under her immediate tradition. This view is confirmed by comparing the
miniatures with those of the somewhat similar but inferior Heidelberg
MS. (C).
Both the miniatures and the script of the Wiesbaden Codex B are
the work of several hands. There are three distinct handwritings
discernible (Plate II). The earliest is attributed by Baillet in
his careful work to the twelfth century, while the later writing is
in thirteenth-century hands.[12] It thus appears to us that while
Hildegard herself probably supervised the earlier stages of the
preparation of this volume, its completion took place subsequent to
her death. This view is sustained by the fact that some of the later
miniatures are far less successful than the earlier figures in aiding
the interpretation of her text.
The two Wiesbaden MSS. appear to have remained at the convent on the
Rupertsberg opposite Bingen until the seventeenth century. They were
studied there by Trithemius in the fifteenth century, and one of them
at least was seen by the Mayence Commission of 1489. Later they were
noted by the theologians Osiander (1527) and Wicelius (Weitzel, 1554),
and by the antiquary Nicolaus Serarius (1604). In 1632, during the
Thirty Years’ War, the Rupertsberg buildings were destroyed, the MSS.
being removed to a place of safety in the neighbouring settlement
at Eibingen, where they were again recorded in 1660 by the Jesuits
Papenbroch and Henschen.[13] At some unknown date they were transferred
to Wiesbaden, where they were examined in 1814 by Goethe,[14] and a few
years later by Wilhelm Grimm,[15] and where they have since remained.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. HILDEGARD’S FIRST SCHEME OF THE UNIVERSE