Two works of non-theological tone and definitely scientific character
have been printed in her name. One of these was recently edited
under the title _Beatae Hildegardis causae et curae_.[20] A single
MS. only of this work is known to exist, and is now deposited in the
Royal Library of Copenhagen.[21] It is an ill-written document of the
thirteenth century, and the original work probably dates from this
period. It has none of the characteristics of the acknowledged work
of Hildegard, and indeed the only link with her name is the title,
which is written in a hand different from that of the text (Plate V
_a_). Nothing could be more unlike the ecstatic but well-ordered and
systematic work of the prophetess of Bingen than the prosy disorder
of the _Causae et curae_. Linguistically, also, it differs entirely
from the typical writings of Hildegard, for it is full of Germanisms,
which never interrupt the eloquence of her authentic works. Again,
Hildegard’s tendency to theoretical speculation, as for instance on
the nature of the elements or on the form of the Universe, finds no
place in the scrappy paragraphs of this apocryphal compilation.
[Illustration: Plate V a. OPENING LINES OF THE COPENHAGEN MS. OF THE
_CAUSAE ET CURAE_]
[Illustration: Plate V b. OPENING LINES OF THE LUCCA MS. OF THE _LIBER
DIVINORUM OPERUM SIMPLICIS HOMINIS_]
A second work, of somewhat similar character, is entitled _Subtilitatum
diversarumque creaturarum libri novem_. This is clearly a compilation,
and numerous passages in it can be traced to such sources as Pliny,
Walafrid Strabus, Marbod, Macer, the Physiologus, Isidore Hispalensis,
Constantine the African, and the _Regimen Sanitatis Salerni_, only the
last three of which exerted a traceable influence on the genuine works
of our authoress. Nevertheless this _Liber subtilitatum_ was early
printed as Hildegard’s work, along with a treatise attributed with
as little justification to another woman writer, Trotula, one of the
ladies of Salerno, whose name was also a household word in the Middle
Ages, and was freely attached to medical writings with which she had
little or nothing to do.[22] It is true that Hildegard’s contemporary
biographer, the monk Theodoric, assures us that she had written _De
natura hominis et elementorum, diversarumque creaturarum_,[23] but
there is nothing to suggest that the _Liber subtilitatum_ is intended
thereby.
The modern scholars Daremberg and Reuss have edited the _Liber
subtilitatum_ as Hildegard’s composition,[24] and the work attracted
the attention of Virchow,[25] but notwithstanding the authority of
these names, the objections which apply to the genuineness of the
_Causae et curae_ are also valid here:
(_a_) The _Liber subtilitatum_ is not included in the Wiesbaden Codex A.
(_b_) The phrase _De natura hominis et elementorum diversarumque
creaturarum_, used by Theodoric as a description and by Reuss as a
title,[26] would lead one to expect great emphasis on the nature of the
elements and their entry into the human frame. Such emphasis is not, in
fact, discoverable in the _Liber subtilitatum_, which, moreover, does
not treat of human anatomy or physiology.
(_c_) On the other hand, the genuine _Liber divinorum operum simplicis
hominis_ does lay stress on these points. This is possibly therefore
the work to which Theodoric refers, and to it his description certainly
applies well.
(_d_) As in the _Causae et curae_, there are linguistic difficulties
that prevent us attributing the _Liber subtilitatum_ to Hildegard.
Such, for instance, is the number of Germanisms as well as the marked
difference from the style and method of her acknowledged work.
(_e_) There are statements in the _Liber subtilitatum_ that can
scarcely be attributed to our authoress. Having largely explored the
Rhine basin, and corresponding constantly with writers beyond the Alps,
how could she possibly derive all rivers, Rhine and Danube, Meuse and
Moselle, Nahe and Glan, from the same lake (of Constance) as does the
author of the _Liber subtilitatum_?[27]
(_f_) Furthermore, although that spurious work has a chapter _De
elementis_, it reveals none of Hildegard’s most peculiar and definite
views as to their nature, origin, and fate,[28] nor does it refer to
the sphericity of the earth, to the vascular system of man, to the
humours and their relation to the winds and the elements, or to a dozen
other points on which, as we shall see, Hildegard had views of her own.
Before leaving the subject of Hildegard’s apocryphal works, brief
reference may be made to the _Speculum futurorum temporum,_ a
spurious production to which her name is often attached. It exists
in innumerable MSS., and has been frequently edited and translated.
It is the work of Gebeno, prior of Eberbach, who wrote it in 1220,
claiming that he extracted it from Hildegard’s writings. Another
work erroneously attributed to Hildegard is entitled _Revelatio de
fratribus quatuor mendicantium ordinum_, and is directed against
the four mendicant orders--Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and
Augustinians. It also has been printed, but is wholly spurious, and was
probably composed towards the latter part of the thirteenth century.