Hildegard von Bingen and her educational legacy for the pharmaceutical sciences

Abstract

Given the absence of the feminine in the history of science and health, research into the contributions to pharmaceutical sciences made by Hildegarda von Bingen (1098-1179) is examined. The aim is to make this 11th and 12th century figure visible in relation to his role in therapeutic and naturalistic studies. This is an interpretive bibliographical research from the perspective of gender relations. Bingen described several medicinal plants, in herbal and nutritional terms. He also proposed healing methods using various plants and the regular practice of fasting, among other hygienic-dietary guidelines, which were recorded in two of his works: Physica (Liber simplicis Medicinae) and Causae et curae (Liber compositae Medicinae).