The medieval womb : Hildegard of Bingen's views on the female reproductive body / by Minji Lee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lee, Minji, author.

Series:

Borderlines (Leeds, England)

Borderlines

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hildegard, Saint, 1098-1179. Causae et curae.

Hildegard.

Hildegard, Saint, 1098-1179. Scivias.

Menstrual cycle--Early works to 1800.

Menstrual cycle.

Health--Religious aspects--Christianity--History--To 1500.

Health.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 133 pages) : illustrations (black and white), digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leeds : Arc Humanities Press, 2025.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This study of the 12th-century German abbess Hildegard of Bingen examines her understanding of the womb through her medical and visionary work. Medieval tradition viewed female bodies negatively, seeing their porous nature as easily polluted. Women were considered weaker and more vulnerable to spiritual invasion. This volume shows how Hildegard's revolutionary understanding of the female reproductive body reversed these assumptions. She connected female bodily flows not to pollution but to purification, presenting menstruation and reproductive fluids as vital components in natural cleansing and healing processes. The book ends with a chapter showing how Hildegard's concept of beneficial bodily flow remains relevant in modern Western and non-Western alternative medicine, in which female bodily porosity and fluid exchange continue to be understood as sources of regenerative power.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1. Female Porosity and Sacred Flow: From Eve and Mary to Hildegard of Bingen

Chapter 2. The Unsealer of Sin

Chapter 3. Releasing Blood and Humours

Chapter 4. Receiving the Spirit, Foam, and Fluids

Chapter 5. Giving Birth to a Baby and Giving Spiritual Birth to Humankind

Afterword. Alternative Medicine: From Old Knowledge to New Practice through the Woman's Body

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This eBook is made available Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on July 8, 2026).

ISBN:

1-80270-222-9

1-80270-376-4

OCLC:

1543208417