You will prepare and submit a term paper on The Work of a Medieval Composer: Hildegard f Bingen. Your paper should be a minimum of 1750 words in length.

You will prepare and submit a term paper on The Work of a Medieval Composer: Hildegard f Bingen. Your paper should be a minimum of 1750 words in length. Males have had power over females within the Church since the beginning οf Christian worship, and thus men have traditionally held the majority οf positions within the Church. Religious composition, for mass or performance, is perhaps one οf the most important aspects οf organized religion, one which was dominated almost entirely by males before the early twelfth century. In 1098, a tenth child was born to two wealthy members οf the nobility, Hildebert, and Mechtilde, in Bockelheim, Germany. This child, a daughter, was given to the Church as a tax and became Saint Hildegard οf Bingen, a composer, visionary, healer, and author οf major theological works.

Hildegard οf Bingen spent her life constantly defending the validity οf her visions while gaining a form of οf fame within the western world, which was rare for a woman at that time. Although many οf her strictly literary works reinforce many traditional beliefs οf the church, her music itself, in its lyrics and actual melodic construction embodies many different, even liberal ideas and images. By studying her life, accomplishments, compositions and other works, it is clear that Hildegard οf Bingen broke many patriarchal norms within her society, and saw recognition for her work beyond that οf any other women οf her time.

When Hildegard was given to the church at the age οf eight, partially because she was the tenth child which was also known as the “tithe” child for wealthy families, and was usually given to the church. Also, she was sickly in health from a very young age, and also recalls having visions at an early age, mainly a vision οf an inexplicably bright light at the age of οf three. Giving a child to the church as a tax was also a respectable way for noble families to deal with physically or mentally ill children, which is quite possibly how her explanations οf her early visions may have sounded to her parents.