The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen. Volume 1, trans. by Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman (review)

542 BOOK REVIEWS with the communities themselves, with their desire to defend themselves from real or perceived threats, and to proclaim peace and order through their very fabric. Bonde's excellent study thus contextualizes and explains the emergence of the fortress church, the physical incarnation of the medieval fusion of the military and the spiritual. This book also represents an important contribution to the all too often ignored history of southern France. Amy G. Remensnyder Brown University The Letters ofHildegard ofBingen. Volume 1 . Translated byJoseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman. (New York: Oxford University Press. 1994. Pp. xiii, 227. $39.95.) To adapt a saying of Dr. Johnson's, the question posed by this book is not whether it has been done well, but rather whether it should have been done at all. In their translations of Hildegard's letters, the authors succeed admirably in "rendering her thoughts accurately both in her clarity and her obscurity" (p. 23). That this is a difficult enough task will be appreciated by anyone who has had to wrestle with Hildegard's allusive prose and idiomatic vocabulary. On the vexed problem of gendered language the translators privilege "clear, well-modulated English prose" over "awkward attempts to skirt around modern sensitivities," at times rendering homines as men. Translators of Hildegard will sympathize with such a decision after canvassing the possibilities of humankind , people, mortals, etc., to provide gender-neutral pronouns. However, there is no such excuse for disregarding modern sensitivities in the generally informative introduction, where we read: "Until very recently, a reader of the letters was obliged either to use the manuscripts themselves, if he [sic] had access to them . . ." (p. 23). The notes are mostly helpful, although less comment on the tone ofthe letter and more historical detail about persons mentioned would have been useful. For example, "Count Hermann" (von Stahleck, a local notable and early supporter of Hildegard), mentioned in Letter 12, is not identified in the commentary . Greater familiarity with local conditions might have explained the allusion to the Hundtragen in Letter 7 which puzzled the editors. A description of this ritual punishment—closer to hand than their reference to Widukund of Corvey —appears in the Annales Sancti Disibodi for the year 1156 where the same Hermann von Stahleck was forced to "carry the dogs" by the Emperor for his part in a dispute with Arnold of Mainz. However, these are mere quibbles compared with the fact that only ninety of the approximately 400 letters which make up Hildegard's correspondence are BOOK REVIEWS 543 here translated. Indeed, the decision to publish the translations serially renders the whole enterprise more problematical than might appear at first sight. The reason lies in the particular arrangement of the letters in the source edition— an edition which as yet only consists of two of the projected four volumes (and whose ultimate appearance will be further delayed due to the death last year of their editor, LievenVan Acker). Basing their work on the incomplete edition, the translators have had to follow its eccentric ordering (albeit one with manuscript authority) where the letters are arranged not chronologically, nor thematically but according to the official status of the recipient. (But not always, as St. Bernard of Clairvaux takes pride ofplace even before the Popes.) This means that a series of letters on the same subject—for example, the removal of Richardis von Stade to Bassum—involving correspondents of different status,will be scattered throughout the several volumes. Tracing the development of Hildegard's thought, her activities, or even the extent of her network at any one time is at present impossible and will remain laborious even when all volumes are complete. How might such inbuilt structural problems be overcome? Short of suggesting that further publication be postponed until the Latin edition has been completed , I believe the best course would be to ensure that subsequent volumes of the translation include a detailed cumulative index to help readers find their way around this very important correspondence. Sabina Flanagan University ofAdelaide, Australia Huguccio: The Life, Works, and Thought of a Twelfth-CenturyJurist. By Wolfgang P. Müller. [Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Canon Law,Volume 3.] (Washington...