Research: Hildegard of Bingen

http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/09/17.html

In the novel Sophie's World, Hildegard of Bingen is first introduced to us and one of the earliest woman philosophers and thinkers. Hildegard lived as a nun in the early years of the Middle Ages and was widley respected for her different works in theology and visionary writings. At the age of eight, she went to a Benedictine monestary at Mount St. Disibode to recieve an education. Ten years later, at the age of 18 Hildegard decided to be a nun and at the age of 38 she was the head of the female community at the monestary. Soon after she become the head of the monestary, she had a series of visions and devoted ten years of her life to writing these visions down, describing them in full detail along with maticulous illustrations of what she had seen. Since the number of nuns coming into the monestary were growin rapidly, Hildegard moved the location of the nuns to another monestary in Bingen.
Throughout the next several years of her life, she spent her time traveling around Europe, preaching. After many years of preaching, Hildegard passed away on September 17, 1179, leaving the 100's of letter that she had written to emperors and popes behind, along with the 72 songs and 70 poems she had written. Most of the books she had written dealt with theology of ethics. She was concerned apparantley, with how exactly the human body and mind functioned and how the nervous system can affect our ways of percieving reality. Her books also dealt with insight on nature and of God and his relation to the universe. Hildegard's interests in biology, naturalism and botanism all tied together to influence the hundreds of people that she had given advice to and preached to throughout her life.
As you can see Hildegard of Bingen was not only recognized in the Middle Ages as one of the first and most courageous woman philosophers and thinkers of her time, but she has ended up playing a significant role in world history ever since. After her death, composers went on to expand her compositions and songs and eventually created a type of music. Hildegard helped inspire many generations of women to not only be more practical and scientific but to be more philosophical.