The Accreditation of Hildegard von Bingen as Medieval Female Technical Writer

Abstract

Although scholars have acknowledged technical texts written during the Middle-Ages, there is no mention of “technical writer” as a profession except for Geoffrey Chaucer, and historically absent is the accreditation of medieval female writers who pioneered the field of medical-technical communication. In an era dominated by identifiable medieval male technical writers, this article analyzes the medical texts of Hildegard von Bingen, which should be recognized as significant scientific and medical contributions to the field of medical-technical writing. Because the term “technical writing” or “technical writer” did not exist during the Middle Ages, accrediting female medieval scientific and medical writers as technical writers requires the application of modern thought and definition. Primarily known as a mystic and writer of poetry and music, Hildegard's technological and medical texts have slowly gained interest within the medical community. Her texts Physica and Causae Curae, written in the style of modern-day patient history and physicals, outline patient symptoms, causes and effects, preceded by a treatment plan. This article examines Hildegard von Bingen's medical works, identifying her as a scientific or medical technical writer within the same context from which scholars assign Chaucer the same title, and from which all medical and scientific writers of medical texts can be professionally accredited as technical communicator or writer.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Eisner

, Chaucer as a Technical Writer, The Chaucer Review, 19: 3, pp. 179–201, Winter 1985.

Whitney

, Medieval Science and Technology, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 2004.

Whitney

, The Mechanical Arts from Antiquity through the Thirteenth Century, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, 80: 1, pp. 1–169, 1990.

Durack

K. T.

, Gender, Technology, and the History of Technical Communication, TCQ, 6: 3, pp. 249–260, Summer 1997.

Flynn

E. A.

, Emergent Feminist Technical Communication, TCQ, 6: 3, pp. 313–320, Summer 1997.

Tebeaux

, The Voices of English Women Technical Writers, 1641–1700: Imprints in the Evolution of Modern English Prose Style, TCQ, 2, pp. 125–152, Spring 1998.

Trotula of Salerno, The Trotula: An English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of Women's Medicine, Green

M. H.

(Ed. and Trans.), University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2002.

Madaus

, Women's Role in Creating the Field of Health and Safety Communication, TCQ, 6: 3, pp. 261–280, Summer 1997.

Johnson-Sheehan

, Technical Communication Today (2nd ed.), Longman, New York, 2007.

10.

Britton

W. E.

, What is Technical Writing, College Composition and Communication, 16: 2, pp. 113–116, May 1965.

11.

Waelbers

, From Assigning to Designing Technological Agency, Review of What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency and Design, Verbeek

(ed.), Penn State University Press, University Park, 2005). Human Studies, pp. 241–250, June 2009, Springer.

12.

von Bingen

Hildegard S.

, Hildegard of Bingen on Natural Philosophy and Medicine Selections from Causae et Curae, Berger

(trans.), D. S. Brewer, Cambridge, 1999.

13.

The Oxford English Dictionary Online (2nd ed.), s.v. stilus Def. 1 a. and b. OED. Web. —. tabula. Def. 1.

14.

Tebeaux

, The Emergence of a Tradition: Technical Writing in the English Renaissance 1475–1640, Baywood, Amityville, 1997.

15.

Richardson

, Revision of The Emergence of a Tradition: Technical Writing in the English Renaissance, 1475–1640, Tebeaux

Elizabeth

(ed.), TCQ: Reviews, pp. 335–338, 1997.

16.

Cowan

R. S.

, From Virginia Dare to Virginia Slims: Women and Technology in American Life, Technology and Culture, 20: 1, pp. 51–63, January 1979.

17.

von Bingen

Hildegard S.

, Hildegard von Bingen's Physica, Throop

(trans.), Healing Arts Press, Rochester, 1998.

18.

Taavitsainen

, Transferring Classical Discourse Conventions into the Vernacular, in Medical and Scientific Writing in Late Medieval English, Taavitsainen

and Pahta

(eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 37–72, 2004.

19.

Pahta

and Taavitsainen

, Vernacularisation of Scientific and Medical Writing in its Sociohistorical Context, in Medical and Scientific Writing in Late Medieval English, Taavitsainen

and Pahta

(eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 1–22, 2004.

20.

Strehlow

Hertzka

, Hildegard of Bingen's Medicine, Strehlow

K. A.

(trans.), Bear & Company, Santa Fe, 1988.

21.

Shirk

H. N.

, Contributions to Botany, the Female Science, by Two Eighteenth-Century Women Technical Communicator, TCQ, 6: 3, pp. 293–312, Summer 1997.

22.

von Bingen

Hildegard S.

, Hildegard's Healing Plants, Hozeski

B. W.

(trans.), Beacon Press, Boston, 2001.

23.

Billups

N. F.

, American Drug Index 2010, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, 2009.

24.

Sweet

, Rooted in the Earth, Rooted in the Sky, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, New York, 2006.

25.

von Bingen

Hildegard S.

, Book of Holistic Healing, Kulas

Pawlik

, and Madigan

(trans.), Pamquist

and Kulas

(eds.), Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 1994.

26.

Flynn

J. F.

, Toward a Feminist Historiography of Technical Communication, TCQ, 6: 3, 321–329, Summer 1997.

27.

Rivers

W. E.

, Studies in the History of Business and Technical Business: A Bibliographical Essay, in Three Keys to the Past: The History of Technical Communication, Kynell

T. C.

and Moran

M. G.

(eds.), in ATTW Contemporary Studies in Technical Communication, 7, pp. 249–308, Ablex Publishing, Stamford, Connecticut, 1999.

28.

Hagge

, The First Technical Writer in English: A Challenge to the Hegemony of Chaucer, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 20: 3, pp. 269–289, 1990.

29.

This is the Author's First Professional, Scholarly Publication.