From the Rhine of Hildegard to the Rhine of Agrippina
Characters:
Theme: The Rhine as a border
Competencies
Competence in Linguistic Communication
Personal, social and learning to learn competence
Competence in cultural awareness and expressions
Subjects and year by Educational System
Spain > Classical culture > 1st ESO > Classical roots of today's world. Geographical framework of Greece and Rome
Enunciation
Hildegard was a Benedictine abbess, born in the 12th century, who founded two monasteries in Germany. She was also a writer and composer. She wrote treatises on theology, medicine or the functioning of the human body, but also about plants and minerals. As a composer, she made some innovations in Gregorian chant.
Both monasteries she founded are on the banks of the river Rhine, which was a natural border of the Roman Empire. In this activity, you will learn the importance of this river and of the Danube in Roman times, by answering some questions.
Questions:
1) Place the Rhine on the map of Europe and find some information on its course: where it rises, where it empties, how long it is and whether it is navigable.
2) German tribes settled down in both sides of the lower side of the river, and the Celts in the upper side of its course. Its name, Rhenum in Latin, comes from the Celtic word Renos, "the one who flows". Since it is an Indoeuropean language, it shares root with Greek ῥέω (reo), "to flow". What is the name, with a Celtic and Latin origin, given to the German region to both sides to the Rhine?
3) Place on the Rhine the city of Bingen, where Hildegard founded her first monastery in the 12th century.
4) Draw on the map the course of the Danube and compare the outline of both rivers to the borders of the Roman Empire during the 1st century AD.
5) What did limes mean during Roman times? What are the limes of the Rhine called?
6) The Romans founded several cities along the Rhine. Find out the origin and the Roman name of: Bonn, Cologne and Mainz.
7) Who was Agrippina the Younger? How are emperors Augustus, Claudius and Nero related to her?
8) The Rhine also played an important role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire. What barbarian tribes crossed the border of the Rhine and the Danube at the beginning of the 5th century?
9) Enheduanna was the first person to sign her poetry. She is from earlier times than Agrippina and Hildegard, but she also lived near a big river. Find out which river it is and which civilization it belonged to (name, place and year).
Observations and context
Hildegard was born and lived in the Holy Roman Empire (Germany).
She was strongly influenced by her teacher, the anchorite Jutta von Sponheim. Hildegard, in turn, passed on a similar model of mentoring and leadership to her disciples, including the noblewoman Richardis von Stade.
She was a contemporary of the nun and abbess Hitda von Meschede, who illustrated a gospel book known as the "Gospels of Abbess Hitda of Meschede" or the "Codex Hitda", a work produced in Cologne and one of the most outstanding works of this city-school; she was also a contemporary of Elizabeth of Schönau, a German Benedictine mystic, and Christina of Markyate, an Anglo-Saxon mystic.
According to Gerda Lerner, "they were followed by the Beguine mystics Marie of Oignies, Hadewijch of Antwerp, Mechthild of Magdeburg and the extraordinary nuns of Helfta, whose mysticism reached its peak in the late 13th century. The 14th century brought the emergence of women's mysticism in Holland, Germany, England, France and Italy. With the spread of witch-hunting and the beginning of the Reformation there was a sharp drop in the number of women saints, followed by a steady decline." Margareta and Christina of Ebner, Bridget of Sweden (14th century) or her daughter St. Catherine of Sweden are just a few of the long list of mystics who excelled throughout the Middle Ages.
Hildegard von Bingen can also be considered a precedent for future great mystics such as St. Catherine of Siena or St. Teresa of Avila.
The 12th century was full of brilliant female creators. Hildegard's contemporaries include the philosopher and abbess Héloïse of Paraclete; Herrad of Landsberg; the great writer of the Lais, Mary of France; the Andalusian poets Hafsa al Rakuniyya or Nazhum ibn Al Qalai, among others; trobairitz such as the Countess of Die or Azalais of Porcairagues, among others; Anna Komnene, Byzantine princess and author of The Alexiad; Trota of Salerno, the great medieval scientist; Elisava, the embroiderer and Romanesque artist; Eleanor of Aquitaine, the great queen; Claricia, illustrator, and Guda of Weissfauen, illuminator of manuscripts and miniaturist, are some of the outstanding figures of this century. We should also highlight the influence Hildegard left among the Benedictine nuns of Gerona, who wove the Tapestry of Creation, one of the jewels of Romanesque art, inspired by her theological ideas.
In Roman times, important cities were founded on the banks of the Rhine, such as Bon, Cologne and Mainz. Cologne was founded in honour of another famous female figure in the history of Rome: Agrippina the Younger. And following the link between civilisation and famous rivers, we go back to the first western civilisation, Mesopotamia, where we find the figure of the writer Enheduanna, author of the first signed texts in existence.
Description
Using the figure of Hildegard, who founded two convents on the banks of the Rhine river, we ask the students to draw this river on a map of Europe and to do some research on how it worked as a border during the Roman Empire.