Hildegard von Bingen, Tudor Visionary

Abstract

ABSTRACT Redating the only English copy of Hildegard von Bingen’s Liber divinorum operum (London, British Library, MS Additional 15418) from the fifteenth century to the 1540s or 1550s offers an unexpected window into responses to the Chantry Acts (1545, 1547). Throughout the Middle Ages, English audiences cited Hildegard’s prophecies in anthologized formats for their antipapal, antimendicant, and pro-disendowment positions, and this article demonstrates that they continued to do so straight through the Reformation. Considering the illumination of Additional 15418 alongside contemporary grants of arms proves that Additional 15418 originated within the circles of the royal heralds in the 1540s or 1550s. The impact of the dissolution of the chantries on the work of the nascent College of Arms has not before been considered, and the heralds’ unease with the second Chantry Act may be reflected in this complete collection of what was traditionally viewed to be Hildegard’s pro-disendowment prophecies in their fullest form.