Skip to main content

Primary sourceDocument1163

De Catharis

Hildegard of Bingen · 1163

A Latin treatise written by Hildegard of Bingen in 1163 responding to the Cathar religious movement.

Hildegard wrote this treatise herself, showing her direct involvement in religious controversy of her day.

Ask Hildegard of Bingen about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Full text (Wikisource)

About this source

What it is

De Catharis is a Latin text written by Hildegard of Bingen in 1163. It records a vision and argument addressing the Cathars, a religious movement considered heretical by the medieval Church.

Why it matters

This treatise shows Hildegard actively engaging with the major religious controversies of her time, using her authority as a visionary and abbess to argue against a movement she saw as a threat to orthodox Christian teaching. It demonstrates her role as a public religious thinker, not only a mystic withdrawn from the world.

Look closer

  • What tone does Hildegard use when describing her vision — calm, urgent, or something else?
  • Why might a twelfth-century abbess feel she had the authority to write against a religious movement?
  • What does this text suggest about tensions within the Church in Hildegard's time?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hildegard of Bingen on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Hildegard of Bingen sources

Meet the AI Hildegard of Bingen →
Illuminated manuscript miniature: an oval mandala of gold flame-like rays and dark red and white bands surrounds a blue field with gold stars, a red-and-white sun or disc at top, and a central cosmic diagram of concentric rings with a bluish-white globe and green figures at top and bottom.Book

Primary source

Scivias

Hildegard of Bingen · 1151-1152

Detail of a painted medieval miniature in orange, red and gold tones. A figure with flowing red hair sits at a desk, writing with a stylus on a tablet. A second face in profile appears at the right edge.Painting

Primary source

Scivias Frontispiece Miniature

12th century

A large open medieval manuscript codex lies on a dark display stand in a glass case, with a metal chain attached to its binding and a white label reading 'Rupert' at the bottom. The pages show black text in columns and red decorated initials.Book

Primary source

Wiesbaden Codex

Hildegard of Bingen · c. 1200

Medieval illuminated manuscript miniature of the Universal Man: a nude human figure with outstretched arms stands within a large white circle surrounded by concentric rings, red and gray bands, and a red border. A bearded head crowns the top and a red-footed figure appears below. A small seated scribe at lower left writes at a desk.Book

Primary source

Liber divinorum operum

Hildegard of Bingen · c. 1163-1174

Front cover of an old manuscript volume bound in worn reddish-brown leather with a dark spine featuring raised bands and small gold floral tooling at the corners and gold edge rules. The cover is scratched and stained.Document

Primary source

Dendermonde Codex

Hildegard of Bingen · c. 1175

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Hildegard of Bingen now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions