Drawing on contemporary sources, the text unfolds Hildegard`s life from the time of her entrance into an anchoress`s cell--where a woman would remain in pious isolation--to her death as a famed visionary and writer, abbess and confidante of popes and kings, more than seventy years later. Against this background the author explores Hildegard`s vast creative work, encompassing theology, medicine, natural history, poetry, and music.