The Physica (Medicine), [1] also known as the Liber simplicis medicine (Book of Simple Medicine), is a 12th-century medical text by Hildegard of Bingen.
Hildegard of Bingen served as an infirmarian at her first monastery and was well-acquainted with various medical traditions. [2] What was subsequently given the conventional title of Physica, or Medicine, by Johannes Schott [3] is part of Hildegard's lost medical collection, the Subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum libri novem (Nine Books on the Subtleties of Different Kinds of Creatures), [4] [1] written between 1151 and 1158. [1]
In 1222, Gebeno , prior of the Cistercian monastery at Eberbach, claimed in the foreword of his Speculum futurorum temporum (Mirror of Future Times; a compilation of prophecies by Hildegard) that she had written a "book of simple medicine" (librum simplicis medicine). [5] A decade later, the Physica (under the title of Liber simplicis medicine) was submitted to Rome as part of Hildegard's canonisation inquiry, alongside the Liber composite medicine (Book of Compound Medicine), [a] another entry in Hildegard's Subtilitatum. [7]
The Physica survives in at least nine manuscripts dating from as early as the thirteenth century, five of which contain the full text. [8]
The Physica comprises nine books on plants (230 chapters), [8] elements (63 chapters), [b] [10] trees (63 chapters), [10] stones (26 chapters), [11] fish (37 chapters), [11] birds (72 chapters), [c] [12] animals (45 chapters), [d] [14] reptiles (18 chapters), [15] and metals (8 chapters). [15] Each chapter discusses the medicinal properties of an entity based on the ideas of hot, cold, wet, and dry. [3]
According to Lois N. Magner, the Physica was "probably the first book by a female author to discuss the elements and the therapeutic virtues of plants, animals, and metals", as well as the first book on natural history composed in Germany. [4]