L'oeuvre scientifique de Hildegarde de Bingen
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Paris 8Disciplines:
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Abstract EN:
This thesis deals with the history of science, particularly with the history of medecine. It's about the scientific work of hildegard of bingen (1098-1179), a benedictine german abbess known as a visionary holy woman, to whom two medical writings, called physica and causae et curae, are attributed. It has been proved that the saint had actually composed a scientific work; the question was, which texts she had really written. Consequently this thesis tries to trace back the history of hildegard's medical work, based upon the study and comparison of different extant manuscripts : several passages from an important manuscript still unpublished, kept in florence, are notably edited. After outlining the work, its originality had to be assessed : first of all, it's highly remarkable that a woman living in the middle ages could have written scientific texts, and a whole chapter deals with the female condition of the author. Hildegard is then related not only to the other women of her time, but also to the rest of her predecessors in the subject: chapter vi is dedicated to the research of hildegard's founts, which didn't say a word about the origin of her knowledge. Though she found inspiration from lots of forerunners, we owe her a great deal of innovations and this thesis ends in the peculiarity of her vision of nature. The third and last volume of this thesis contains appendixes : 4 unpublished fragments of the physica can be found there, followed by two concordances tables : the first one compares the editio princeps of the physica, based
Abstract FR:
Cette these releve de l'histoire des sciences, en particulier de l'histoire de la medecine. Elle porte sur l'oeuvre scientifique de hildegarde de bingen (1098-1179), une abbesse benedictine allemande passee a la posterite comme sainte visionnaire, a qui sont attribues deux ecrits medicaux intitules physica et causae et curae. Il a ete demontre que la sainte avait effectivement compose une oeuvre de science ; restait a savoir de quels textes elle etait au juste l'auteur. Cette these essaie par consequent de reconstituer l'histoire de l'oeuvre medicale de hildegarde, en se fondant sur l'etude et la comparaison des differents manuscrits subsistants : plusieurs passages d'un manuscrit capital encore inedit, conserve a florence, sont notamment reproduits. Une fois cernes les contours de l'oeuvre, il fallait en apprecier l'originalite: il est tout d'abord remarquable qu'une femme ait ecrit, au moyen age, des textes scientifiques, et un chapitre porte sur la condition feminine de l'auteur. Hildegarde se trouve ensuite resituee non plus seulement par rapport aux autres femmes de son epoque, mais par rapport a l'ensemble de ses predecesseurs en la matiere : le chapitre vi est consacre a la recherche des sources de hildegarde, qui taisait soigneusement l'origine de ses connaissances. Bien qu'elle ait puise chez differents devanciers, elle a egalement beaucoup innove, et ce travail conclut sur la singularite de sa vision de la nature. Le troisieme et dernier volume de cette these contient des annexes. On y trouve la transcription de quatre fragments inedits de la physica, puis deux tables de concordances : la premiere confronte l'edition princeps de la physica, fondee sur un manuscrit.