Ken Follett's Journey Into the Dark Ages

Middle Ages. A time when women had few rights.

I'm Ken Follett, author of two novels playing there.

"The pillars of the Earth" and "Infinite World".

In the books, women defy the odds of a hard and inconvenient world.

Women's role in the Middle Ages is underestimated.

They are regarded as oppressed.

But many women had power and influence.

My heroes are inspired by real people.

Some, like Jeanne d'Arc, stated army in battle.

Some wrote books that challenged the authorities.

Some were pioneers in medicine.

Some wrote about music, nature and even sex.

Some became saints, others paid a high price -

for their free thinking

In the 1100s, the Catholic Church dominated the lives of people.

Beautiful cathedrals praised God's glory.

Monuments over the power of the presidency.

It is difficult to exaggerate the influence of the church in the Middle Ages.

It required control over everything in life.

From birth to death and so to heaven and hell.

Get Protested, but no one could escape the power of the Catholic Church.

Monks, priests, bishops and the pope ruled the church.

They held women out of power.

But one outstanding woman became prominent in the church -

- where she challenged men in their area.

It was the German nun Hildegard of Bingen.

She was a composer, author, researcher, doctor. She could do everything.

It was unique at the time.

Hildegard was a prophet and afflicted with horrible visions.

Her story is about power -

- religious fanatism, conspiracy -

and six.

The cards were against the women.

But Hildegard pioneered everyone. Monks, popes and emperors.

Her story is amazing. One could not find it.

Hildegard grew up at the Rhine river in Germany -

- like 10th child in a noble family. But her childhood was short.

Before she was 12, she was sent to the monastery Disibodenberg.

It was run by monks, but there was a small remote part to the nuns.

It became Hildegard's home.

Life in a medieval nunnery is like a prison.

But a nun could become powerful and influential -

If she was smart and played her cards right like Hildegard.

In the monastery Hildegard learned Latin and studied theology.

She received education that was not common among women.

She studied herbal medicine and used it on the abbey of the monastery.

Here are the ruins of the Disibodenberg monastery -

where Hildegard got his education

There were over 40 monks and a few well-separated nuns.

Hildegard was curious and did not want to stay in.

She used this exit to get out of the garden.

She always left her room and tried to work in the garden.

She tried to learn everything she could to help -

- as a rescuer or doctor. She was curious and wanted to learn.

Abbots, Jutta of Sponheim -

- carefully watched his nuns. Also the ambitious Hildegard.

Jutta liked the idea of self-denial.

She wrapped herself in chains, she ate very little.

Today we say anorexic.

It was a very strict bargaining.

She refused the joy of life.

Jutta taught himself to submit to God.

As long as she ruled, Hildegard had to dampen his ambitions.

Hildegard became friends with one of the novices, Richardis of Stade -

- a well-educated nun from a rich and influential family.

Obviously Hildegard was taken care of by the young woman.

We do not know exactly how.

Some will assume that it was a lesbian relationship.

I think you can see it as a kind of crush.

They became crazy over the narrow spaces in the remote monastery.

Hildegard trusted Richardis that she, ever since childhood -

- had religious views At times in connection with illness.

Hildegard described his experiences.

"Heaven opened and a strong light penetrated my brain."

"Not a burning but a hot flame".

"As the sun warms all that its rays touch."

Over time, Hildegard's eyes became stronger.

She wanted to tell the whole world about them.

The moment came when Jutta of Sponheim died of his fever.

Hildegard was appointed to Juttas successor.

She was now absentee in Disibodenberg's nuns.

Hildegard had a sense of a new authority.

For the first time in her life she decided on the nuns.

But now the first time she would be able to tell about her visions.

Not only talk but also write about them.

It was her most important task and strongest wish at that time.

But women did not.

The Catholic Church's traditions were against Hildegard.

The doctrine of the Church forbade women to preach.

The Christian church has always been against women. Women there -

- accomplished something in the Middle Ages, had to be skilled dealers.

They must have been very clever -

- the women who got a position as an abbess or a predecessor.

And that's the kind of women I like to write about.

Hildegard was absent but had to obey Abbot Cuno -

the clergy's chief executive.

In 1138, Hildegard, her confidential Richardis -

- and her secretary, the monk Vollmer, to meet the abbot.

The church had forbidden women to write about religion.

Hildegard claimed that her case was different.

Her visions came directly from God. It was a duty to write them down.

Describe his views.

It was her way through doors that were closed to other women.

It gave her an entrance to the higher theological world -

- which was forbidden for women. They were held on arm's length.

Cuno was on duty.

But when she said that a nun who looked so would lure a pilgrimage -

- and donations to the monastery, abbot contributed to it.

Hildegard dictated 26 religious views -

- to Vollmer, which translated them into Latin.

Books "Scivias" contained over 150,000 words.

Hildegard saw the universe ruler on an iron-colored mountain.

She described the cosmos, angels -

and Adam's and Eve's fall.

After that, Hildegard expanded the scope of his writing.

She wrote about music, medicine, nature and the human body -

- including six. A forbidden subject for nuns.

There are some very vibrant, actually incredibly vibrant -

descriptions of the love act

- and the sexual behavior of men and women.

She used a live imagery: "The threser dunk his semen".

There is considerable knowledge of what men and women do.

She writes about female orgasm, and people ask how she knows.

It all over -

- because there is no more vivid description than her.

A colorful copy of Hildegard's book "Scivias" -

- survived in a vault in a German monastery.

It is a statement of creation, redemption and salvation.

Hildegard had his own theology.

The use of a living language and of pictures -

- made her a good teacher about the church.

The pioneer Hildegard had become the monastery's main attraction.

A female prophet who attracted pilgrimages and donations.

It was time for Hildegard to leave Disibodenberg.

She wanted her own monastery independent of monks.

She found a suitable place on Rupertsberg -

- in the strategic city of Bingen nearby.

Then she came on a collision course with abbot Cuno.

This is the last room that Hildegard lived in.

The monastery had grown from three people to 15, 16, 17 and 18.

She did not have to move because there was no room.

She wanted her own.

She would decide what she would do and when.

Abbot Cuno told Hildegard that she should not move.

Hildegard got sick and could not move.

Strong visions suggested she would not be quick -

- before she was allowed to start her own independent monastery.

The abbot was out of control -

- and agreed that Hildegard and the nuns had to leave the monastery.

The new monastery was on the Rhine. A main road in Germany.

They moved to Rupertsberg -

- located in Bingen, and from there Hildegard got his name.

There she started a fairly modern monastery.

The monastery in Rupertsberg no longer exists -

- but in the monastery of Eibingen she retains her memory -

- and her many music compositions.

She was the first composer of Christianity, named by name.

It is a diligent work. About 77 songs.

They are of high quality and the music is pretty beautiful.

Hildegard's music has just become hugely popular.

A CD with her music became a bestseller.

It appeals to people -

- who wants something clean, ethereal and uncompromised.

They find it at Hildegard.

She became one of Christianity's most influential women.

She wrote to kings in England and to Emperor Barbarossa -

- she wrote to the pope and to local bishops.

I want to believe that everybody knew Hildegard.

Hildegard's eyes, books and music lured novels from the nobility -

and with them big charges.

Hildegard had achieved his independence.

She even broke Saint Benedict's clothing rules -

- what another abbess complained about.

"It is said that forever, your virgins bear crowns of gold thread."

"And they decorate their fingers with gold rings."

"Even though the great leaders of the Church forbid that kind of thing."

But Hildegard had enough power to ignore such criticism.

The women carried sweeping dresses.

And besides, they had long hair.

Hildegard had his own theories. Her women were virgin.

They were not obsessed with the marriage, as she perceived.

Therefore they could have sweeping dresses and long hair.

But the professional success was destroyed by personal disappointments.

Richardis was appointed Abbey in a monastery north.

Hildegard made sure.

Richardis was the only one we know she had strong feelings for.

And Richardis left her monastery.

We say tragedy, Hildegard said that it was the way God chose.

But for us today it seems very sad.

Hildegard became 81 years old. A tall age then.

Her bones are preserved.

But it's the books about medicine, music and theology that makes her -

- popular today, and that got her canonized in 2012.

Hildegard of Bingen rose against popes and emperors.

She wrote about religion, science and even sex.

Some call her "the Iron Age of the Middle Ages".

In the 11th century Hildegard worked within the Catholic Church.

Despite her intelligence, she did not challenge religious orthodoxy.

120 years after Hildegard's death -

- At the end of the 13th century, another brave woman just made it.