1098 – 1179: St.Hildegard Grows ‘Cannabus’ In Her Herbal Garden

1098 – 1179: St.Hildegard Grows ‘Cannabus’ In Her Herbal Garden.

Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), also known as Saint Hildegard, was a German Benedictine abbess and a writer, composer, herbalist and mystic. She wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts, songs, poems, and arguably the oldest surviving morality play, while supervising brilliant miniature Illuminations.

Hildegard of Bingen was well known for her healing powers involving practical application of tinctures, herbs, and precious stones. She grew ‘Cannabus’ in her herbal garden and recommended it against nausea and stomachache troubles.

In her work Physica, a text on the natural sciences, St. Hildegard dedicates a whole chapter to the uses and applications of medicinal cannabis. In chapter 11 of this work St. Hildegard writes:

“Hemp is warm and grows where the air is neither very hot nor very cold, just as its nature is. Its seed is sound, and it is healthy for healthy people to eat it. It is openly gentle and useful in their stomach since it somewhat takes away the mucus. It is able to be digested easily; it diminishes the bad humors and makes the good humors strong. But nevertheless, whoever is weak in the head and has a vacant mind, if that person will have eaten hemp, it easily makes the person suffer pain somewhat in his or her head. However, whoever is sound in the head and has a full mind, it does not harm. Whoever is seriously ill, it also makes that person suffer pain somewhat in the stomach. However, whoever is only moderately ill, it does not cause pain when eaten.

However, let whoever has a cold stomach cook hemp in water, squeeze out the water, wrap it in a cloth, and then place the hot cloth often over the stomach. This comforts the person and restores that place. Also, whoever has a vacant mind, if the person will have eaten hemp, it causes pain somewhat in the head; but it does not cause pain in a sound head and full brain. Also, the cloth made from the hemp heals ulcers and weeping wounds because the heat in the hemp has been tempered.”

1. BROECKERS, Mathias (2003): Cannabis. AT Verlag.
2. BINGEN, Hildegard von: Physica 
3. Der Stern: http://www.stern.de/wissen/gesund_leben/cannabis-schmerzfrei-durch-joints-543431.html
4. Wikipedia 

Text: Courtesy of Friendsofcannabis.com