Show notes
CASE LV001: HILDEGARD OF BINGEN
The Woman Who Refused to Be Silent
She was born in 1098. She composed extraordinary music, wrote about medicine and the natural world, described visions of the universe, advised powerful men and founded her own religious communities. She did all this in a world that wasn't particularly interested in women having opinions. Her name was Hildegard of Bingen and the Ministry has opened her file.
In this first public episode of The Ministry of Lost Voices, we travel back to the twelfth century to meet a woman who was, quite frankly, rather difficult to put into a box: A benedictine abbess, a composer, a writer, a visionary, a woman whose correspondence reached popes, emperors and people who had considerably less power than either.
But who was Hildegard beyond the titles? What did it mean to be a woman with such an extraordinary voice in medieval Europe? How did she manage to make herself heard? Why, more than eight centuries after her death, does her story still feel so surprisingly relevant?
This is not a history lecture. It's an invitation to meet a remarkable woman perhaps to discover that history has been keeping some rather interesting things from us.
This episode belongs to CASE LV001, the first recovered voice in The Ministry of Lost Voices.
Every month, the Ministry opens a new case file dedicated to a real woman from history.
Our custodians receive a beautifully crafted physical letter and archival collection through the post, with historical discoveries, visual treasures, a clue to the next Lost Voice, and exclusive access to The Listening Room.
Become a custodian/member here
In the Listening Room, we take the story one step further through an imagined conversation inspired by the woman's documented life and surviving work. The women are real, the research matters, the conversations are imagined.
Ex silentio, vox.
Written, created and presented by Valerie Thys.
© 2026 The Ministry of Lost Voices.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
