Introduction

Ya, Yb, and Yn represent the growing number of marginal additions in the original manuscript, which also contain alternative word choices in both German and Latin. This collection of texts was likely titled after Hildegard's death as the Book of Compound Medicine original: 'Liber compositae medicinae'.

Xa, Yaa, Ybb, and Ynn represent a first copy of the original. In this version, the base text remains unchanged (including the original word alternatives), but the additional texts are more or less shortened, with fewer word alternatives provided. As a new feature, numerous indications indications: specific medical symptoms or conditions for which a remedy is recommended are added in the margins.

Explanations of the textual evolution and the components of the stemma

1. Textual Stage 1 (X¹) is the hypothetical original. It consists of a base text divided into nine books, each with its own table of chapters (with the exception of Book II). Within the text, there are interlinear Interlinear refers to notes written between the lines of the main text. German-Latin word alternatives. In these pairs, Hildegard typically provided the German term, while her secretary Volmar provided the Latin equivalent.

2. Marginal additional texts were added to the original in the ample blank space provided and over a continuous period of time (represented as Ya, Yb, and Yn; these also contain German-Latin word alternatives).

3. The full wording of these additional texts is preserved only in the unique manuscript Causes and Cures original: 'Cause et Cure', another of Hildegard’s medical works (C+C), specifically where it shares a selection of these additions in its third and fourth books. In this version, the word alternatives are often settled in favor of the German terms.

4. A copy of the original (Xa) kept the full wording of the base text and the German-Latin word alternatives. However, it shortened the additional texts through tighter phrasing and reductions in content (Yaa, Ybb, Ynn). In this copy, the word alternatives are frequently settled in favor of the Latin terms. This copy serves as the ancestor for all early stages of the textual witnesses textual witnesses: surviving manuscript copies used by scholars to reconstruct an original text known as S, W, F, and f. Most of the medical indications had already been added to this version. In manuscripts F, S, and f, these indications remained separated in the margins; in manuscript W, however, they are integrated directly into the main text. In manuscript F, an index of indications is found in the appendix; this was not created from that manuscript itself but must have originated from the ancestor copy Xa.

5. A further copy (Xb) made from the first copy (Xa), including its additional texts (possibly as a selection), constitutes the common ancestor for manuscripts P, V, and B, along with their word alternatives. This copy also shares many indications with the first copy; these appear within the main text and are rubricated rubricated: written in red ink to highlight headings or important instructions in manuscripts P and V. In manuscript B, by contrast, they often appear in the margins and have been frequently altered or increased in number.

6. This editorial version, which served as the ancestor for manuscripts P and V, transmits only the base text. It resolves the word alternatives, usually choosing the German words over the Latin ones.

Glossary of terms: Textual evolution, Stemma (manuscript family tree), Book of Compound Medicine, Word alternatives, Indications, Hildegard of Bingen, Volmar, Causes and Cures, Manuscript, Textual witnesses.