Landsberg Herrade (between 1125 and 1130 – 1195) was an Alsatian abbess, poetess and encyclopaedist. She composed the Hortus deliciarum , the first encyclopedia made by a woman.
Hortus deliciarum
From a noble family in Alsace, Herrade de Landsberg was born between 1125 and 1130 in Hohenbourg, on the Mont Sainte-Odile, in the Vosges. Little is known about her life until she entered, quite young, the convent of Hohenbourg founded in 680 by Saint Odile. Thanks to Rélinde, the abbess of the convent, Herrade was introduced to the culture of literature and the fine arts.
As early as 1165, she began to work on her Hortus deliciarum (The Garden of Earthly Delights) , a Christian encyclopedia which will require ten years of work and of which she will compose the texts and the illustrations. The first encyclopedia produced by a woman, the manuscript has 684 pages divided into six parts which focus mainly on the theological knowledge of the time. There are 346 illustrations, representing approximately 9,000 allegorical characters, as well as numerous poems.
Abbess of the convent of Hohenbourg
In 1167, Herrade de Landsberg succeeded Rélinde as abbess of the convent of Hohenbourg. She completed the restoration of the convent of which she remained abbess until her death on July 25, 1195.
The original manuscript of the Hortus Deliciarum disappeared during the fire of the Strasbourg library in 1870, but numerous copies of plates made it possible to carry out a work of reconstruction of the work of Herrade de Landsberg.