The image of the woman was long characterized by the perceptions of ancient philosophers concerning the female gender. Aristotle, who was largely esteemed in the Middle Ages and whose scriptures affected many areas, played a very important role. He considered the woman as an „unfinished man“ who, like children and Barbarians (non-Greeks), was not competent in the ways of thinking. This attitude was connected to the views of medieval theology, which influenced the legal, economical and societal position of the woman to a large extent. The basis for the theologians was the Bible, which, however, does not reflect a uniform picture of the woman. This was already shown in Genesis, in which the creation of woman and man according to the image of God is described in the first Creation Story, the creation of the woman from the dispensable rib of the man in the second Creation Story. In the New Testament, both stories also differ largely from each other. While Jesus does not choose one gender before the other, Apostle Paul tends to draw a depreciating picture of the woman which shaped the position of the Church for centuries: „It is good for a man not to have relations with a woman“ (1 Corinthian 7:1) or 1 Corinthian 11:9: “ Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man“. This negative image, together with the role attributed to Eve as the one who first succumbed to the temptation of the devil and then enticed Adam to sin, prevailed in Christian theology for a long time and devalued the woman in a moral and intellectual way. Hugh of St. Victor, one of the most significant theologians of the 12th century, wrote about marriage:

„God created woman and man and woman from man: And because she is made of him, she is inferior to him. It is given to him that he is superior in intelligence and bodily strength: For she (woman) is made that she is not only inferior by obedience, but by nature. So it was wished by God that she finds strength, care and silence in him and that her weakness causes love in him so that man loves woman out of kindness and woman loves man out of need“.

However, there were not only negative pictures of women: In particular, from the beginning of the 12th century, the Marian devotion started to gain in importance. The pure, „immaculate“ and virtuous Mary became the idealised counterpart of Eve. In the writings of Hildegard of Bingen, Mary also plays an important role: For Hildegard, the birth of God’s son as human and with it the role of Mary had long been intended by God and not a consequence of the Original Sin. She praises the mother of God in 16 Marian songs in which she describes Mary as a saviour (salvatrix) and antitype in comparison to Eve. Through Mary the guilt of Eve, who was also considered by her to be the reason for the weakness of women, would be atoned for and even brought more blessing over mankind than Eve had harmed it: „And this is why the highest blessing for entire creation is based in a woman“. By the incarnation of the virtues as young women and the Church as a mother giving birth to believers, we are confronted with more images of femininity in Hildegard’s work. The rich lyrics and epics developed an individual perception of the relationships between the genders and a morally and ethically exaggerated image of the woman that deliberately turned away from the sexuality opposed ascetic view of the Church. Women were idealised and considered as superior to men in their virtuous character. It was the women who would encourage men to do courageous and knightly deeds. In Courtly Love (hohe Minne), however, the honoured – mostly married – woman remained unapproachable. The assumption that reality differed from these ideal perceptions to a large extent, is obvious. This social and legal primacy of men remained untouched.

The widespread idea during the Middle Ages that women were intentionally persecuted as witches, tortured and burned, is essentially an image of the modern world. The term „witch“ was first mentioned at the beginning of the 15th century. During Hildegard’s time, people believed in the existence of women and men with magical talents, but it was only in Early Modern History (in particular between 1550 and 1650) when a large number of women were systematically persecuted and burned as witches.