Called the “Sibyl of the Rhine”, the 12th century Abbess Hildegard of Bingen won a remarkable reputation as a mystic, writer and diplomat, and in a time when women were rarely consulted about anything she advised bishops, kings and the Pope himself. She wrote major treaties on theology, natural history and the healing power of plants and animals, and was revered as a natural healer and for her many visions. Her musical legacy, consisting of original monophonic settings of her religious poetry, usually in honour of saints and the Virgin Mary, still has the power to move those who hear it.