Un ours bien léché : le thème de l'ours chez Hildegarde de Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen was a visionary benedictin abbess, in the area of Mainz (Germany) in the XII^th century. She wrote an important naturalist work. A chapter of the Physica is dedicated to the bear. The role of the mother-bear is described. Bear is depicted as a bipolar animal, warm an cold, soft and irascible, rather close to Man. Comparaison with Hildegard's other texts about bear still not clarify the mystery surrounding the elaboration of her thoughts.