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The Medieval Church · 1158–1163
The Book of Life's Merits
Liber Vitae Meritorum
Hildegard of Bingen · 1098–1179
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What it is
Thirty-five vices appear and speak in their own defence, each answered by the corresponding virtue, followed by a description of the punishments awaiting each.
Why it lasted
Her most practical work, a handbook of moral psychology in dramatic form, and the fullest medieval account of the vices before Dante.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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