Conrad of Hirsau’s Trees of Vices and Virtues

From De fructu carnis et spiritus to the Speculum virginum

Series: 

Author:
Cheryl Goggin
Conrad of Hirsau (c.1070 – c.1150) created the famous Trees of Vices and Virtues in De fructu carnis et spiritus, which he prepared before 1133 for illiterate lay brothers. This investigation provides an edition and translation of that work and defines its influential images. It also discovers the convoluted process through which Conrad developed that work into the Speculum virginum c.1140 – 1150 for religious women. This study reveals that Conrad composed that work for his two young women relatives who had entered the Andernach convent, that the autograph manuscript is British Library Arundel 44, and that Conrad himself rendered its numerous innovative pictures.
Copyright Year:
2026
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-74687-9
Publication:
01 Dec 2025
Hardback
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-74143-0
Publication:
10 Dec 2025
Cover Conrad of Hirsau’s Trees of Vices and Virtues

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Cheryl Goggin, Ph.D. (1982), Indiana University, is Emerita Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Southern Mississippi. She has published on the Trees of Vices and Virtues and presented papers on Conrad of Hirsau and other medieval author-artists.
Matthew Ponesse, Ph.D. (2004), University of Toronto, is Professor of History at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio. He has published critical editions, translations, and numerous articles on early medieval history, including Smaragdus of Mihiel’s Via regia (Peeters, 2023).
List of Figures

Introduction
 1 Issues in the Scholarly Literature
 2 Discoveries
 3 The Pivotal Role of Conrad of Hirsau’s Trees of Vices and Virtues
 4 Conclusion

1 Conrad of Hirsau
 1 The Evidence of Trithemius
 2 Primary Sources
 3 Other Secondary Sources
 4 Resolution
 5 Related Works
 6 Evaluation of Additional Information
 7 Hirsau and Conrad
 8 Conclusion

2 For Any Ignorant and New Lay Brother: De fructu carnis et spiritus
 1 The First Edition
 2 The Second Edition
 3 The Third Edition
 4 Exegesis
 5 Authorial Theory
 6 The Context of De fructu carnis et spiritus
 7 Conclusion

3 For Matricularius R.: Dialogus-De fructu-Homo-Allocutio-De inquisitione
 1 The First Edition
 2 The Second Edition
 3 Exegesis
 4 Authorial Theory
 5 The Context of Dialogus-De fructu-Homo-Allocutio-De inquisitione
 6 Conclusion

4 For the Holy Virgins N. and N.: The Speculum virginum
 1 The First Edition
 2 The Author and the Recipients
 3 The Second Edition
 4 Exegesis
 5 Authorial Theory
 6 Conrad’s Comments on the Use of the Text and Images
 7 The Context of the Speculum virginum
 8 The Relationship between De fructu carnis et spiritus and the Speculum virginum
 9 Conclusion

Conclusion

Appendix A: The Chronology of Conrad of Hirsau’s Development of the Autograph Manuscript of the Speculum virginum
 1 First Phase
 2 Second Phase
 3 Third Phase
 4 Fourth Phase
 5 Fifth Phase
 6 Conclusion

Appendix B: The Characteristics of the Definitions of the Vices and Virtues that Are Missing from Conrad of Hirsau’s Autograph Manuscript of the Speculum virginum

Preface to the Edition of De fructu carnis et spiritus
 1 The Manuscripts
 2 Special Characteristics of De fructu carnis et spiritus
 3 Comparison to the Patrologia latina Edition
 4 Conclusion

Edition and Translation

Diagrams

Sigla

Catalogue of Manuscripts
 1 De fructu carnis et spiritus
 2 Dialogus-De fructu-Homo-Allocutio-De inquisitione
 3 Speculum virginum

Table of the Works of Conrad of Hirsau

Bibliography
Index
Undergraduate and graduate medieval art history and medieval studies students, medieval art historians, medievalists, manuscript curators.
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