Although Hildegard was generally recognized by the late 1140s as a prophetess of the church and a reliable guide on theological questions, she was not without her critics. In order to fund her Rupertsberg project, she would accept as novices only daughters from wealthy families; others she rejected outright. Moreover, she allowed her nuns to engage in flamboyant dress during feast days, apparently contravening the Rule of Saint Benedict concerning female dress. This came to the attention of Abbess Tengswich (d. ca. 1152), superior of the canonesses at nearby Andernach, and, under the guise of seeking clarification, she wrote to criticize Hildegard for these faults.
The details of the episode are recorded in the first volume of letters to and from Hildegard. In Letter 52, written sometime between 1148 and 1150, Tengswich writes to Hildegard, raising the following points:
1. On feasts, the nuns stand with unbound hair and wear white silk veils touching the floor.
2. The nuns also wear crowns of gold filigree, with crosses inserted on both sides and back, and the figure of a lamb in the front.
3. Hildegard admits only women from noble families and absolutely rejects those of lower birth or less wealth.
Tengswich attacks the first two on the basis of I Timothy 2:9-10:
9In like manner women also [shall pray] in decent apparel: adorning themselves with modesty and sobriety, not with plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire,
10But as it becometh women professing godliness, with good works.
She attacks the third from three verses:
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