Hiltgart von Hürnheim

Hiltgart von Hürnheim ( – after 7 April 1299) was a German Cistercian nun and translator known for her 1282 Middle High German translation of the text Secretum Secretorum, a pseudo-Aristotelian work purported to be written by Aristotle to Alexander the Great on various topics.

Life Hiltgart von Hürnheim was born in , and was a native of Augsburg. She eventually became a Cistercian nun and was based at a religious house in Zimmern.

Hiltgart was commissioned by a monk to translate the pseudo-Aristotelian treatise Secretum Secretorum from an existing Latin translation written earlier in the 12th-century. At the time, the treatise was one of the most influential works in the late Middle Ages and was believed to be genuine letters by Aristotle to Alexander the Great on a variety of topics. It is now believed to have been originally written in Arabic during the 7th-century before being completed during the 10th-century. With help from her abbess, Hiltgart completed her translation of the work into Middle High German in 1282 and aimed for it to be read by both male and female readers. She changed very little from the Latin original, with Reinhold Möller stating that she made no alterations to the Latin text. Hiltgart also refrained from editorialising non-Christian material in the text.

After its completion, a copies of her translation were sent to multiple local Cistercian houses, including Seligenthal convent. However, only two copies are now believed to have survived to the present day. One is believed to have been copied in the mid 15th-century, and the other bought by a private American buyer in 1931. Another copy was destroyed during World War II.

Hiltgart is believed to have died sometime after 7 April 1299.