“I beseech you in the name of the Living God to give heed to my queries”  Her authority seems to come straight from God as she commands to listen to her issues in God’s name. She is a Mouthpiece for God

Her claim to authority in how she presents her visions “Father, I am greatly disturbed by a vision which has appeared to me through divine revelation, a vision seen not with my fleshly eyes but only in my spirit” these are not hallucinations but rather from God. She is careful with what she says as especially as a Woman she can have a much larger target on her back, but also to not be compared to other heretics and not associate with them. 

She was lecturing to these high up people so it shows how influential she must have especially as a woman in those days. Especially in the way that they wrote back to her “by the grace of God, to Hildegard, revered lady and beloved in Christ, and to all the brides of Christ who serve God with her, with a prayer that they might ascend from virtue unto virtue and see the God of gods in Zion fcf. Ps 83.8]”

“Dearest lady in Christ, these obvious signs of your holy life and such amazing testimonies to the truth oblige us to obey your commands and to pay especial heed to your entreaties” It is if she is almost Mary but not exactly like Mary

Almost seen as somewhat supernatural due to her visions

Vaudes was originally a member of the Elite in Lyon, a wealthy merchant. He is believed to be the founder of the Waldensian movement.

In 1170 he went under a religious conversion and gave up all his wealth to wander and preach like the apostles, though there are myths surrounding what inspired him to convert. The key principles he established were poverty, preaching and scripture and he soon developed a following of laymen and women. Originally, the Waldensians were seen as faithful to the Catholic Church and not as a heretical movement. In 1180 Peter Vaudes gave a ‘Confession of Faith’ establishing him and his movement as anti-Catharism and there weren’t seen as a threat to the Church. However, tensions arise between the Waldensians and the Church, and Vaudes is excommunicated. Vaudes rejects his excommunication and despite Waldesianism being deemed as schismatic they disperse and continue to preach with the hope that the excommunication will be lifted. As the excommunication becomes effective, Waldensians begin to reject and move away from the Roman Church and in 1215 the Lateran Council deems Waldensianism heretical.