Beguines

Background

In the late twelfth century, women in the region of Liège, in present-day Belgium, began seeking to live devout lives without entering a convent. In effect, they chose another path between marriage and the convent. The social and economic conditions of the time, including the large number of unmarried women in the towns, are also cited as a factor. The movement began among women of the upper classes and spread to the middle classes. The name "Beguine" (beguina) became established around the 1230s. Its etymology is uncertain, and it appears originally to have been a disparaging term.

Development

• 1216: Jacques de Vitry, biographer of Marie of Oignies (d. 1213), petitioned Pope Honorius III and obtained permission for devout women in the Diocese of Liège and in French and German regions to live together in a life of chastity and prayer.
• Mid-thirteenth century: The movement spread to the Low Countries (present-day Belgium and the Netherlands), Germany, and northern France. With the support of, or under pressure from, local church and secular authorities, hundreds of Beguine communities (beguinages) were founded.
• Way of life: Beguines took no lifelong vows (solemn promises made to God). They promised chastity only for as long as they remained in the community; they were free to leave and marry, and they could retain their own property. They supported themselves by nursing and by weaving textiles and making lace. In the Low Countries they lived in individual houses within walled enclosures, forming a "city within the city." Similar groups of men were called Beghards.
• Thirteenth-century suspicion: The Beguines were closely associated with Dominican and Franciscan friars, and some pursued intense mystical experience. For these reasons they came under suspicion of heresy, and measures restricting their activities followed.
• 1310: Marguerite Porete, a Beguine from Hainaut, wrote The Mirror of Simple Souls in French. She refused to withdraw the book or recant her views, was judged a heretic, and was burned at the stake in Paris.
• 1311: The Council of Vienne (1311–1312), convened by Clement V, drew up two decrees concerning the Beguines. One of them, Cum de quibusdam mulieribus, charged that the Beguines disputed and preached about the Trinity and the divine essence and led people astray concerning the articles of faith and the sacraments. It nevertheless contained a clause exempting Beguines who lived upright lives.
• 1317–1318: After Clement V died in 1314, his successor, John XXII, promulgated the decrees in 1317. The following year John XXII also issued guidelines distinguishing those subject to suppression from those exempt.

Outcome and Influence

After the council, communities in many regions were dissolved or went into decline, and the movement lost its momentum. In Flanders (northern Belgium), however, communities survived into the early twenty-first century. In 1998 UNESCO designated thirteen Flemish beguinages, including the beguinage of Bruges, as World Heritage Sites. Marcella Pattyn, regarded as the last Beguine of the traditional kind, entered the beguinage of Ghent in 1941 and died in Kortrijk in 2013 at the age of ninety-two.

Assessment

The Beguines occupied a status between the religious orders and the laity. For this reason they were viewed with suspicion by both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. That women organized their own communities without male supervision was considered dangerous in their day. Today the Beguines are noted as an example of medieval women pursuing an independent life of faith. Porete's book, though judged heretical, continued to be read in secret after its condemnation.