The History of the Beguines

A new form of religious life for women developed during the thirteenth century. The beguinage provided women with a new option, one which was allowed them to live within a community of religious women, but also to remain within the larger civic community. The Beguine movement began in Belgium, in the diocese of Liege, in the early thirteenth century. During this period, there was also a growth of other regular and extraregular foundations for women, such as Premonstrian and Cistercian convents, as well as leper houses (McDonnell, p.3). It has been suggested that this growth was the result of the Frauenfrage (McDonnell, p.82), or excess of women and shortage of men; however, this does not fully explain this phenomenon.

The beguinages served women from a variety of economic classes, not only the poor who could not afford the dowry convents often required. Quite often women from wealthy and noble families chose to enter these lay foundations.

Beguines lived in various circumstances. Some, especially in the Rhineland, lived in small groups of eight to twelve women. These small groups of beguines were common in the Rhineland. There were, however, also very large beguinages, known as curtis beguinages. These large beguinages were walled communities within the larger city. They usually included communal housing for poorer beguines, individual homes for wealthier beguines, a chapel, a hospital and a cemetary, as well as other buildings which served the needs of the religious community. These large beguinages were often quite wealthy, not only serving the poor, but also financially able to provide for their own beguines and also for other, less urgent, needs, including the decoration of their chapels (Ziegler, "Curtis Beguinages," p. 35). The beguines in the curtis beguinages were somewhat more cloistered than their independant counterparts, but they were able to leave the walls of their beguinage to work and attend religious services. Beguines were not cloistered behind convent walls, but they were able to live a pious life in a religious community while remaining, to a greater or lesser extent, in the world. Beguines often nursed the ill and taught the children of the community. Beguines were also free to leave their Beguinage with only minimal repercussions. The Beguine movement quickly spread from Belgium into the Rhineland area of Germany.

The vows of Beguines differed from foundation to foundation, but they usually took vows of obedience to the Grand Mistress of the Beguinage, continence, or chastity, during their affiliation with the Beguine community, and righteousness in their use of material possessions (McDonnell, p.136). During the thirteenth century, the Pope ordered certain regulations for the beguines. These regulations included having a hospital, excluding men, renouncing meat, attending vespers, and taking Christ as a model for their behavior, the imitatio christi.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic