Beguines were women of medieval Europe — and later — who dedicated themselves to charity, chastity, poverty, and piety. They wore habits and usually lived together in communities called béguinages. But they were not nuns. They did not join any official religious order of the Catholic Church, and they were free to walk away from the religious life whenever they wished. The origin of the name Beguine has been lost.
Beguines were part of a larger religious movement of the Middle Ages that called for a life of rigorous piety and service to the poor. There was a corresponding men’s movement called the Beghards, but it was much smaller and didn’t last as long. The Beguine movement reached its peak in the 13th century, but a few Beguine communities survived into the 20th century. The last known traditional Beguine died in 2013 at the age of 93.
Béguinages or Convents?
One might ask why these women didn’t simply join convents. The freedom to leave probably made béguinages a less intimidating choice than convents. It’s also the case that Beguines were not under the thumb of the patriarchal Church as much as nuns were. Women who came from monied families did not have to give up personal wealth, although they wouldn’t have flaunted it while living in a béguinage. Beguines had more personal freedom than nuns or any other class of women in Europe at the time.
The Beguine movement followed the rise of a middle class or bourgeoisie in Europe that was outside the old feudalistic power structure. From the 12th century on, especially in cities, a growing part of Europe’s population were not lords, vassals, serfs, or peasants. Instead they were traders, merchants, artisans, and other people who made a living through commerce. The Beguine movement also began in the 12th century, in the “low countries” of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The first trade guilds, essential to the growth of the new middle class, also first appeared in what is now the Netherlands. And in the 12th century the Beguine movement began with upper-class women and spread to the new middle class.
At the same time, the available places in convents was limited. The population of Europe was growing, but in the 12th century the nun’s orders on the whole were not opening new convents. Further, some convents only accepted women of the nobility or those who came with a significant dowry. Convent doors literally were closed to many women. A béguinage was a respectable place for unmarried women in a culture in which only lower-class women worked at occupations. But eventually, especially after the 13th century, béguinages became places of refuge for poor women as well.
Life in a Béguinage
By the 13th century, it was common for the Beguines of the low countries to live in clusters of individual houses surrounded by walls; “towns within towns.” At its peak the prominent béguinage of Ghent, Belgium, had thousands of members. In Germany, France, and elsewhere, Beguines more often lived together in large houses. The béguinage of Paris sometimes housed as many as 400 women. Not all Beguines lived in large communities. Sometimes only two or three women would live together. Some Beguines were wandering mendicants, begging for food and finding shelter where they could.
It was common for women of the same residence to choose one among them as a leader, called a “Magistra.” Magistras tended to be selected for their spiritual virtues, leadership skills, and knowledge of theology. The Magistra’s duties included the setting of prayer schedules and managing the household.
Béguinages tended to be in or near cities. Often the women who lived in them supported themselves and the community by making lace or wool cloth. Parisian Beguines worked in the silk industry. Some served as nurses or midwives. They did domestic work like house cleaning and laundry. They prepared the dead for burial. When not working they applied themselves to prayer, contemplation, and study. And most of all, they were dedicated to caring for the poor and sick.
The Gray Sisters
The Beguines wore clothes that identified them as religious women in part so they wouldn’t be mistaken for prostitutes when outside their residences. Their habits tended to be white or gray, and in some places they were called the “gray sisters.”
Although their movement wasn’t formally part of the Catholic Church, most of the Beguines had no intention of challenging the Church. In her book Women Mystics in Medieval Europe (Paragon House, 1998), Emilie Zum Brunn wrote that “In fact, the large majority of our Beguines seem to have been perfectly orthodox and — particularly in Flanders where the movement developed around Marie d’Oignies — constituted a rampart both against the interior corruption of the Church and against heresy.” Marie d’Oignies (1177–1213) was one of the early Beguines who became a model for the women who came after her.
The early Beguines enjoyed the approval of the Pope and, generally, good relations with the clergy in their communities. But that would change.
The Church’s Disapproval
In 1312, Pope Clement V (in office from 1305 to 1314) and the Council of Vienne condemned the Beguines as heretics and called for them to disband. This happened two years after a Beguine named Marguerite Porete was burned at the stake for heresy. Porete was a mystic, as were some (but far from all) Beguines, and what she wrote about the union of the soul with God was considered out of bound at the time.
The movement did not disband, but by the 15th century it was much diminished and was mostly confined to the low countries. By then the Church had changed its mind again and tolerated the Beguines. A few béguinages remained until the early 20th century in parts of Belgium and The Netherlands.
Scholars today propose that the real reason the Beguines were condemned was that they were independent women who did not properly submit to male authority. The Church was also bothered because they wrote about religious matters in “vulgar” languages, meaning the common languages people spoke instead of Latin. But it was the mysticism that got them into real trouble, and I write about that in the next post. See 13th Century Mystics and the Beguines.
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