Beguinage

{{Short description|Religious community, common in the Low Countries}} [[File:Kortrijk_-_Beguinage_and_Sint-Maartenskerk.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|View of the St. Elizabeth Beguinage in [[Kortrijk]]]]

A '''beguinage''', from the [[French language|French]] term '''{{lang|fr|béguinage}}''', is an architectural complex which was created to house [[beguine]]s: lay religious women who lived in community without taking vows or retiring from the world.

Originally, the beguine institution was the [[convent]], an association of beguines living together or in close proximity of each other under the guidance of a single superior, called a mistress or prioress. Although they were not usually referred to as "convents", in these houses dwelt a small number of women together: the houses small, informal, and often poor communities that emerged across Europe after the 12th century. In most cases, beguines who lived in a convent agreed to obey certain regulations during their stay and contributed to a collective fund.{{sfn|Simons|2001}}

In the first decades of the 13th century, much larger and more stable types of community emerged in the [[Low Countries]]: large ''court'' beguinages were formed which consisted of several houses for beguines built around a central chapel or church where their religious activities took place; these often included functional buildings such as a brewery, a bakery, a hospital, and some farm buildings. Several of these beguinages are now listed by [[UNESCO]] as [[World Heritage Site|World Heritage]] sites. Around the mid-13th century, the French king [[Louis IX]] founded a beguinage in Paris, which was modeled on the court beguinages of the Low Countries.{{sfn|Miller|2014}}

==Etymology== [[File:Archive-ugent-be-B06F870C-8F5A-11E3-8041-11B8D43445F2 DS-31 (cropped).jpg|thumb|A [[Beguines and Beghards|beguine]], inhabitant of a beguinage. Excerpt from a manuscript of the beguinage of Sint-Aubertus in [[Ghent]]. Made {{circa|1840}}.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Het begijnhof Sint Aubertus (Poortacker) te Gent|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:B06F870C-8F5A-11E3-8041-11B8D43445F2#?c=&m=&s=&cv=8&xywh=-1659,-295,10929,6102|access-date=2020-08-28|website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref>]]

The term "Beguine" ({{langx|la|beguinas}}; {{langx|nl|begijn}}) is of uncertain origin and may have been pejorative.<ref>{{cite book |author1-last= Böhringer |author1-first= Letha |editor1-last= Kolpacoff Deane|editor1-first= Jennifer |editor2-last= van Engen|editor2-first= Hildo |date= 2014|title= Labels and Libels: Naming Beguines in Northern Medieval Europe|location= Turnhout, Belgium|publisher= Brepols Publishers|isbn= 978-2503551357}}</ref> Scholars no longer credit the theory expounded in the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition]] (1911) that the name derived from [[Lambert le Bègue]], a priest of [[Liège]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Excessive Saints: Gender, Narrative, and Theological Invention in Thomas of Cantimpré's Mystical Hagiographies|year=2019|first=Rachel J. D.|last=Smith|publisher=Columbia UP|location=New York|isbn=9780231188609|page=39}}</ref> Other theories, such as derivation from the name of St. [[Begga]] and from the purported, reconstructed [[Old Saxon]] word {{lang|osx|*beggen}}, "to beg" or "to pray", have also been discredited.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |first=Walter Alison |last=Phillips|wstitle=Beguines|volume=3|page=652}}</ref> The origin of the movement's name continues to be uncertain, as are the dates for the beginning of the movement itself.{{sfn|Simons|2001}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Walker Bynum|first=Caroline|author-link=Caroline Walker Bynum|title=Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9DUgmJGxZyEC|year=1988|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-90878-9 | page = 17}}</ref>

==History and description== {{Further|Beguines and Beghards}}

The beguinages began as part of a broader 12th–13th century religious movement in the [[Low Countries]] and the [[Rhineland]]. They emerged in response to a female demographic surplus, the financial inability of many women of modest origins to join traditional religious institutions or marry, and the rise of alternative religious vocations in a context of [[Apostolic poverty|apostolic]] and [[mystical]] renewal. This climate promoted [[Evangelism|evangelical]] values such as the ''[[Society of apostolic life|vita apostolica]]'', poverty, humility, and [[itinerancy]], giving rise to new religious movements, including the [[Franciscans|Franciscan]], [[Dominican Order|Dominican]], and beguinal movements.<ref name="Charruadas">{{Cite journal |last=Charruadas |first=Paulo |last2=Sosnowska |first2=Philippe |last3=Hoffsummer |first3=Patrick |last4=Doutrelepont |first4=Hugues |last5=Gerrienne |first5=Philippe |date=2013 |title=Petit béguinage et architecture vernaculaire |url=https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/247201/1/RBA-2013_Sosnowska_Charruadas_béguinage.pdf |journal=Revue belge d'Archéologie et Histoire de l'Art}}</ref> The smaller and court beguinages answered such women's social and economic needs, offering them a religious life coupled with personal independence, which was difficult for women of the time to achieve.{{sfn|Simons|2001}}

While a small beguinage usually constituted just one house where women lived together, a Low Countries court beguinage typically comprised one or more courtyards surrounded by houses, and also included a church, an infirmary complex, and a number of communal houses or 'convents'. They were encircled by walls and separated from the town proper by several gates, closed at night, but through which during the day the beguines could come and go as they pleased. Beguines came from a wide range of social classes, though truly poor women were admitted only if they had a wealthy benefactor who pledged to provide for their needs.

Between the 12th and 18th centuries, every city and large town in the Low Countries had at least one court beguinage. In the [[Middle Ages]], tensions arose between certain beguinages and ecclesiastical authorities over autonomy. The 15th–16th centuries brought further institutional changes. Following the spiritual crisis of the [[late Middle Ages]] and the [[European wars of religion|Wars of Religion]], the clergy increasingly supervised religious life, and beguinages became a testing ground for [[Counter-Reformation]] practices. Regulations and statutes were reinforced, dress codes and household organisation more strictly governed, and religious and spiritual life closely monitored.<ref name="Charruadas" /> In the 17th–18th centuries, large urban beguinages flourished, whereas smaller, mostly rural communities were transformed into [[hospice]]s for poor and elderly women.<ref name="Charruadas" /> The communities dwindled and came to an end over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries.

==In Belgium== {{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site | WHS = Flemish Béguinages | image = Begijnhofhuizen in Brugge.jpg | image_upright = 1.2 | caption = [[Princely Beguinage Ten Wijngaerde, Bruges]] | location = [[Flanders]], [[Belgium]] | includes = {{flatlist| #[[Beguinage of Hoogstraten]] #[[Beguinage of Lier]] #[[Large Beguinage of Mechelen]] #[[Beguinage of Turnhout]] #[[Beguinage of Sint-Truiden]] #[[Beguinage of Tongeren]] #[[Beguinage of Dendermonde]] #[[Our-Lady Ter Hooyen|Small Beguinage of Ghent]] #[[Great Beguinage, Sint-Amandsberg|Beguinage of Sint-Amandsberg / Ghent]] #[[Beguinage of Diest]] #[[Great Beguinage, Leuven|Large Beguinage of Leuven]] #[[Princely Beguinage Ten Wijngaerde, Bruges|Beguinage of Bruges]] #[[Beguinage of Kortrijk]] }} | criteria = {{UNESCO WHS type|(ii)(iii)(iv)}}(ii)(iii)(iv) | ID = 855 | coordinates = {{coord|51|1|51.5|N|4|28|25.5|E|format=dms}} | year = 1998 | area = {{convert|59.95|ha|acre|abbr=on}} | locmapin = Belgium | map_caption = Location of ''Flemish Béguinages'' World Heritage Site in Belgium }} {{div col|colwidth=20em}} * [[Aarschot]] * [[Beguinage of Anderlecht|Anderlecht]] * [[Antwerp]] * [[Princely Beguinage Ten Wijngaerde, Bruges|Bruges]]‡ * [[Great Beguinage, Brussels|Brussels]] * [[Dendermonde]]‡ * [[Diest]]‡ * [[Diksmuide]] * [[Ghent]]: ** [[Great St. Elizabeth Beguinage, Ghent|Old St. Elizabeth]] ** [[Great Beguinage, Sint-Amandsberg|New St. Elizabeth in Sint-Amandsberg]]‡ ** [[Our-Lady Ter Hooyen]]‡ * [[Hasselt]] * [[Herentals]] * [[Hoogstraten]]‡ * [[Lier, Belgium|Lier]]‡ * [[Leuven]]: ** [[Great Beguinage, Leuven|Large]]‡ ** Small * [[Mechelen]]: ** Large‡ ** Small * [[Kortrijk]]‡ * [[Oudenaarde]] * [[Sint-Truiden]]‡ * [[Turnhout]]‡ * [[Tongeren]]‡ {{div col end}} ‡ marks the thirteen "[[Flanders|Flemish]] Béguinages" listed by [[UNESCO]] as [[World Heritage Site]]s in 1998.{{sfn|UNESCO|1998}}

<gallery widths="170" heights="170"> File:Leuven-Groot-Begijnhof.jpg|View of the [[Great Beguinage, Leuven|Great Beguinage]] in [[Leuven]] File:Begijnhof Sint-Truiden1.JPG|Beguinage in [[Sint-Truiden]] with its chapel (left) File:BeguinageTerHoyenGhent04.jpg|[[Our-Lady Ter Hooyen]], Small Beguinage of [[Ghent]] </gallery>

==Other beguinages== {{div col|colwidth=20em}} * [[Begijnhof, Amsterdam]], Netherlands * Bagijnhof [[Delft]], Netherlands * [[Begijnhof, Utrecht]], Netherlands * [[Breda]], Netherlands * [[Leeuwarden]], Netherlands<ref> {{cite web | url = http://www.collective-action.info/_CAS_BEG_NET_BeguinageGreyBeguinesLeeuwarden | publisher = Institute for Collective Action | title = Beguinage of the Grey Beguines of Leeuwarden }}</ref> * [[Haarlem]], Netherlands<ref> {{cite web | url = http://www.collective-action.info/_CAS_BEG_NET_BegijnhofHaarlem | publisher = Institutions for Collective Action | title = Begijnhof, Haarlem, The Netherlands | access-date = 8 January 2016 }}</ref> * [[Sittard]], Netherlands<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.collective-action.info/_CAS_BEG_NET_BegijnhofSittard | publisher = Institutions for Collective Action | title = Case study: Begijnhof, Sittard, The Netherlands }}</ref> * Béguinage de la rue Quentin-Barré, et al., [[Saint-Quentin, Aisne|Saint-Quentin]], France<ref>{{cite web|title=Beguinages in Saint Quentin|url=http://travel.michelin.com/web/destination/France-Northern_France_and_the_Paris_Region-Saint_Quentin/tourist_site-Beguinage_de_la_rue_Quentin_Barre|website=Michelin Travel|publisher=Michelin|access-date=January 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111000409/http://travel.michelin.com/web/destination/France-Northern_France_and_the_Paris_Region-Saint_Quentin/tourist_site-Beguinage_de_la_rue_Quentin_Barre|archive-date=January 11, 2016}}</ref> * Béguinage de Saint Vaast, [[Cambrai]], France * Béguinage, Valenciennes * Béguinage, [[Paris]], France {{div col end}}

==See also== * [[Beguines and Beghards]] * [[Frauenfrage]], specifically associated with a medieval demographic period, in relation to women

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources== {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite book | last1 = Miller | first1 = Tanya Stabler | title = Beguines of Medieval Paris: Gender, Patronage, and Spiritual Authority | date = 2014 | publisher = Pennsylvania UP | isbn = 978-0812246070 }} * {{cite book | first1 = Walter | last1 = Simons | title = Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries, 1200–1565 | date = 2001 | publisher = Pennsylvania UP | isbn = 978-0812236040 }} * {{cite web | url = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/855 | work = [[UNESCO]] | title = World Heritage List {{!}} Flemish Béguinages | date = 1998 |ref=CITEREFUNESCO1998 }} {{refend}}

==Further reading== {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite book |last1=Swan |first1=Laura |title=The Wisdom of the Beguines: the Forgotten Story of a Medieval Women's Movement |publisher=BlueBridge |date=2014 |isbn=978-1933346977}} *{{cite journal |last1=van Eck |first1=Xander |title=Between Restraint and Excess: The Decoration of the Church of the Great Beguinage at Mechelen in the Seventeenth Century |journal=Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art |date=2000 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=129–162 |doi=10.2307/3780941 |jstor=3780941}} {{refend}}

==External links== {{Commons}} * [http://www.white-rooms.be/where-to-eat-well-in-bruges Belgium's beguinages offered refuge for women] [[CNN]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beguinage}} [[Category:World Heritage Sites in Belgium]] [[Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century]] [[Category:Beguinages| ]] [[Category:Catholicism in Belgium]]