Library Project

David Bryer

THE BEGUINES ­

REPRESENTATIVES OF AN

ALTERNATIVE WAY OF LIFE

Marion Luger

09/2000

CONTENTS

I. Introduction 3

II. What is alternative? 4

III. Reactions of the public 6

IV. Decline of the origins 8

V. Summary 9

VI. Bibliography 10

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I. Introduction

Beguines have been the subject of numerous controversies from the Middle Ages to the

present. Their contentious history results partly from the heterogeneous composition of their

movement and the difficulty of defining this wide-spread group of pious women. One point at

least is agreed upon: The beguine movement arose at the beginning of the thirteenth century

and existed until the early Renaissance; geographically it was situated in the more developed

countries of Central and Western Europe (i. e. France, Belgium, Rhineland Germany,

Netherlands).1

The aim of this essay, however, is concerned less in a description of the external

circumstances than in an analysis of the beguinal way of life. Firstly, this investigation deals

with the typical features of the beguine movement focussing on their alternative lifestyle for

medieval women (section II). Thereupon, section III explores, whether the components of this

innovative movement caused a sensation for their contemporaries and how the reactions of the

secular and the ecclesiastical authorities influenced its development. Finally, section IV

examines the background and the conditions for the diminution of the religious movement.

1 See Emilie Amt (ed) (1993): Women′s lives in medieval Europe. A sourcebook, New York/London: Routledge,

p. 263; Penelope Galloway (1997): `Discreet and Devout Maidens: Women′s Involvement in Beguine

Communities in Northern France. 1200-1500′. In Watt, Diane (ed) Medieval Women in their Communities,

Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp.92, 94; Margaret L. King (1991): Women of the Renaissance,

Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press, p. 104; Margaret Wade Labarge (1986): Women in Medieval

Life. A Small Sound of the Trumpet, London: Hamish Hamilton, p. 115, 120; Angela M. Lucas (1983): Women in

the Middle Ages. Religion, Marriage and Letters, Brighton: Harvester, p. 147; Shulamith Shahar (1983): The

Fourth Estate. A history of women in the Middle Ages, London/New York: Methuen, p. 52.

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