Beguines and Beghards

The Beguines (beɪ'ɡiːnz,_ˈbɛɡiːnz) and the Beghards (ˈbɛɡərdz,_bə'ɡɑrdz) were Christian lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th–16th centuries. Their members lived in semi-monastic communities but did not take formal religious vows; although they promised not to marry "as long as they lived as Beguines," to quote one of the early Rules, they were free to leave at any time. Beguines were part of a larger spiritual revival movement of the 13th century that stressed imitation of Jesus' life through voluntary poverty, care of the poor and sick, and religious devotion. The term "Beguine" (beguinas; begijn) is of uncertain origin and may have been pejorative. Scholars no longer credit the theory expounded in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911) that the name derived from Lambert le Bègue, a priest of Liège. Other theories, such as derivation from the name of St. Begga and from the purported, reconstructed Old Saxon word *beggen, "to beg" or "to pray", have also been discredited. The origin of the movement's name continues to be uncertain, as are the dates for the beginning of the movement itself. There is likewise no evidence that Beguines ever formed part of the Cathar heretical groups. Encyclopedias, when they mention this latter explanation at all, tend to dismiss it. At the beginning of the 12th century, some women in the Low Countries lived alone and devoted themselves to prayer and good works without taking vows. At first there were only a few, but in the course of the century, their numbers increased. In the Middle Ages there were more women than men due to the structure of urban demographics and marriage patterns in the Low Countries. These women lived in towns, where they attended to the poor. During the 13th century, some of them bought homes that neighbored each other. These small communities of women soon attracted the attention of secular and clerical authorities.