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Just outside the walls of many northern European towns in the high Middle Ages it was not uncommon to find semi-monastic communities of laywomen known as ‘Beguines’. Historians are still unsure about the meaning of the label, but it may have been a slur used to associate the groups with the heresies of the day or, perhaps, with the poor and despised members of medieval society. Certainly the Beguines defied cultural and ecclesiastical norms. As a ‘fringe’ group, they were the first known woman’s movement in the history of the church, and they carved out a distinctive middle way between traditional religious orders like the Benedictines and a wide-ranging popular movement of lay spiritual renewal that swept much of Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

They also established their own churches and situated them in the middle of expansive Beguine complexes (called ‘Beguinages’). While largely traditional and parochial in operation, the churches were central to beguine spiritual life. Priests were chosen who were willing to provide spiritual direction to the community on a daily basis. They were often selected from the ranks of friars and canons regular who were more in touch with the fervent lay spirituality and renewal of the day. The customary liturgies and sacramental rites were performed, but with an eye to the distinctive mission of each Beguinage. This proximity and contextual awareness enhanced the vitality of church ministry.

Discipleship and spiritual growth were priorities in each Beguinage, and with enough energy and commitment local communities could draw hundreds of women from all classes of a rapidly urbanized society. A large complex, like the Great Beguinage at Ghent, needed two churches, 18 ‘convents’, over 100 houses, a brewery and infirmary to serve its members as well as care for the poor and sick in adjacent neighbourhoods.

Beguinages also featured guest houses, hospitals, community gardens and multipurpose rooms that could be used for a variety of outreach purposes. The number and size of the communities, and the autonomy of their ‘secular parishes’, bred clerical suspicion and stirred opposition. With the notable exception of James of Vitry (d.1240), a bishop, cardinal and friend to the Beguinage at Oignies in northern France, relations with the wider church became increasingly strained. Despite papal condemnation at the Council of Vienne in 1311, however, the Beguine way of life managed to survive until the nineteenth century.

To understand the origin and expansion of Beguine communities we will retrace the journey of a first-generation leader, Mary of Oignies (1167–1213).8 Mary and her husband John were part of an emerging movement of spiritual renewal that flourished in the commercial cities of the region. They expressed a desire to incorporate the religious devotion of traditional monastic life into the everyday occupations of ‘secular’ life, with a particular emphasis on holding the active and contemplative aspects of the Christian life together in a locally organized communal structure. Their vision was one of ‘church in life’, with a faith expressed in the midst of ordinary occupations and day-to-day relationships.

This required some novel arrangements. Most obviously, the self-governed community formed by Mary and John did not require vows of celibacy. In addition, they did not eliminate private possessions or require huge dowries from single women aspirants (the monastic custom). These accommodations immediately opened the door to the rich as well as the poor. It is also noteworthy that women were especially prominent from the onset. There are at least two reasons for this. First, there were disproportionately larger numbers of single and widowed women in Europe at the time due to the Crusades, and many found themselves in dire situations brought on by lack of any provision for livelihood. Second, new options were just beginning to be imagined for semi-monastic living arrangements, with communities that were not so cloistered, less subject to rigid male-dominated hierarchies of oversight and free of suspicion regarding women’s spirituality.

The most distinctive feature, however, of early Beguine life was its emphasis on spiritual growth and renewal. In an age of increasing aspiration among the laity in general, women seized new opportunities to develop their sense of vocation and calling to a deeper religious life. Some were scandalized by growing self-sufficiency and materialism. Others had been turned away by existing religious orders that limited the full participation of women. On the positive side, they were often drawn to charismatic figures like Mary of Oignies, whose life was saturated with prayer, who engaged with the Scriptures and who was active in public ministry through evangelistic preaching and caring for those who were left behind in the new economy.

The growing attraction to Mary’s life of devotion and service inspired her to develop a flexible pattern of organized community life. Besides the features already mentioned, she instituted a much-needed service to the sick and needy, founding one of the first hospitals in Europe. This gave the community a highly visible missional purpose, marked by a constant flow of traffic between the emerging Beguinage and its immediate context in the town of Oignies. Never before had the surrounding neighbourhoods witnessed incarnational ministry on such a scale by self-governed groups of women. As historian Glenn E. Myers puts it, this was all part of ‘battling for the lives and souls of friends and strangers alike’ (Myers, 2011, p. 39).

Women from all walks of life were drawn to the community, including many who found safety and freedom from the harsh treatment endemic to single women in the Middle Ages. Some of the married women were able to maintain family ties and obligations while participating to varying degrees in everyday patterns of prayer, work and service at the Beguinage. Perhaps they borrowed this idea from the ‘tertiary’ option found in some of the monastic and mendicant traditions of the day. This meant that they could retain secular occupations alongside a fervent devotional life supported by the religious community. The opportunities to learn a trade, especially in textiles, or acquire the ability to read or write in a vernacular language were also crucial draws for many women.

The engagement with Scripture was in the local language – another striking and somewhat controversial practice for that day. Vernacular translations of the Bible were sought, and training in those languages became the focal point of literacy – scriptural and otherwise. Beguines were known to memorize vast amounts of Scripture and meditate on it throughout the day, in both personal and communal settings, during their manual labour as well as in their witness and service to others. Little wonder that some were compelled to share their spiritual insights with those whom they served, and some went so far as to preach publically and hear confessions. These quasi-clerical roles were sharply curtailed by the church in the early fourteenth century, especially as the power of the ordained office gained greater power and prestige (Bynum, 1989).

The size of many communities required relocation to the outskirts of town. The innovations in membership and organization led to a form of community life that retained the flexibility and local variety of a movement rather than the uniformity of an established order. In their daily patterns of prayer, work and service they resembled monastic and mendicant traditions, but their fluid structures allowed much more engagement with the workaday world. In this life on the edge, they practised hospitality to single and widowed women who were unable to find a spiritual home elsewhere. The aim was to form disciples who, according to Beatrice of Nazareth (d.1268), were ‘ready to serve, so nimble in work, so meek in annoyance, so joyful in trouble’.

Beguines

 brought Christian community into the context of everyday life;

 the communities were contextualized to laywomen;

 they served people nearby;

 they challenged the expectations of the existing church.