Discuss The Changes Which Took Place In Beguine Communities Between The Thirteenth And Fourteenth Century Explain
Submitted by jackharrison on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
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Discuss The Changes Which Took Place In Beguine Communities Between The Thirteenth And Fourteenth Century Explain
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries a group of urban women who "led lives of chastity, poverty, and religious devotion without joining an approved order" flourished in Northern Europe. Originally the group was local, spontaneous and informal. However this period saw "an evolution from isolation to claustration", with the beguine communities eventually developing into ‘cities within cities'. In this essay I will try to establish why such great changes occurred. Whilst discussing the development of beguine communities I will use the four stages outlined by L. Philippen, which generally accord with the views of most scholars studying the beguines. After their original independence the beguines gradually grouped together in "semi-religious associations of disciplined beguines". This was followed by beguinae clausae, which eventually developed into the large autonomous beguinages. By the end of the fourteenth century, the "free flowering" movement had lost its impetus, "leaving as its memorial a large number of hospitals and old people's homes which persisted into modern times". As I discuss the development of the beguine communities, I will continuously try to evaluate the causes of these changes. This will entail weighing up the role the beguines play in their own destiny with the role of outside forces, such as the reaction of the laity and clergy.
To evaluate the changes to the beguine communities, we must initially determine the nature of the beguines when they first arose. It is difficult to outline the origins of a group which is spontaneous in nature and which has no traceable founder nor rule nor constitution. Matthew Paris, a chronicler at the time, recognised that this was the case with the beguines: "No one know why they are called beguines, nor how they began". The movement began informally with a few pious single women (widowed or virgins) simply choosing to live quasi-religious lives together. L.Little describes them as...
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