About the Beguines: Our Beguine Mothers
Source: The Wisdom of the Beguines
Traders Moon Ceremony November 14, 2016
Women who were called ‘Beguines’ were from every social class – aristocrats, merchants and guild members, widows or daughters of knights, the urban poor as well as rural poor.
The very first Beguine communities, the very first arrival of them on the scene, is unknown. They pre-date history books and some scientists claim that the very first forms of these communities began hundreds of years before history acknowledges them.
The first recorded history of the Beguines begins in Europe over 800 years ago — around the year 1200. Beguines were laywomen, not nuns, and thus did not take solemn vows and did not live in monasteries. The Beguines were a phenomenal way of life that swept across Europe, yet they were never a religious order or a formalized movement. And they did not have one specific founder or rule to live by. But there were common elements that rendered these women distinctive and familiar, including their common way of life, their unusual business acumen, and their commitment to the poor and marginalized. These women were essentially self-defined, in opposition to the many attempts to control and define them.
They lived by themselves or together in so-called villages, which could be single houses for as few as a handful of Beguines or, as in Amsterdam, walled-in rows of houses (enclosing a central court with a chapel) where over a thousand Beguines might live—a village of women within a medieval town or city. And each region of Europe has its own Beguine stories to tell.
Amazingly, many Beguine communities survived for a long time despite oppression, wars, the plague, and other human and natural disasters. Beguines lived through—and helped propel—times of great transition and reform.
What strength of spirit protected the lives of these women and their settlements? What can we learn from them? What might they teach us? The Beguines have much to say to our world today.
The medieval world was in some ways not so different from our own: rampant greed, political strife, endless war, environmental devastation, the outbreak of pestilence, religious upheaval and killing in the name of God. Beguines courageously spoke to power and corruption, never despairing of God’s compassion for humanity. They used their business acumen to establish and support ministries that offered education, healthcare, and other social services to the vulnerable. And they preached and taught of a loving God who desired a relationship with each individual person while they criticized those who used God’s name for personal gain.
Beguines existed all the way into the 21st century – the last Beguine named Marcella died in her early nineties in 2013 in Belgium. However, there are new reports of young women making spiritual promises and seeking a beguine lifestyle, both in Europe and North America.
The Beguines, across the centuries, have left us a great legacy. They invite us to listen to their voices, to seek out their wisdom, to discover them anew.
