Religion Heretical Sects

The Beguines: The Intersection of Gender and Heresy in the Church

The Beguines may not be a household term, but this all-female religious movement of the thirteenth century left an indelible stamp on European and Church history. Beguine philosophy, theology, and religious practice are all quintessentially mystical, with an emphasis on personal encounters with God and overt displays of religious experience taking place outside of the dominant Church monastic order. The writings of key figures in the movement like Hadewijch and Marguerite Porète reveal the independent spirit that epitomizes the Beguine way of life. Arguably, the Beguine’s greatest contributions may be towards the illumination of gender roles and norms in European society. Because the Beguines eschewed neither asceticism nor family life entirely, their liminal status presented a threat to the rigid dogma that dominated Church discourse throughout the Middle Ages. The Beguines were primarily active in the Low Countries: mainly in what is now Belgium and the Netherlands, but also in parts of Germany and France.
Although they self-referred initially simply as holy, pious, or religious women, the term Beguine was applied in a derogatory manner to refer to the group of “mainly well-to-do women,” who sought alternatives to marriage or cloistered life.[footnoteRef:1] The women drawn to the Beguine movement were wealthy and privileged, but they were not of the nobility; who were favored for official Church cloisters in the Twelfth and Thirteenth centuries. Given their systematic exclusion from official Church nunneries and their inability to participate in public life due to their gender, Beguines carved out their own niche by forming communal cloisters with no hierarchical leadership or organizational structure other than a commitment to God. Because of a series of wars and religious crusades, there was actually a dearth of eligible men in the Low Countries. With women outnumbering men, and no meaningful role for women to play in the society other than to support men and raise their children, women of privilege gravitated towards Beguine life because of the independence and relative power it afforded them. Also because the supply of women outweighed the demand for wives and mothers, the Church and other prevailing social institutions did not initially take note of the Beguines or view them as a threat to the social order.[footnoteRef:2] [1: John A. Coleman, “When They Began the Beguines.” America: The Jesuit Review. 8 Nov, 2011. https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/when-they-began-beguines, p. 1] [2: Elizabeth T. Knuth, “The Beguines.” Dec, 1992, http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~eknuth/xpxx/beguines.html]
What garnered attention for the Beguines was their mysticism and divergence from Church doctrine. As the Beguines made a mark through charitable and even for-profit work in sectors like textiles and agriculture, they earned the respect of their communities.[footnoteRef:3] Beguine orders were established on the peripheries of major towns and cities, where the women could participate in economic life in a way they may not have been able to do if they had married and had children.[footnoteRef:4] Moreover, the Beguines engaged in lay preaching to a degree that inevitably raised eyebrows in the Church. While some early reactions to Beguine lay preaching were supportive, Church opinion darkened over the years.[footnoteRef:5] Perhaps ironically, the Church criticized the Beguines less for their breach of gender roles and norms than for their theology and spiritual practice. Eventually, Beguines were burned at the stake, executed or imprisoned, their communities banned officially in 1311 by Pope Clement V who permanently branded them as heretics. Primary sources indicate that there may have also been some male Beguines, or at least male adherents to Beguine spirituality. For example, in the Inquisitor’s Manual, Bernard Gui refers to the Beguines as heretical: “their errors having been detected, many of both sexes were judged heretical and burned.”[footnoteRef:6] Male Beguines became known as Beghards[footnoteRef:7]. Both Beguines and Beghards were considered heretical groups, showing how gender was actually less important to definitions of heresy than theology, dogma, and ritual. [3: “Who Were the Beguines?” The Economist. 13 May, 2013, https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2013/05/12/who-were-the-beguines] [4: “Who Were the Beguines?” 1] [5: Coleman 1] [6: Bernard Gui, Inquisitor’s Manual. Burr, David (Trans.). https://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/margin/inquisit.htm, Section 1] [7: “Who Were the Beguines?” 1]
One of the reasons Beguine doctrines and practices differed from Church orthodoxy was that this group of educated women started to translate Biblical passages into the common languages of their people.[footnoteRef:8] Usurping Church authority over accessing scripture, the Beguines also wrote their mystical poetry and prose in the common vernacular. Marguerite Porète even addresses her text to her fellow “Ladies,” and uses the feminine form for the term “Wisdom” in her Mirror of Simple Souls. Porète stresses that her audience is female also when she writes in the voice of the Holy Spirit who speaks to “dear daughter.”[footnoteRef:9] The writings of Porète also demonstrate one of the core Beguine principles: the almost erotic relationship between a devout woman and Christ, who is depicted as a divine Lover. For example, Porète writes about “divine pleasure,” “Fine Love,” and even states, “Lover, you have grasped me in your love,”[footnoteRef:10] The Beguines also referred to the “heart of Jesus and the passion of Christ” throughout their writings, with the underlying heresy of stressing Christ’s humanity.[footnoteRef:11] It is therefore no wonder that the Beguines were also physically expressive in their religious practice, known for “a lively form of worship that involved singing and spontaneous dancing,” and also “trances, ecstasies, visions, and the stigmata.[footnoteRef:12] When the Beguines remained small and innocuous, the Church could afford to ignore them, but as they grew more popular among the common people, religious authorities took notice to regain political and social power. [8: Jean Hughes Raber. “The Wisdom of the Beguines.” Commonweal. 29 July, 2015, https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/wisdom-beguines, p. 1] [9: Marguerite Porète. The Mirror of Simple Souls. Duncan, Bonnie (Trans.). Excerpt online: https://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/margin/porete8.htm, Chapter 121.] [10: Porète, Chapter 122.] [11: Coleman 1] [12: Raber 1]
Two major themes in Beguine theology include the concept of “over-passing,” which is basically the passing over of sin to be with God. Thus, the Beguines did not focus on repentance or guilt as much as grace and forgiveness. The other major theme in Beguine theology is known as “The More,” which is the theory that a person can never know God in His totality; there is always “more” to know.[footnoteRef:13] This does not necessarily conflict with orthodox Church doctrine in its essence, but the Beguine method of lay preaching did undermine the clerical interpretation of Biblical texts. The Beguines also promoted a vision of Purgatory not as a place of punishment but as a place of healing or purification.[footnoteRef:14] Hadewijch went so far as to obfuscate the Trinity altogether in her poetry, writing “You who want knowledge, seek the Oneness within.” Not only does Hadewijch depict a unitary deity but also one that is in dwelling, immanent and personal as opposed to the transcendent God constructed by Church officials. The ability for a person—let alone a woman—to experience God directly through personal, unmediated mystical experience is categorically heretical because it undermines the control the Church has. For a Beguine, God is within; not without, a “clear mirror, already waiting.”[footnoteRef:15] [13: Coleman 1] [14: Raber 1] [15: Hadewijch. “You Who Want...” Hirschfield, Jane (Trans.). https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48704/you-who-want-, lines 7-8]
Oddly, given their outsider status, it was the Beguines who first popularized the practice of receiving regular communion as often as once per week.[footnoteRef:16] Not the norm at the time, receiving weekly Eucharist demonstrated that the Beguines remained dedicated to the Church, devoted to its teachings, and yet uninterested in rigid dogma. The Beguines practiced a visceral, experiential, emotional form of worship that included solitary meditation and prayer as well as communal celebration. Beguines also felt a special calling towards helping “souls in purgatory,” through their caring for the dead in their respective communities.[footnoteRef:17] Yet Beguine worship and practice was by no means monolithic, and nor were their beliefs. Themes of love, devotion, humility, and personal relationships with God were the common threads linking together disparate Beguine communities throughout the Low Countries. [16: Coleman 1] [17: Raber 1]

Although they had been banned as a heretical sect, the Beguines ended up transforming Church attitudes and policy towards both the Eucharist. During the Twelfth and Thirteenth centuries, Eucharist was something that was mandated only once per year, with some practitioners receiving it three or four times per year.[footnoteRef:18] The Beguines started to take communion on a weekly basis, starting what is now a common precedent. Moreover, the Beguines helped embed the feast of Corpus Christi into the Catholic liturgical calendar.[footnoteRef:19] Corpus Christi started in Liege: one of the hotbeds of Beguine worship.[footnoteRef:20] Beguine practice and their role in their surrounding communities did not conflict with ordinary monastic life nor the commerce of secular society. The Beguines took no formal vows of poverty or chastity but lived often in humble ways that eschewed the mindless pursuit of material pleasures. [18: Knuth 1] [19: Coleman 1] [20: Knuth 1]
After they were banned as a heretical sect in 1311, the Beguines went underground. Some joined other monastic orders, seamlessly integrating into orthodox affairs. Others remained true to their heritage and were actually protected by their own towns and cities. The Beguines had for so long remained members of their community through daily work and interactions with people—unlike those who live in cloisters—community leaders in places like Liege, Ghent, or Bruges offered them sanctuary for centuries. In fact, the last known Beguine died in 2013.[footnoteRef:21] The Beguines can be understood as one of the more influential heretical sects, due to their having influenced orthodox ritual and practice such as regular Eucharist and the Corpus Christi, but also because of the way their feminization of scripture helped to reach a neglected segment of the European population. [21: “Who Were the Beguines?” 1]




Works Cited
“The Beguines.” https://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/margin/beguines.htm
Coleman, John A. “When They Began the Beguines.” America: The Jesuit Review. 8 Nov, 2011. https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/when-they-began-beguines
Gui, Bernard. Inquisitor’s Manual. Burr, David (Trans.). https://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/margin/inquisit.htm
Hadewijch. “You Who Want...” Hirschfield, Jane (Trans.). https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48704/you-who-want-
Knuth, Elizabeth T. “The Beguines.” Dec, 1992, http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~eknuth/xpxx/beguines.html
Porète, Marguerite. The Mirror of Simple Souls. Duncan, Bonnie (Trans.). Excerpt online: https://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/margin/porete8.htm
Raber, Jean Hughes. “The Wisdom of the Beguines.” Commonweal. 29 July, 2015, https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/wisdom-beguines
“Who Were the Beguines?” The Economist. 13 May, 2013, https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2013/05/12/who-were-the-beguines