User:Unbuttered Parsnip/sandbox/beguines

The beguines originally formed as a self-help groups of women who gathered together for mutual protection and comfort. Because of the demands of the crusades, many men were absent from their households for extended periods of time, leaving behind vulnerable women who were effectively or really widows.

These women were open to be preyed on by the men remaining. For that reason they gathered together in the security of walled and gated communities.

Onomastics
The origin of the word &quot;Beguine&quot; is like most things medieval, a matter more of conjecture than fact, and originally it was a pejorative term because of its heretical undertones. Favoured derivations include  the old Flemish word &quot;beghen&quot; meaning &quot;to pray&quot;. one of the prime movers was a li&egrave;geois priest called Lambert le B&egrave;gue, who died c. 1180, but there again, maybe his name too was derived from &quot;beghen&quot;; (but it more likely indicates that he was either a heretic or a stammerer, although being a stammerer is unlikely for a popular preacher). it could be a corruption of &quot;Albigensian&quot;, a reference to mendicancy. a reference to St. Begga (actually this idea is pretty well debunked &mdash; although she has been the patroness of the communities since the 14th century, in fact this &quot;derivation&quot; was invented during the 17th century regeneration of the order). the characteristic grey colour of the beguine habit. 

Development
What might be called &quot;proto–Beguines&quot; were organised &mdash; both founded and funded by Lambert le B&egrave;gue &mdash; initially as shelters for widows and orphans of Crusaders. One answer to the socio&#x2011;economic problem of widows and unmarried women, from the early 13th century effectively single women were able to live together, well cared for, in secular communities. They were not &quot;nuns&quot;, since they took no vows, and were able to leave the beguinage any time they chose, although during their stay they were expected to observe chastity. They did not renounce worldly goods, although their life in the community emphasised manual work, either caritative (education &amp; nursing) or industrial (lace&#x2011;making &amp; all stages of cloth manufacture).

Religiosity
However the sisterhood (and its companion brotherhood, the Beghards) tended towards the mysticism of the Cathars, and as such found itself the target of the Inquisition. At the time of establishment, the teachings of Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–c. 1327) were prevalent, popular and influential especially in Northern France and the Low Countries, although he himself was subsequently investigated and condemned for heresy, because he departed too far from the Scholastic method and form of his teacher, St Thomas Aquinas. Another important influence was that of the prophetess St Hildegard (1098–1179).

The heretical tendencies of the Beghards and Beguines necessitated disciplinary measures, sometimes severe, on the part of ecclesiastical authority. Various restrictions were placed upon them by the Synod of Fritzlar (1259), of Mainz (1261), and of  Eichst&auml;tt (1282); and they were forbidden as "having no approbation" by the Synod of B&eacute;ziers (1299). They were condemned by the Council of Vienne (1312), but this sentence was mitigated by John XXII (1321), who permitted the Beguines to resume their mode of life, as they had mended their ways.

Among the errors of the Beguines and Beghards condemned by the Council of Vienne are the propositions: •that man in the present life can attain such a degree of perfection as to become utterly impeccable; •that the "perfect" have no need to fast or pray, but may freely grant the body whatsoever it craves; •that they are not subject to any human authority nor bound by the precepts of the Church

Similar exaggerations on the part of the Fraticelli led to their condemnation by John XXII in 1317. The same pope in 1329 proscribed among the errors of Meister Eckhart the assertions that These were inherently Quietist and as such deemed dangerously heretical.

Physical structure
Most of the beguinages were suppressed during the religious troubles of the fifteen–hundreds &mdash; the Iconoclasm &mdash; or during the stormy years which closed the eighteenth century, but a few communities of active beguines still exist in various parts of Belgium. Most remain well-preserved, and can be found in the following towns and cities: