HIST-102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Pope Clement V, Beguinage
18 Nov 2020
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An even more significant lay order was established by women known as the beguines. These women too sought to imitate the earthly life of christ and his first apostolic followers: to renounce wealth, embrace simple virtues, perform charitable acts, preach the need of repentance, and anticipate the arrival of the kingdom of god. The beguines appeared sometime in the twelfth century and by the early thirteenth had become a significant social force with communities established in cities across the low. They were women who wanted to live a religious life but were either unable to become nuns or were uninterested in the calling. Most beguines were unmarried. either never having married or having been widowed, and they lived in communal homes called beguinages; those who had families continued to live with them but spent their daytime hours involved in the order"s works. The beguines lived by manual labor, chiefly spinning and weaving, and by providing elementary education.
