THE death of Marcella Pattyn, on April 14th, passed quietly. But with her died a religious way of life that had survived for more than 800 years. She dedicated her life to God, wearing black robes and a white headdress; yet she was not a nun. Her enclosed community of sisters was off limits to men; yet it was not a convent—but a beguinage. So who were its residents, the Beguines? The Beguines were inspired by the medieval quest for the apostolic life, led by Franciscan and Dominican monks in the burgeoning urban centres of 13th-century Europe. These mendicant friars believed true religious devotion required extreme poverty and asceticism. Lay involvement, too, was essential. But theirs was a peculiarly male form of Christianity. Both voluntary begging and itinerant public preaching were strictly male preserves. Women could either give their lives to God as nuns, confined to the cloister under vows of chastity—or to a husband. Even in female Dominican houses, friars acted as their priests, teachers and confessors.

Appearing around 1200 in the Low Countries, the Beguines' semi-religious lifestyle forged a third way for women. Though its chaste sisters, of all ranks and fortunes, prayed together, they were not bound by permanent vows. Beguines belonged to no religious order, so made their own rules. They lived apart from society in beguinages—self-sufficient clusters of individual houses grouped around a church—but could enter the town at will (though they had to return at dusk). That allowed for an exceptional degree of independence, unknown by their medieval sisters, whether wives or nuns. Even a married woman could become a Beguine (though few did: celibacy was prized). Most Flemish beguinages were built in urban communities, near hospitals and leper houses. The sisters ministered to the poor and sick in their own infirmaries or at nearby hospitals. But they also washed raw wool and laundered sheets, earning their livelihood through Europe’s booming cloth industry; and, later, by making lace and weaving. Others worked on farms and in gardens.

Many of their activities remained unchanged into the 19th century, but Beguine numbers dwindled. Approved by Pope Gregory IX in 1233, their autonomy and self-reliance soon displeased many, particularly medieval men (though the movement did inspire a male branch, known as the Beghards). Voluntary chastity, without binding vows, invited suspicion. That the Beguines eluded the Church’s control irked the ecclesiastical authorities, too. In 1310 a Beguine was burned at the stake in Paris, and the next year Pope Clement V accused the movement of heresy and banned it. Persecution forced many Beguines in France and Germany to join recognised mendicant and monastic orders. But the Low Countries continued to protect them in the hearts of their towns, until the last Beguine died last month.

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