Béguinage

A Béguinage is a collection of small buildings used by Beguines, which were several lay sisterhoods of the Roman Catholic Church, founded in the 13th century in the Low Countries, of religious women who sought to serve God without retiring from the world.

Béguinages on the Continent

A "Begijnhof" (as the Dutch name is) or Béguinage comprises a courtyard surrounded by small dwellings. It is often encircled by a wall and secluded from the town proper by one or two gates. Poor and elderly beguines were housed here by benefactors.

The first beguinages were set up in the XIIth century in the French part of Belgium (Liège) . Béguinages are to be found in an area roughly corresponding with present-day Northern and North-Eastern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Western and North-Western Germany.

The beguines were a religious movement of women. Their success, according to the Belgian historian Henri Pirenne, was due to a surplus of women occasioned by violence, war, military and semi-military operations, which took the lives of many men. Great numbers of women had no option but to unite and collectively secure the aid of rich benefactors.

Similarly, nuns' convents in the twelfth century enjoyed substantial initial success. Stricter rules within Cistercian and other abbeys, however, caused many women to seek less strict surroundings. Moreover, these abbeys' initial success necessitated the refusal of a great many applications for admission. As an additional obstacle, in several cases a certain degree of prosperity was required as a condition for admission to a regular nunnery.

Town orders, such as the Dominicans, which did not make this requirement, were more successful for that very reason.

Famous Béguinages in Belgium

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• Antwerp
• Bruges
• Dendermonde
• Diest
• Ghent (3: Old Saint-Elisabeth, New Saint-Elisabeth in Sint-Amandsberg and Our-Lady Ter Hooyen)
• Hasselt
• Hoogstraten
• Lier
• Leuven (2: Large and Small)
• Mechelen (2: Large and Small)
• Kortrijk
• Sint-Truiden
• Turnhout
• Tongeren

The Flemish Béguinages have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998

Other Béguinages Worldwide

• Begijnhof, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Breda, Netherlands
• Béguinage de Saint Vaast, Cambrai, France
• Béguinage, Valenciennes
• Elm Hill Houses, Norwich, England

See also

• Beguines and Beghards

References

External links

• Belgium's beguinages offered refuge for women CNN

ca:Beguinatges flamencs

cs:Bekináž da:Beginerkloster de:Beginenhof es:Beguinajes flamencos fr:Béguinages flamands it:Beghinaggi fiamminghi li:Begienhaof nl:Begijnhof pl:Beginaż sk:Béguinages sv:Flamländska beginkloster tr:Beginaj yapıları vi:Các tu viện béguinages xứ Flanders vls:Begynhof zh:贝居安会院

Categories: Buildings | Buildings in Belgium | Buildings in , Belgium | UNESCO World Heritage Sites | UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Europe and North America | UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Belgium