Flemish Béguinages Belgium

Flemish Béguinages - Belgium

Short Report

The Béguines women who were their whole lives to God without retiring from the world. In the 13th century, the béguinages , gated communities which are designed to meet their spiritual and material needs. The Flemish béguinages are architectural ensemble consisting of houses, churches, adjacent buildings and green spaces, with a classification of urban or rural origin and built in different styles for the Flemish cultural region. They are a fascinating overview of the tradition of the Béguines in northwestern Europe in the Middle Ages.

Wide Report

The Flemish Béguinages show excellent physical characteristics of the spatial planning and a combination of religious and traditional architecture styles specific to the Flemish cultural region. They exceptional witness of the cultural tradition of independent religious women in northwestern Europe in the Middle Ages. They also represent an excellent example of an architectural ensemble associated with a religious movement characteristic of the Middle Ages associating both secular and conventual values.

The Béguines women who were their whole lives to God without retiring from the world. In the 13th century, the Béguinages, gated communities that are designed to meet their spiritual and material needs. The Flemish Béguinages are architectural ensemble consisting of houses, churches, adjacent buildings and green spaces, with a classification of urban or rural origin and built in different styles for the Flemish cultural region. They are a fascinating overview of the tradition of the Béguines in northwestern Europe in the Middle Ages.

The spontaneous emergence of the Béguine movement around 1200 reflects the current of religious renewal which swept West-europe at the beginning of the 13th century, in which women played an important role. In addition to the many women who the religious life in the monasteries, others developed an original 'semi-religious' way of life in which they could devote themselves to God without withdrawal from the world. Under this mulieres religiosæ, neither simple nor nuns laïty, of northern Europe, the Béguines began to lead an individual or community life to prayer, care of the sick and manual work. For the most part in urban communities, they occupied dwellings at the hospitals and leper hospitals. Unmarried or widowed, they took no vows and were free to come and go in the society and to withdraw from the community at will.

The Beguinage was accompanied by a Béguine, better known as the 'Grande Dame, which was selected for a limited period and was in many béguinages assisted by a council. Whereas the life of the béguinages was characterized by simplicity and humility, this by no means ruled out personal effects: richer Béguines built or leased their own homes, others lived in community houses, and the poorest lived in the sick bay. In all cases, each had its own hold and many worked in the textile industry.

They are not all stored in their entirety. Many have partially removed (Antwerp, Hasselt, Petit Beguinage of Leuven, Petit Beguinage of Mecheln, Herentals, Aarschot) or largely integrated in the urban structure of the environment (Great Beguinage of Ghent). Certain suffered injury during the first or the Second World War, the Beguinage of Dixmude was rebuilt in the 1920s, Aarschot, partially rebuilt after 1944, four of the original houses; and the church of Hasselt was destroyed in 1944).

The formed Béguinages miniature towns, enclosed by walls or surrounded by locks, gates open to the 'world' during the day. They are arranged on the basis of one of the two models: one, the city type reflects on a smaller scale model of a medieval city, with a plot reserved for the cemetery, Or in the square where the church is built; the other, the courtyard, with a central section, ranging in shape and often consists of a lawn with trees, where the church is located, and where the houses are aligned. A third or mixed type, the result of certain extensions in the 17th and 18th century, combines both formats.

Historical Data

The spontaneous emergence of The Beguine movement around 1200 reflects the current of religious renewal which swept west-europe at the beginning of the 13th century, in which women played an important role. In addition to the many women who the religious life in the monasteries, others developed an original 'semi-religious' way of life in which they could devote themselves to God without withdrawal from the world. Under this mulieres religiosæ, nor nuns or simple non-religious principles, in the North of Europe, the longer any beguines began to lead an individual or community life to prayer, care of the sick and manual work. For the most part in urban communities, they occupied dwellings at the hospitals and leper hospitals. Unmarried or widowed, they took no vows and were free to come and go in the society and to withdraw from the community.

Although they have protection of prelates as Bishop Jacques of Vitry, and despite their close links with their confessors or spiritual directors (Cistercians, Franciscans and Dominicans), they were never recognized as a conventual or if a regular congregation. Their precise canonical status remained a matter of some debate in the 13th century. In such a climate of mistrust, of 1230 decreased the longer any beguines began setting their own institutions. The religious and secular authorities of the Flemish region in favor of the establishment of attached béguinages, within or outside cities, under supervision. Each begijnhof has its own rules in the area of prayer, behavior, work, housing, management of the hospital, or the table of the Holy Spirit (in the table of the poor).

The Beguinage was accompanied by a The Beguine, better known as the 'Grande Dame, which was selected for a limited period and was in many béguinages assisted by a council. While the life of the béguinages was characterized by simplicity and humility, by no means ruled out personal effects: richer longer any beguines built or leased their own homes, others lived in community houses, and the poorest lived in the sick bay. In all cases, each had its own hold and many worked in the textile industry. After a while the most béguinages were promoted to parish status and which their own priest. In other areas, such as along the Rhine Valley, longer any beguines who lacked the support of determining or religious benefactors remain living alone or in community houses in different parts of the town.

The mistrust created by the force of The Beguine movement and the development of female spirituality, that also in literary texts (such as the visions of Hadewijch of Antwerp, c 1240) and which could be seen as a threat to the authority of the Church, was manifest in the Council of Vienna (1312) the condemnation of the longer any beguines.

In the Rhine Valley regions, these and other subsequent convictions were applied against the longer any beguines. In the Flemish region, the longer any beguines also for the most part by the religious authorities. The investigation of the orthodoxy of the béguinages performed by the bishops at the request of Pope John XXII in 1320 was in the right.

The religious problems and political crisis suffered by the lowlands in the 16th and 17th century also had their impact on the béguinages. The setting completely disappeared in the Calvinist provinces of the north (with the exception of Amsterdam and Breda), but was maintained in the southern parts of the Lowlands which remained a Catholic. From the middle of the 16th century, bishops won with the ideas of the choose between counter-reformation and supported by the conventual orders again through the old discipline in the béguinages, that something of a revival in the next century, despite the many suffered injury during the Dutch Revolt (1568-1648). Construction and restoration work increase as the number of longer any beguines increased.

The decline of the movement first appeared in the 18th century and gathered pace after annexation by France in 1795. While the French legislation and anti-clerical politics was interpreted differently by the local powers, the béguinages were secularized and their property and the management transferred to the municipal committees of the civil hospices. Only a small number of béguinages survived.

The fate of the béguinages in the 19th century differed from one area to the other and depends on the attitude of the municipal authorities and the municipal committees of the civil hospices. The longer any beguines kept possession of their houses on a personal basis, with the empty houses in the arms. Occasionally, they arranged to buy back a part of their houses through intermediaries, and limited to rebuild communities.

Elsewhere, former beguinagerne blev overtaget af religiøse ordener. I Gent, længere beguines nydt godt af støtte fra kirken og Duke Engelbert von Arenberg, der har købt Petit Beguinage i Leuven og had Beguinage i Leuven i Mont-Saint -Amand bygget (. 1873) to huse længere beguines store Beguinage i Leuven, som myndighederne i byen truede med at nedbryde dem. I mange af de beguinagerne, huse og infirmaries, for at beskytte personlige oplysninger blev gradvist omdannet til hospice, børnehjem, skoler osv.

Repeated attempts of the longer any beguines to recover their property in the 19th and 20th centuries and the movement withered fruitless. Many béguinages damage during World War I and II. Today, most béguinages still clearly defined parts of the urban structure, and some are still a vital part of the architectural heritage of many cities. These havens of peace still fulfill a function as living space and a dozen longer any beguines still live there.

Source:wch/unesco