Under Celestine IV. indeed the internal discord of the Franciscans seemed to be removed, when this Pope (1294) united the spiritualists in a society of their own, called the CelestineEremites.15 But Boniface VIII. abolisht it again (1302), persecuted the spiritualists as heretics and schismatics,16 and thus prepared the way for their complete secession from the order and the Church." (Fraticelli.)

$71.

BEGUINS.

Corn. Smetius de Begginis in J. Ghesquieri et C. Smetii acta SS. Belgii selecta T. V. (Bruxell. 1789. 4.) p. 93. J. L. a Mosheim de Beghardis et Beguinabus commentarius. ed. G. H. Martini. Lips. 1790. Dr E. Hallmann's Gesch. d. Ursprungs d. belgischen Beghinen, Berlin 1843.

From the end of the 12th century there grew up in many towns of the Netherlands societies of ladies (Beguinae Begutae),1

14 See an extract from his Apology for Olivi, for which in 1317 under John XXII. he also was called to account (Baluz. miscel. i. 293), in Wadding ann. 1287, no. 36 ss. But also in the Arbor vitae crucifixae all the Apocalyptic ideas of Olivi are brought forward again: and in lib. v. c. 1 whole passages of his Postilla in Apocal. are quoted word for word. About the same time the Franciscan Jacobus de Benedictis or Jacoponus, the author of the Sequence, Stabat mater dolorosa, had to atone for his undisguised censure of Boniface VIII. by a severe imprisonment (Wadding. ann. 1298 no. 24 ss. 1306 no. 7 ss. Mohnike kirchen- u. literarhist. Studien I. ii. 335.)

15 Pauperes Eremitae Domini Coelestini. Cf. Raynaldus ann. 1294 no. 26. Wadding ann. 1294. no. 9. The persecutions they suffered from the rest of the Franciscans may be seen ibid. 1301 no. 1. 16 Wadding ann. 1302 no. 7. 8.

1307 no. 2 ss.

17 An accusation was also brought against Ubertinus de Casali in 1317 (see note 14) Baluz. i. 305), quod fuit defensor, sectator, et fautor Fratricellorum dicentium et tenentium quod a tempore Coelestini Papae non fuit in Ecclesia Papa verus, et plures alios errores.

1 On the reasons see Mosheim, p. 133. On the numerical disproportion of the two sexes caused by the crusades, and its consequences, see Sprengel's Gesch. d. Arzneikunde 3te Aufl. ii. 522.-There has always been a commonly received opinion in Liege, that the Beguins were instituted there about the year 1180, by a certain priest Lambert le Bègues or le Bèghe, and called after his name. So says even Aegidius

who free from monastic vows and monastic constraint, lived a life of devotion according to a rule which establisht only neces

mon. Aureae Vallis, who wrote about the year 1230 gesta Pontificum Leodiensium, c. 52 (in J. Chapeavilli gesta Pontiff. Tungrensium, Trajectinensium et Leodinensium ii. 126): Cum hujusmodi erroribus irretita jam teneretur Legia,-suscitavit Deus spiritum sancti cujusdam sacerdotis, qui Lambertus le Begues, quia balbus erat, de s. Christophoro dicebatur, a cujus cognomine mulieres et puellae, quae caste vivere proponunt, Beguines gallice cognominantur, quia ipse primus extitit, qui eis praemium castitatis verbis et exemplo praedicavit. Thus also says Henricus Gueldrus, Bishop of Liege, in a letter to the Beguines of Tongres in the year 1266, (in B. Fisen sancta Legia, s. hist. Eccl. Leodiensis, p. 409): Attendentes, qualiter haec sancta religiosarum puellarum et matronarum, quae Beguinae vocantur, plantatio-jam dudum in civitate et dioecesi Leodiensi prima pullulavit, et palmites suos longe lateque producens, paene per totum orbem flores protulit gaudemus in Domino dictas nostras civitatem et dioecesin propter hoc ubique locorum magnis laudibus praeconiorum attolli. Startling indeed is the expression of Thomas Cantipratensis, who lived in Louvain and Cambray, in his bonum universale de apibus (written about 1260) lib. ii. c. 51: Circa annum incarnationis dominicae MCCXXVI res mirabilis accidit in oppido Nivellensi. In hac urbe, ut pluribus adhuc viventibus notum est, mulierum devotarum, quae Beghinae dicuntur, nunc late diffusa per orbem religiositas inchoavit. Harum perplures, quae magis spirituales erant, igne sacro acriter sunt accensae, et hoc in membris tantum, in quibus magis peccaverant. The miraculous cures in the church of St Gertrude, are then related as the res mirabilis. However the founding of the Beguinages in Bruges, Valenciennes, Douay and Dendermonde took place before 1226, all of these could not have been unknown to Thomas. So in that passage he must be speaking of the establishment of Beguines in Nivelles, and not generally of the first institution of the order. In much later time, in consequence of the similarity of the names, there grew a popular opinion, that the Beguines were an institution of St Begga, the daughter of Pepin von Landen, and mother of Pepin Heristal. After the beginning of the 17th century many Beguinages in Brabant began to honour this canonized princess of Brabant as their foundress, whilst others, especially that of Liege, stood firm to Lambert le Bègue, and thus was engendered a hot controversy on this head, see Hallmann S. 25 and 125. Certain documents, the earliest of the year 1065, seem to decide against Lambertus, they appear to prove the existence of a Beguinage in Vilvorde near Brussels before his time. Erycius Puteanus, Professor at Louvain, first publisht these de Begginarum apud Belgas instituto et nomine, Lovan. 1630. 4 (in Hallmann S. 47.) By the publication of these documents, others also, who refused to acknowledge St Begga as the foundress, were induced to refer the institution to an earlier date than Lambert's, and to search for another derivation of the naine. In the Actis Sanct.

sary ordinances, in small houses adjoining a court (Beginagium),2 and maintained themselves from their own property and the labour of their hands. Not long after there rose foundations of a similar character for noble ladies (Canonissae saeculares.) During the 13th century the Beguinae increased in the Netherlands, Germany and France to a wonderful degree; and

April. iii. 872 the name Beghine is derived from the old Saxon beggen betteln (to beg, begging, beggar) :-however the Beguines in the Netherlands, where at all events the name arose, did not beg. For this reason Mosheim, p. 98, takes the word beggen in the signification of praying (as in Ulphilas bidgan or bedgan is used), and explains Beguines as praying-sisters. On the other side: 1. This signification of beggen cannot be authenticated as the Low-Dutch of the middle ages; and 2. How comes a German root to have a termination that is not German? Hallmann S. 51 has lately proved the Vilvorde document to be spurious, and so the derivation from Lambertus le Bègue, and the origin of the un-German form Beguine in the French speaking Liege, will remain as the most likely.

2 See Mosheim, p. 34; also Vineae ibid. p. 141, or Beguinarum curiae p. 146. 172. On the regulations of the Beguinages see Mosheim p. 147. Hallmann S. 11.

3 Jacobus de Vitriaco about 1220 in his hist. Orient. et Occident. lib. ii. c. 31, writes of them as abundant in Germany and Brabant: Canonicas saeculares s. Domicellas appellant, non enim Moniales nominari volunt.-Nonnisi filias militum et nobilium in sua Collegia volunt recipere. Many of them even married relictis Praebendis et Ecclesiis. Thus also Boniface VIII (Sext. Decret. lib. i. tit. vi. c. 43, § 5) speaks of monasteries, ubi sunt juxta quarumdam provinciarum consuetudinem mulieres, quae nec propriis renunciant, nec professionem faciunt regularem, sed vivunt ut in saecularibus Ecclesiis canonici saeculares. Cf. Thomassinus P. i. lib. iii. c. 63, § 6 ss. Even these were sometimes called Beguinae, Mosheim p. 13 SS. Theodorus Engelhusius († 1434) in his Chronicle in Leibnit. scriptt. rer. Brunsv. ii. 1072, attributes to the Emperor Henry I. the first establishment of such secular foundations for women; fundavit in Almania ultra XX Ecclesias, quas et abundanter dotavit, pro dominabus saecularibus, quae Canonicae nominantur, utentes habitu Canonicorum regularium Ord s. Augustini, nullam tamen profitentes religionem, nubentes in Domino, quando volunt. Inventae sunt autem pro sustentatione nobilium pro fide Christi ab infidelibus occisorum, ne talium filiae cogerentur mendicare etc. However this very reason points to the age of the crusades; during the same time many of the more ancient monasteries, as Quedlinburg, adopted the freer constitution of chapters.

4 Matth. Paris ad ann. 1250 p. 805: In Alemannia mulierum continentium, quae se Beguinas volunt appellari, multitudo surrexit. innumerabilis, adeo ut solam Coloniam mille vel plures inhabitarent. In like manner ad ann. 1243 p. 611. On the foundation of the earliest

6

there rose also societies of the same kind for men (Beguini Begharden.) As they were exposed in an unprotected state to many persecutions, most of them deemed it advisable to suffer themselves to be adopted into the tertiary orders of the Franciscans and Dominicans."

But when the Beguins, after the example of their spiritual guides, addicted themselves to vagrant mendicancy on the Rhine and in France: not only did the secret teachers of heresy, as they wandered from place to place, avail themselves of this, to assume likewise the appearance of Beghards; but also many Beghards fell an easy prey to them by reason of their contemplative cast of mind and their want of education. Thus the name Beguin or Beghard, by which at first a high degree of devotion to the Church in laymen was distinguisht," fell into ill

8

Beguinages, see Hallmann S. 11; in Flanders see Warnkönig's flandr. Staats- u. Rechtsgesch. i. 421.

5 According to J. B. Gramaye antiquitt. Brabantt. p. 31, ann. 1215, Mosheim The earliest house known is that of Louvain in the 168. p.

year 1220, ibid. p. 175 ss. In France they are called also Boni Pueri, or Boni Valeti, ibid. p. 36 ss.

6 Mosheim p. 139 ss.

7 Bonaventura in Libellus apologet. in eos, qui Minoribus adversantur qu. 6 already calls the Tertiaries of the Franciscans, simply Beguinae, Mosheim p. 38, 58, 172, 173. So also the Tertiaries of the Dominicans are called in Italy, for instance in a Bull of John XXII. in the year 1326, in Federici istoria de' Cavalieri gaudenti vol. ii. app. p. 91 esse plures mulieres Beghuinas vulgariter nuncupatas, seu de poenitentia b. Dominici, in Lombardiae et Tusciae partibus; and at the same time in Marsilii Ficini defensor pacis P. ii. c. 8: laicos quosdam, quos in Italia Fratres gaudentes, alibi vero Beguinos appellant.

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Conc. Mogunt. ann. 1259 in Mansi xxiii. 998: Statuimus, quod secta et habitus, nec non conventicula Beguardorum, clamantium per plateas et vicos civitatum, oppidorum et villarum hoc vulgare: Brot durch Gott, et quae aliae singularitates a s. Dei Ecclesia non receptae, sint penitus reprobati; et mandatur universis Plebanis, ut eosdem Beguardos publice tribus diebus dominicis vel festivis admoneant, ut hujusmodi singularitatibus derelictis se teneant sicut alii Christiani, et quod non praedicent in cavernis vel in aliis locis secretis, et non conveniant cum Beguinis, se conformantibus eisdem in moribus, habitu et incessu alioquin extra parochias suas eos expellant. Idem etiam de Beguinis pestiferis statuimus.

:

9 Robertus de Sorbona (about 1250) in his iter Paradisi (Bibl. Patr. Lugd. xxv. 362): Aliquis incipit agere poenitentiam, irridetur ab aliquo, qui dicit: iste est Beguinus.

repute, and became à denomination of wandering Heretics." 10 In Germany it was fastened especially upon the sect of the Free Spirit, in France on the heretical Franciscans and their adherents.12 Accordingly in these countries decrees were issued against the Beguins,13 whilst in the Netherlands they continued free from such degeneration, and were protected.14

10 The name also was carried back into earlier times with this signification. So Godfrey (Monk of St Pantaleon in Cologne about 1237) in his Chronica s. Pantaleonis calls the Albigenses Beguini (Mosheim p. 52), and in the vita Johannis ii. Episc. Magalonensis (Gallia christiana v. 755) we find: Petro Beguino ejusque asseclis anno 1176 impia dogmata spargentibus etc.

I For instance the secta liberi spiritus was introduced into Swabia and Cologne after the middle of the 13th cent. by their means. Mosheim p. 198 ss. See below § 90. note 31.

12 The first trace is Conc. Biterrense ann. 1299 can. 4 (Mansi xxiv. 1216): Cum―ad nostram notitiam sit delatum, quod ad suggestionem quorundam, inter quos nonnulli fuerint, qui dicebantur plurimum literati, quorum aliqui fore noscebantur de religione laudabili, non immerito inter religiones caeteras approbata, ponentium os in caelum, et manus ad vota extendentium, praedicantium multis finem mundi instare, et jam adesse vel quasi tempora Antichristi, novosque poenitentiae modos et abstinentias vestiumque colores utriusque sexus personis suggerentium, et nihilominus virginitatis ac castitatis vota recipientium a pluribus ex eisdem, ad hoc suis exhortationibus prius tractis, quae vota a pluribus violata fuisse noscuntur: quam plures utriusque sexus ad novae superstitionis cultum pertracti fuerunt, Beguini seu Beguinae vulgariter appellati, qui conventualia prohibita facientes, et frequentes de nocte officium praedicationis verbi Dei temere usurparunt, in suam excusationem fictitie praetendentes, quod non praedicant sed loquuntur de Deo se invicem consolantes, et quasdam novas observantias custodire conantur, a communi ritu caeterorumque fidelium discrepantes, e quibus nonnulla scandala sunt suborta, et non modica pericula huic provinciae, quam haereticos olim publice frequentasse est certum, nec dubium est, licet clam, adhuc ab aliquibus frequentari, imminere noscuntur. Sacro igitur approbante Concilio prohibemus cultum superstitionis praefatae --ulterius observari etc. cf. Mosheim p. 206 ss.

13 Conc. Colon. ann. 1306 (Mosheim p. 211) against the Becgardi et Becgardae, et Apostoli vulgariter appellati,-quaestum publicum via prohibita vindicantes, victualia manibus quaerere, prout consueverant, non curando. Conc. Trevir. ann. 1310 (Mosheim p. 235): qui sub praetextu cujusdam religionis fictae Begardos se appellant, cum tabardis et tunicis longis, et longis capuciis cum otio intendentes, ac labores manuum detestantes, conventicula inter se aliquibus temporibus faciunt et conservant, seque fingunt coram personis simplicibus expositores sacrarum Scripturarum,-mendicantes discurrunt.

Compare the decrees of Innocent IV. in the year 1245, in favour