Document Type
Research Paper
Department/Program
History
Date
2024
Abstract
Excerpt from paper: "Differing from their monastic contemporaries, beguines were uncloistered religious women who took temporary vows of chastity while splitting their lives between the religious and secular spheres. In the late twelfth century, beguine communities began on a small and informal scale until papal approval in 1233 sanctioned their lifestyle; thereafter, large communities known as beguinages started to materialize.1 During this religious movement, beguines were faced with various questions over how to structure their family lives. Navigating through these uncertain waters, beguines ultimately found a solution in the Holy Family’s example by modeling their lives after the Virgin and Christ through religious imitation. In analyzing various mediums where references appear, I hope to demonstrate how the Holy Family provided the ideal family type for beguines in the southern Low Countries and how this relationship can help illuminate beguine perspectives on the family prior to the Reformation. I elect to confine my time frame before the Reformation as Lutheran reformists interrupted beguine practices by liberating nunneries and beguinages, defending marriage, and destroying icons.2 Change over time certainly occurs in the beguinage communities until ca. 1500; however, the dedication to the Virgin and Christ stays constant enough within my timeframe to permit generalizations..."
Recommended Citation
Klingman, Harrison, "“On Earth, as it is in Heaven”: The Holy Family and Beguines in the Southern Low Countries (ca. 1230-ca. 1500)" (2024). Undergraduate Research Awards. 14.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/ugra/14
Publisher Statement
© The Author
