Marie d' Oignies, Mother of the Beguine Movement
A Medieval Women’s Movement Threatened the Vatican
Sep 11, 2009
The Beguine movement began in Lièges, Belgium in the late 12th century, and was an informal community of laywomen who lived independently of papal control. This semi-monastic women’s movement developed in an era when crusades and wars decimated the male population or turned them towards outlawry. It was also an age when religious fervor was high.
Overview of the Beguines, a Lay Women’s Movement
A medieval woman’s life choices were limited. She was expected to marry – regardless of whether she was peasant noblewoman, or join a nunnery – that is if she had the necessary money or connections to do so – or if all else failed, become a prostitute. Becoming a Beguine therefore offered an attractive alternative.
Women of all ages and circumstances could join Beguinages –close-knit communities of homes or buildings, usually located near leper hospitals and Cistercian monasteries. Beguines were required to be celibate, pray daily, engage in community service and dress in simple dark clothing. Beguines took no vows, but could leave at any time to marry or join formal orders if they so wished.
Beguines worked in many trades such as weaving, embroidery, nursing, teaching and cloth making and could even own property, a benefit women did not enjoy unless they were widows. They could travel freely, unlike their married or fully religious peers. This loosely structured women’s movement soon spread to the rest of Europe except the British Isles.
The Beguines’ desire to assist the less fortunate was seen as a benefit by society and a threat by the male dominant Catholic Church, which feared uneducated feminine religious enthusiasm. It was Marie d'Oignies’ exemplary life as an ascetic and mystic, her devotion to the outcasts of society, and most of all, her relationship with Jacques de Vitry, which ensured the survival of the Beguines.
Life of Marie d’Oignies – the First Well-Known Beguine
Marie d’Oignies was born of a wealthy family in Nivelles near Lièges in 1176 and, despite a strong desire for asceticism, she was married at age 14 to a man who agreed soon afterwards that they live as a celibate couple.
This proved difficult for Marie, who purged herself of sexual desire by self-inflicted punishments, including wearing a hemp rope tied tightly around her waist.
Marie and her husband both volunteered at the local leper-hospital and later moved from Nivelles to Oignies to serve at the leper hospital there. Marie d’Oignie’s fervor and unbridled passion for Christ elicited both admiration and annoyance from the clergy. She could not contain her emotions even at the sight of a crucifix, which set her roaring and weeping uncontrollably.
In 1207, with her husband’s approval, Marie d’Oignies moved into a cell among the Cistercians, and spent her last years in complete poverty, prayer and manual labor. Her saintly reputation caught the interest of Jacques de Vitry (c.1170-1240), who visited her a few years before her death on June 23, 1213. She became his spiritual mentor and guide, inspiring him to lead a career as a popular preacher, Bishop of Acre in Palestine and as a religious historian.
The Vatican Attempts to destroy the Beguine Movement
In 1215, the Lateran Council forbade the establishment of new lay orders, preferring that women should embrace religious life only in formal orders under their control. The Beguines were viewed with suspicion, but Jacques de Vitry’s championing of the Beguines and his biography of Marie d’Oignies ensured their survival, for a time, at least.
By 1311, the Beguines had produced great women, such as the mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg, and perceived heretics, such as Margerete of Porete, who was burned at the stake in 1310 in Paris. The Council of Vienne in 1311 condemned heretical Beguines, but permitted those who were truly pious to continue their penitent way of life. By the 15th century, the Beguines had largely been absorbed into formal orders.
Marie d’Oignies’ and the Beguines’ Legacy
Although the history of the Beguine movement was a rollercoaster ride of censure and praise, it was the first women’s movement in Western history which acquired a public face through the life and reputation of Marie d’Oignies. Its like would not be seen again until the women’s movement of the 1960s, whose emphasis would be on sexual liberation and equality of the sexes. Marie d’Oignies was eventually beatified by the Catholic Church. Her feast day is on June 23.
Sources
Wade Labarge, Margaret, A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life, Hamish Hamilton, London, @1986.
Anderson, Bonnie S., and Zinsser, Judith P., A History of the Their Own: Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present, Vol. 1, Harper & Row, New York, NY, @1988.
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