beguine, beguine

[Fr. béguine, from Med. Lat. beguin a, begin a = a follower of Lambert le Begue, the founder.) [BEGHARDS.] Church History: 1. A name for a member of one of the a ociations of praying women which arose in the Netherlands in the thirteenth century, the first being formed at Nivelles, in Brabant, in A. D. 1226, and spreading rapidly in the adjoining countries. They were founded by Lambert le Bègue (i.e., Lambert the Stammerer), a priest of Liège, in the twelfth century. They used to weave cloth, live together under a directre , and leave on being married, or indeed whenever they pleased, for they were bound by no vows. They still exist in some of the Belgian towns, notably at Ghent, where they are renowned as makers of lace, though under different rules from those formerly observed. "To write at once to the Superior of the Béguines ." -C. Kingsley: Yeast , ch. x. 2. A name given also to those members of the communities described above who in the seventeenth century joined the tertiaries of St. Francis. Used also attributively: as, a béguine convent. "The Béguine convents which they visited."-W. M. Thackeray: Pen dennis , ii., ch. xix.