BEG 



164 



BEG 



All the sppeie* of the only penult. Begonia, of which thr 

 order consists, hare fleshy leaves, often richly -coloured nidi 

 crimson, succulent Mem-, and neat-looking pink flower* 

 growing in few-flowered panicles. They are deservedly 

 favourites with the collectors of tropical plants in conae- 

 qucnce of the facility with which they may bo kept in a 

 stale of almost constant flowering ; vet we arc not aware 

 that they have ever received in this country the considera- 

 tion they deserve, although tho readiness with which they 

 lend themselves to the cultivator's art renders them peculiarly 

 suited to his attention. Heat and moisture in a high de- 

 pree, with decayed vegetable matter to prow in, such a* 

 old tan, are all that they require : treated thus in the im- 

 perial gardens at Schiinhninn, near Vienna, they form one 

 of the most interesting objects in that splendid establish- 

 ment, occupying almost exclusively a house specially allotted 

 for their cultivation, and not yielding in attraction to the 

 tropical forest, fern-houses, and palm-houses in their vici- 

 nity, with which the visitor naturally compares them. About 

 fifty species are at present described, the principal part of 

 which may be procured in a living state in the gardens of 

 Europe. 



BEGUINS, in ecclesiastical history, certain tertiaries or 

 half-monks, who followed the third rule of St. Francis. 

 They were called in Italy, Bizochi and Bocasoti ; in France, 

 Bcgiiins : and in Germany, Beguards or Beghards : and 

 are very frequently mentioned in the ecclesiastical history 

 of the "middle age. The accounts, however, which both 

 antient and modern writers generally give of these famous 

 names are so uncertain and so different from each other, 

 that the history of the Beghards and Beguins is involved m 

 greater perplexity than any other part of the ecclesiastical 

 history of that period. Mosheim is minute upon the true 

 oriirm of these denominations, both of which he considers 

 to have been derived from the German beggen or beggeren 

 (now written begfhren), to seek with importunity, by join- 

 ing which to the syllable hard, which is the termination of 

 many German words, we have the word begge/utril, appli- 

 cable to a person who asks any thing with great ardour, 

 and from which the English word beggar is manifestly de- 

 rived. These observations, on the origin and signification 

 of the words in question, nerve as a clue to the difficulties in 

 which the history of the Beghards and Bcguins has been 

 involved ; and, as Mosheim justly observes, will enable the 

 reader to account for the prodigious multitudes of Beghards 

 and Beguins which sprung up in Europe in the thirteenth 

 century : and will show him how it happened that these de- 

 nominations were given to above thirty sects or orders, 

 which differed widely from each other in their opinions, 

 their discipline, and manner of living. The Bizochi or Be- 

 guins, if we except their sordid habit and certain observ- 

 ances or maxims, which they followed in consequence of 

 the injunctions of St. Francis, lived after the manner of 

 other men, and were therefore considered in no other light 

 than as seculars and laymen. (Sec the Acta Inquisit. Tho- 

 losaaef, published by Limborch, pp. 307, 329, 382, 389, &c. 

 and Jordan's Chrunicon, published by Muratori, Atiliqin't. 

 Itnl. Medii jEri, torn, iv., p. 1020.) 



We must not, however, says Mosheim, confound these 

 Beguins and Beguincs, who derive their origin from an 

 austere branch of the Franciscan order, with the German 

 and Bclgic Beguincs, who crept out of their obscurity in 

 the thirteenth century, and multiplied prodigiously in a 

 very short time. Their origin was of earlier date than this 

 century, but it was only now that they acquired a name, 

 and made a noise in the world. Their primitive establish- 

 ment was undoubtedly the effect of virtuous dispositions 

 and upright intentions. A certain number of pious women, 

 both virgins and widows, in order to maintain their inte- 

 grity, and preserve their principles from the contagion of a 

 corrupt age, formed themselves into societies, each of which 

 had a fixed place of residence, and was under the inspection 

 and government of a female head. Here they divided tlicir 

 time between exercises of devotion and works of industry, 

 reserving to themselves the liberty of entering into the state 

 of matrimony, and quitting the convent whenever they 

 thought proper. And as all those among the female sex, 

 who made extraordinary professions of piety and devotion, 

 irre distinguished by the title of Heguinet, i. c. persons 

 who were uncommonly assiduous in prayer, that title was 

 given to the women of whom we are now speaking. The 

 flint society of this kind that we read of, was formed at Ni- 

 vclle in Brabant, in the year 1226, or as other historians 



say, in 1207 : and was followed by so many institutions of a 

 like nature in France, l.. nnnr.y. Holland, and Flanders, 

 that towards the middle ol the thirteenth century, there 

 was scarcely a city of any note that had not it* bfguinage, 

 or vineyard, as it was sometimes called in coni'.irii 

 the style of tho Song of Songs. All these female M 

 were not governed by the s.une laws : hut in the greatest 

 part of them, the hours that were not di 

 meditation, or other religious exercises. \\cic Mnplqyod in 

 weaving, embroidering, and other manual labours of \ :U-IM,- 

 kinds. Tho poor, sick, and disabled Beguine* were Mip 

 ported by the pious liberality of such opulent ; 

 were friends to the order. 



Mosheim. in a note, says, in the last,' meaning tho .- 

 teenth century, there was a great debate carried on in the 

 Netherlands, concerning the origin of the Beghards and 

 Beguines : the latter, in the course of the controversy, pro- 

 ducing the most authentic and unexceptionable iv, 

 and diplomas, from which it appeared that in the eleventh 

 and twelfth centuries there had been several - 

 Beguines established in Holland and Flanders.' It is 

 true, be adds, they had no more than three of these au- 

 thentic acU to oiler as a proof of their antiquity ; the firs 

 drawn up in the year 1065, the second in the yur ; 

 the third in 1151 ; and they were all three drawn up at Vil 

 vorden by the Beguincs, who at that time were settled 

 there. (See Auh. Minri, Opem Dtpkmatico-hifhu 

 torn. ii. c. xxvi. p. 948, and torn. iii. p. 628. Edit. nov. ; Eryo. 

 1'utcunus, De Beghiruirum apud Jielgat Inttituto e, 

 mint SufTruxio. printed in A. Rickel s I'ita S. J'asxtrrum 

 Annolaiionibus, p. GJ-227. 4 to. Douay, IC31.) Hence Mo- 

 sheim thinks it almost probable that a convent of Beguines 

 must have existed at Vilvorden before the thirteenth cen- 

 tury, and of course before that of Nivellc. 



In the fourteenth cent u ry, the societies of I he llcgn hies had 

 become very numerous in Germany; but as they adopted oroe 

 of the mysterious and extravagant opinions of the M 

 brethren and sisters of the tree Spirit,' we find in the 

 man records of this century a frequent distinction of then;. 

 into those of the right and approved class, and those of the 

 sublime or free spirit, the former of whom adhered to the 

 public religion, while the latter were corrupted by the opi- 

 nions of the mystics. The Beguines now shared in th 

 persecution which fell upon the mystics. The Clementina, 

 as it is called, or constitution of the council of Vienna, AD. 

 1311, against the Beguines, or those female societies who 

 lived together in fixed habitations, under a common rule i I 

 pious discipline and virtuous industry, gave rise to a j i 

 cution of these people which lasted till the reformation by 

 Luther, and ruined the cause both of the Beguines anil 

 Beghards in many placos. For though the pope, in his last 

 constitution, bad permitted pious \\oiucn to live as nuns in 

 a state of celibacy, with or without taking the vow, anil re- 

 fused a toleration only to such of them as were corrupted 

 with the opinions of the Brethren of tho free Spirit ; yet the 

 vast number of enemies which the Hcguines .mil licghards 

 had, partly among the mechanics, especially th* 

 and partly among the priests and monks, took a handle 

 from the Clementina to molest the Beguines in their hoi 

 to seize and destroy their goods, to offer them many uthri 

 insults, and to involve the BeghiinU in the like persecution. 

 Pope John XXII. afforded the Beguines some relief under 

 these oppressions, in the year 1324, by a social constitu- 

 tion, in which he gave a favourable explication of the Cle- 

 mentina, and ordered that the goods, chattels, habitations, 

 and societies of tho innocent Beguines should be preserved 

 from every kind of violence and insult ; which example of 

 clemency and moderation wag afterwards fallowed by other 

 popes. On the other hand, the Beguines, in hopes of dis- 

 appointing more effectually the malicious attempts of their 

 enemies, embraced in many places the third rule nl St. 

 Francis and of the Augustines. Yet nil these measures in 

 their favour could not prevent the loss l>oili of their rcpn 

 tation and substance, for from this time they were opp:- 

 in several provinces by the magistrates, the clergy, and tho 

 monks, who had cast a greedy -\e upmi their treasures, and 

 were extremely eager to divide the spud. (See Mosheim s 

 Kccltt. Hitlory, edit. 8vo. Lond. 1 782, vol. iii. pp. 228, 

 229, 230, 231, 377, 379.) Mosheim intended a separate 

 work upon the Beghards and Beguincs, which never ap- 

 peared ; though he states himself, in his history, that it was 

 then almost finished. The most copious writer on the long 

 persecution of the Beguines is Cliristianus \Vurstiscn, or 



