§ 83. THE BEGUINES AND BEGHAHDS. 491
Brod durch G-ott, "Bread for the sake of God." They wore a distinctive dress.1
The earliest community of Beghards known to us is the community of Lowen, 1220. The Beghards practised men dicancy and they spread as far as Poland and Switzerland. It was not long till they were charged with loose tendencies, a disregard of the hierarchy, and heresy. Neither the Beguines as a body nor the Beghards ever received distinct papal sanction.2
Both associations were the objects of synodal enactment as early as the middle of the thirteenth century. The synod of Mainz, 1259, warned the Beghards against going through the streets, crying, "Bread for God's sake," and admonished them to put aside offensive peculiarities and not to mingle with Beguines. Another synod of Mainz, 1261, referred to scandals among the Beguines. A synod of Cologne, a year later, condemned their unchurchly independence and bade them confess to priests ori pain of excommunication. In 1310 synods, held at Treves and Mainz, forbade clerics entering beguinages on any pretext whatever and forbade Beghards explaining the Bible to the ignorant.3
The communities became more and more the objects of suspicion, and a sharp blow was struck at them in 1312 by Clement V. and the council of Vienne. The council forbade their communal mode of life, and accused them of heresies.4 They were accused of refusing to adore the host and of holding that it is possible to reach a state of perfection in this world. A person reaching this state is under no obliga tion to fast and pray, but may yield himself without sin to all the appetites of the body.5
1 The brief of Boniface IX. mentions "gray and other colors," Dollinger, Beitrage, II. 388.
2 A synod of Be"ziers, p. 299, forbade both male and female societies on the ground that there was no papal sanction. Wetzer-Welte, II. 204, calls them ordensahnliche Gesellschaften, and Alphande"ry, p. 2, extra-ecclesiastiques.
3 Hefele, VI. 490, 500. 4 Hefele, VI. 543, 544.
6 The actus carnis is no sin, for it is an impulse of nature. Dollinger, II. 384-407, 702 sqq. They were also accused with denying a hell.
492 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
Clement's bull erred by its failure to discriminate between heretical and orthodox communities, a defect which was corrected by John XXII. This pope expressly gave protec tion to the orthodox communities. In the fourteenth century, the number of houses increased very rapidly in Germany and by 1400 there was scarcely a German town which had not its beguinage. Up to that date, fifty-seven had been organized in Frankfurt, and in the middle of the fifteenth century there were one hundred and six such houses in Cologne and sixty in Strassburg. In 1368 Erfurt had four hundred Beguines and Beghards.1
In the earlier part of the fourteenth century, the Beguines appeared in Southern France, where the Inquisition associated them closely with the Tertiaries of St. Francis and accused them of adopting the views of John Peter Olivi.2
In the latter part of the fourteenth century, the Inquisition broke up many of the houses in Germany, their effects being equally divided between itself, the poor, and the municipality. Gregory XI., 137T, recognized that many of the Beghards were leading good lives. Boniface IX., 1394, made a sharp distinction between the communities and classed the hetero dox Beghards with Lollards and Swestriones.3 But to other "Beghards and Beguines, who practised voluntary poverty "4 and devoted themselves to the good of the people, he gave papal recognition. To avoid persecution, many of them took refuge with the Franciscans and enrolled themselves as Tertiaries of the Franciscan order. With the Reformation the Beghards and Beguines for the most part disappear as separate communities.5
1 Haupt, in Herzog, II. 519.
2 Bernard Guy, 264 sqq. See also the letter of the bishop of Utrecht, Oct. 6, 1318, in Fredericq, II. 74.
3 " Sisters," a popular name for the Beguines.
4 Willige Armen, see Bellinger, II. 381-383. Gregory XII., Eugene IV., and Sixtus IV. also commended the orthodox societies.
6 There are still religious houses in Belgium and Holland called beguinages. In 1896 there were fifteen in Belgium and in Holland, one in Breda, and one in Amsterdam. For the Brethren of the Free Spirit, who are often associated with the Beghards but had a different origin, see part II. of this volume.