Who were the Beguines?

At the end of the eleventh century, communities of single women emerged here in the Netherlands under the influence of a combination of economic, social, religious and political factors. Called “Begijnen” in Dutch and “Beguines” in French and English, these women were pioneers because of the literary genre of vernacular theology, but especially because of a new lifestyle in an enclosed “Begijnhof” (Beguinage). These were not ordained but rather lay sisters. The patron saint of the beguines is St. Begga of Herstal, so their name may be derived from this patroness.

Men who adopted this lifestyle are known as “begaarden” or “bogaarden“.

1250: The Founding of the Begijnhof Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ten Wijngaard

Outside Brussels’ first city gate of Lakenpoort/Lakensepoort, there was a small chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary called the “Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ten Wijngaard” (Our Lady of the Vineyard). Was there a vineyard here? No one knows for sure today. What happened was when a group of pious beguines began gathering here at this chapel to pray. With help from a pastor of Meerbeek named Renier van Breeteyck (Breetycken), they celebrated Holy Mass.

A churchyard was established beside the chapel, and it was said that the cemetery was even blessed by Brussels’ very own Saint Bonifatius of Lausanne (1181–1265) in the year 1246.
The official papal bull of Pope Innocent IV was received in 1247, in which they were given permission to read the hours, but they were already doing it.

Soon, a hospice was set up by the women by 1248 where poor sick people were cared for.

On 6 March 1250, the Bishop of Kamerijk (Cambrai), Nicolaas III van Fontaines, and the Duke of Brabant Jan I gave their permission for a house to be built here for the first beguines of ‘De Wijngaard‘. They were four daughters of a rich farmer (tax collector?) from Gooik: Beatrijs, Helewijde, Ade and their cousin Katelijn. The presence of these rich ladies contributed to many daughters from rich patrician families entering the new begijnhof.

It was the priest Renier van Breeteyck (Breetycken) who is also said to have drawn up the first statutes. With the official deed, the beguines could now collect the offerings of the chapel. As they were located outside the city of Brussels, they now reported to the canons of the parish church of Sint-Jan-de-Doperkerk (Church of Saint John the Baptist) located in the village of Molenbeek on the other side of the River Zenne. This was to be the source of dispute later on. The beguines agreed to pay the canons and the pastor two pieces of silver per beguine per year. The same deed also provided for the appointment of a pastor by the Chapter, which was confirmed by the Bishop of Kamerijk in October 1252. In 1254, the Brussels beguines received confirmation from the papal legate that they were under the protection of the Holy See.

Historian Frans Verachtert said his book (1973) puts it as follows:
“The rich Brabant country around the later capital… attracted so many devout souls to the banks of the Zenne and Molenbeek from its inception in the first half of the thirteenth century that the growth from a hundred to ten times that number did not take a century.”

Life in Brussels’ Begijnhof “Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ten Wijngaard”

The original statutes drawn up by the priest Renier van Breeteyck were adjusted after his death in 1256. The adjustments probably provided more details and the new statutes were formally accepted by Duke of Brabant Jan I in 1271 and a year later by the Bishop of Kamerijk. The rules stated clearly that the begijnhof would be led by four “mistresses” who were “prudent, wise and modest”, they would be guided by their priest and four guardians.

The beguines worked to produce wool and take care of the sick in the infirmary. The proceeds from the community goods would be used to remunerate the chaplains, to cover the expenses of the infirmary, to pay for the maintenance of fences, hedges, bridges, roads and canals, to pay the wages of the domestic staff and for distribution to the poor. The income from the chapel was used primarily for the maintenance of the chapel and the purchase of candles, liturgical vestments and objects needed for religious services.

One mistress was responsible for the chapel. Another for the infirmary. Additionally, the begijnhof had a foundation of the “Holy Spirit Table” known as the “Kiste” or “Ter Kisten“. This foundation, managed by another mistress, housed a bakery which baked bread for its residents, but also for the Ducal court and for the poor.

The mistresses were not allowed to make any single expense without the permission of the priest or the guardians. In his painting, which Gaspar de Crayer (1582-1669) painted around 1635 for the Trinity altar in the chapel of the infirmary, he shows the four guardians who supervised the finances of the foundation, the infirmary and the church in the seventeenth century.

The rules for the beguines were not as strict for a convent of ordained nuns. They were able to go outside the begijnhof as long as they fulfil their duties and return before nightfall.

Daughters from rich families – of which there were many – lived in individual houses with maids. Women with lesser means lived together in one house. There were women who entered the community because they could not afford the large dowry expected from them in a marriage, and thus chose to lead the rest of their lives outside of a marriage in relative safety. Beguines were also allowed to quit the community, so one can imagine this to be some kind of a bootcamp for rich girls.

A city within a city

Like the other begijnhofs in the Low Countries, the Begijnhof Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ten Wijngaard was an enclosed city within a city.

The large triangular domain on which it occupied can still be traced out today if you walk along the Lakensestraat, Zaterdagplein, Brandhoutkaai, and the Grootgodhuisstraat. The whole area was defended by a wall, so that inhabitants and visitors alike had to enter and exit only by the entrance. Apart from the beguines’ houses and the church, this inner city of women housed an infirmary, a bakery, a bleachery, a wool workshop and even a windmill. At its height, the compound contained more than 1,000 houses and stretched over seven hectares.

The only time the domain had to lose some ground was due to the construction of the port of Brussels in the 16th century, but otherwise the city respected the Begijnhof’s territorial integrity.

During the Brussels Republic (1577–1585), Calvinists plundered the Begijnhof and destroyed the church twice, in 1579 and 1584.

After the restoration of Habsburg Catholic rule in 1586, the community rose again. The reconstruction took many years and the church in particular was only restored in small doses.

The French Bombardment of Brussels on 13-15 August 1695 once again caused significant damage to the begijnhof.

During the reconstruction, the perimeter wall disappeared and the begijnhof was physically integrated into the city, although it continued to exist as an institution.

The Imposing Baroque Church: Sint-Jan Baptist ten Begijnhofkerk

The small chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary that sparked the beginning of this begijnhof soon gave way to the construction of a new Gothic church at the end of the 13th century, as the community prospered and grew steadily. It was decided that the new church would be dedicated to John the Baptist.

This Gothic church however, did not survive the Calvinist attacks in the late 16th century. The new church however was never rebuilt until 1657, when the first stone was laid. Some claimed that the church was designed and built by the famous Brabant sculptor Lucas Faydherbe (1617-1697), although this has never been confirmed. What was known was that the construction cost 330,000 florins and incurred huge debts for the Begijnhof. This made it necessary to charge a high entrance fee, which changed the nature of the community.

The “Groot Godshuis” – the United Almshouses

In 1792, the Habsburg (Southern) Netherlands were occupied by French revolutionary troops, who immediately began to expropriate church and noble properties. The Brussels’ Begijnhof was plundered, as were numerous other monasteries and churches in the city. Several paintings from the Sint-Jan Baptist ten Begijnhofkerk, including two works by Caspar de Crayer, were confiscated by the Commissioners of Public Education who were putting together the collections for the future national museum of the Louvre. In October 1796, the religious orders and congregations were abolished, with the exception of those involved in education and healthcare. But this was only a stay of execution: a year later, they too were dissolved by a new decree from Paris. Thus the Begijnhof disappeared after five and a half centuries of existence.

The begijnhof’s tasks of caring for the sick and the poor by a new institution, known as the ‘Board of the Almshouses’. The former beguines were allowed to continue living in their houses, but they were no longer allowed to wear the beguine habit and were no longer allowed to accept novices. As the old beguines died, their houses were sold or taken over by the Board of the Almshouses that managed the old infirmary.

Even after the return of the Southern Netherlands to Habsburg hands in 1815, the Begijnhof never recovered.

The Board of the Almshouses continued to use the premises of the old infirmary until 1827, and the old houses of the beguines were torn down to build a united almshouses known as the “Groot Godshuis“. The plan was a disaster: The then government put the diseased, the poor and the criminals together and thought that it could deal with them by setting up a home with a strict regime where all beggars, the elderly and the sick would be locked up and forced to work.

Its current name, “Pacheco Institute“, refers to the generous donor who had a retirement home built in the 18th century, which was demolished for the construction of the Palace of Justice and then transferred to the buildings of the Groot Godshuis. In order to meet modern requirements in the field of geriatric medicine, the Groot Godshuis was thoroughly renovated on the inside in 1976-1982. The Pacheco Institute still exists today.

Meanwhile, industrialisation took over Brussels in the mid-19th century and since the begijnhof has ceased to exist, many of the houses were torn down and new streets were laid to make way for the new middle class. Many of the houses that remain in this area belong to this period when neo-classical facades were trendy.

The church for all faiths

Today, the Sint-Jan Baptist ten Begijnhofkerk is the only recognisable building of the Begijnhof that remains. Its impressive Baroque facade makes it one of the most beautiful churches in Brussels.

Due to a faulty electrical connection, the oak roof structure of the nave, the transept and the choir of the church went up in flames in 2000. Reconstruction was carried out in 2006-2008 with the still usable roof beams, supplemented with oak from the Loire region. The wood-on-wood joints of the reconstructed roof truss reflect the carpentry of the Baroque period.

In 1985, Daniel Alliët became the parish priest and dedicated himself to helping the poor, the elderly and asylum seekers. Alliët drew attention to the problematic situation of asylum seekers, by whom his church was occupied five times. The last occupations in 2014 and 2015, were however forced upon the church by swamps of Afghan refugees, and the events were sensationally covered by the media from across the political spectrum.

This situation created an uneasy reaction from the church, prompting Archbishop André Léonard wanting to revive the parish with the French priest Michel-Marie Zanotti-Sorkine from Marseille. But after public protests, Alliët was allowed to stay although services continues today in the church whilst it gives spaces to other faiths (apart from humanism) to express themselves and operate individual spaces in the church.

Sources:

Vannieuwenhuyze, B. (2011) “Brussel, de Ontwikkeling van een middeleeuwse stedelijke ruimte.” Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Henne, A. Wauters, A. (1845) “Histoire de la ville de Bruxelles. Volume I-III” Brussels: Librairie Encyclopédique de Périchon.
Verachtert, F. (1973) “Voorsale des Hemels ofte Het Begijnhof in de XVII Provinciën” Wegwijzer, Retie, p. 56.
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Jan_Baptist_ten_Begijnhofkerk
https://monument.heritage.brussels/nl/streets/10003018
https://www.vriendenbegijnhof.be/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Op-zoek-naar-de-Brusselse-begijnhoven-deel-1-BK46-2014-b.pdf
https://www.visit.brussels/nl/bezoekers/venue-details.Sint-Jan-Baptist-ten-Begijnhofkerk.275596
https://collections.heritage.brussels/nl/objects/50524#&gid=null&pid=1
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begijnen
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonifatius_van_Lausanne

1. Harrewijn, Jacob. (1700) “Magnum Begynasium Bruxellense” Musea van de Stad Brussel (image)