Up to 1823 we give in most cases the dates of publication, the date of
composition being generally from one to three years earlier. Beethoven
seldom had less than a dozen projects in hand at once, and their
immediate chronology is inextricable; whereas publication generally
means final revision. This list is purposely incomplete in order that
unimportant works may not distract attention, even when they are late
and on a large scale.
Sonata = Pianoforte sonata.
Violin or violoncello sonata = for pianoforte, V. or Vc.
Pianoforte trio = Pfte., V., Vc.
Pianoforte quartet = Pfte., V., viola and Vc.
String trio = V., Va., Vc.
String quartet = VV., Va. and Vc.
Pianoforte or violin concerto = Concerto with orchestra.
1785. 3 pfte. quartets, of which the third contains important
material for the sonatas, _op._ 2, Nos. 1 and 3. (Thayer's attribution
of the masterly bagatelles, _op._ 33, published 1803, to this period
can only be rationalized by some similar rough first idea.)
1790. 24 variations on an air by Righini (published 1801). A very
remarkable work, anticipating Schumann's _Papillons_ in its humorous
close. It was Beethoven's chief early _tour-de-force_ in pianoforte
playing.
1795. 3 pfte. trios, _op._ 1 (E-flat, G, C minor).
1796. 3 pfte. sonatas, _op._ 2 (F minor, A and C, dedicated to Haydn).
1797. String trio, _op._ 3, 2 violoncello sonatas, _op._ 5, F and G
mi., sonata, _op._ 7, E-flat.
1798. 3 string trios, _op._ 9; G, D, C mi., 3 sonatas, _op._ 10 (C mi.,
F, D). Trio for pfte., clarinet and violoncello in B-flat, _op._ 11.
1799. 3 violin sonatas (D, A, E-flat), _op._ 12. Pfte. sonata
(_Pathetique_ not Beethoven's title) C mi., _op._ 13, 2 pfte.
sonatas, _op._ 14, E, G (the first arranged by the composer as a
string quartet in F).
1801. Pianoforte concertos, _op._ 15 in C, _op._ 19 in B-flat (the
latter composed first). Quintet for pianoforte and wind instruments,
_op._ 16 (also arranged, with new details, as quartet for pianoforte
and strings), composed 1797. 6 string quartets, _op._ 18 (F, G, D, C
mi., A, B-flat). 1st symphony (C), _op._ 21. 2 violin sonatas, A mi.,
_op._ 23; F ma., _op._ 24 (made into two opus-numbers by an accident
in the _format_ of the volumes).
1802. Pianoforte score of the _Prometheus_ ballet, _op._ 24 (ousted
by the F ma. violin sonata, and reissued as _op._ 43). Sonata in
B-flat, _op._ 22. Sonata in A-flat, _op._ 26 (with the funeral march).
2 sonatas ("quasi fantasia"), _op._ 27, E-flat, C-sharp mi. Sonata in
D, _op._ 28 (_Pastorale_ not Beethoven's title). String quintet in C,
_op._ 29.
1803. 3 violin sonatas, _op._ 30 (A, C mi., G). 3 sonatas, _op._ 31,
G, D mi., E-flat (the last appearing in 1804). Variations, _op._ 34.
15 variations and fugue on theme from _Prometheus_, _op._ 35.
1804. 2nd symphony (D), _op._ 36 (1802). 3rd pfte. concerto (C mi.),
_op._ 37 (1800).
1805. The "Kreutzer" sonata, _op._ 47, for pfte. and violin (A) (finale
at first intended for _op._ 30, No. 1). "Waldstein" sonata for pfte.,
_op._ 53 (C). First version of opera _Leonore_ in three acts (with
overture "No. 2").
1806. Sonata in F, _op._ 54. _Eroica Symphony_, No. 3, _op._ 55
(E-flat), written in 1804 in honour of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was
just finished when news arrived that Napoleon had made himself
emperor, and Beethoven was with difficulty restrained from destroying
the score. It is still the longest extant perfect design in
instrumental music. The finale glorifies the material (and much of
the form) of the variations, _op._ 35. The _scherzo_ is the first
full-sized example of Beethoven's special type. _Leonore_ reproduced
in two acts with overture No. 3. 32 variations in C mi. (no
opus-number, but a very important work on the lines of a modernized
_chaconne_).
1807. Triple concerto (pfte., V. and Vc.), _op._ 56, chiefly
interesting as a study for the true concerto-form which had given
Beethoven difficulty. Sonata, _op._ 57 (F mi., _Appassionata_, not
Beethoven's title). New overture, _Leonore_, "No. 1," composed for
projected performance of the opera at Prague (posthumously published
as _op._ 138).
1808. 4th pfte. concerto, _op._ 58 (G). 3 string quartets, _op._ 59,
F, E mi., C (dedicated to Count Rasoumovsky, in compliment to whom
Russian tunes appear in the finale of No. 1 and the _scherzo_ of No.
2). Overture to _Coriolanus_, _op._ 62.
1809. 4th symphony, _op._ 60 (B-flat). Violin concerto (D), _op._ 61
(also arranged by the composer for pianoforte). 5th symphony, _op._
67 (C mi.) (1806), the first in which trombones appear. 6th symphony
(Pastorale), _op._ 68; violoncello sonata, _op._ 69 (A). 2 pianoforte
trios, _op._ 70 (D, E-flat).
1810. Pianoforte score of _Leonore_ (2nd version) published. String
quartet, _op._ 74 (E-flat, called "Harp" because of _pizzicato_
passages in first movement). Fantasia, _op._ 77, interesting as
consisting of a long and capricious series of dramatic beginnings and
breakings off of themes, as if in search for a firm idea, which is at
last found and developed as a set of variations. This scheme thus
foreshadows the choral finale of the 9th symphony even more
significantly than the Choral Fantasia.
Sonata, _op._ 78, F-sharp (extremely terse and subtle, and a great
favourite with Beethoven, who preferred it to the C-sharp mi.).
1811. 5th pfte. concerto, _op._ 73, E-flat (_The Emperor_ not
Beethoven's title). Fantasia for pfte., orchestra and chorus, _op._
80. Sonata, _op._ 81a (_Les Adieux, l'absence, et le retour_), first
movement written when the archduke Rudolph had to leave Vienna (4th
May 1809), and the rest on his return on the 30th of January 1810. It
was an anxious time both for Beethoven and his excellent royal
friend, for whom he had great affection. (Battle of Wagram, 6th July
1809.) (We may here note that _op._ 81b is an unimportant and very
early sextet.) The overture to _Egmont_, _op._ 84; _Christus am
Oelberge_ (the Mount of Olives), _op._ 85, oratorio (probably
composed between 1800 and its first performance in 1803).
1812. The rest of the _Egmont_ music, _op._ 84. 1st mass, _op._ 87 (C)
(first performance, 1807).
1814. Final version of _Leonore_, performed as _Fidelio_ with great
alterations, skilful revision of the libretto, very important new
material in the music and a new overture.
1815. Sonata, _op._ 90 (E mi.).
1816. 7th symphony, _op._ 92 (A); 8th symphony, _op._ 93 (F)
(Beethoven was planning a group of three of which the last was to be
in D mi., which we shall find significant). String quartet, _op._ 95
(F mi.). Violin sonata, _op._ 96 (G). Pianoforte trio, _op._ 97
(B-flat); _Liederkreis_, _op._ 98.
1817. Sonata, _op._ 101 (the first indisputably in Beethoven's "third
manner"). 2 violoncello sonatas, _op._ 102 (C, D, the second
containing Beethoven's first modern instrumental strict fugue).
1819. Arrangement for string quintet, _op._ 104, of C mi. trio, _op._
1, No. 3 (a wonderful study in translation, comparable only to Bach's
arrangements and very unlike Beethoven's former essays of the kind).
Sonata, _op._ 106 (B-flat), the largest and most symphonic pianoforte
work extant, surpassed in length only by Bach's _Goldberg_ variations
and Beethoven's 33 variations on Diabelli's waltz.
1821. 25 Scotch songs accompanied by pfte., V. and Vc., _op._ 108
(the first set of a large and much neglected collection, mostly
posthumous, many of great interest and beauty and very Beethovenish,
which has shocked persons who expect sympathetic insight into
folk-music to prevail over Beethoven's artistic impulse). Sonata,
_op._ 109 (E).
1822. Sonata, _op._ 110 (A-flat). Overture, _Die Weihe des Hauses_,
_op._ 124 (C), a magnificent essay in orchestral free fugue,
published 1825.
1823. Sonata, _op._ 111 (C mi., the last pianoforte sonata). 33
variations on a waltz by Diabelli, who sent his waltz round to
fifty-one musicians in Austria asking each to contribute a variation;
the whole to be published for the benefit of the widows and orphans
left by the war. Beethoven answered with the greatest set ever
written, and it was published in a separate volume. Among the other
fifty composers were Schubert and an infant prodigy of eleven, Franz
Liszt! The mass in D (_Missa Solemnis_), _op._ 123, begun in 1818 for
the installation of the archduke Rudolph as archbishop of Olmutz, was
not finished until 1826, two years after the installation. The 9th
symphony, _op._ 125 D mi. (see note on 7th and 8th symphonies);
sketches begun 1817; project of setting Schiller's _Freude_ already
in Beethoven's mind before he left Bonn. 6 bagatelles, _op._ 126,
Beethoven's last pianoforte work a very remarkable and unaccountably
neglected group of carefully contrasted lyric pieces.
1824. String quartet, _op._ 127 (E-flat, published 1826).
1825. String quartet, _op._ 130 (B-flat), with finale, _op._ 133
(grand fugue); string quartet, _op._ 132 (A mi., with slow movement
in Lydian mode, a _Heiliger Dankgesang_ on recovery from illness.
Theme of finale first thought of as for instrumental finale to 9th
symphony).
1826. String quartet, _op._ 131 (C-sharp, mi.). String quartet, op.
135 (F). New finale to _op._ 130, Beethoven's last composition.
(D. F. T.)
AUTHORITIES.--A.W. Thayer, _Beethovens Leben_ (1866-1879); L. Nohl,
_Life of Beethoven_ (Eng. trans., 1884), and _Letters_ (Eng. trans.,
1866); Sir G. Grove, _Beethoven and his Symphonies_ (1896), and in
Grove's _Dictionary of Music_.
BEETLE (O. Eng. _bityl_; connected with "bite"), a name commonly applied
to those insects which possess horny wing-cases; it is used to denote
the cockroaches (q.v.) (black beetles), as well as the true beetles or
_Coleoptera_ (q.v.), the two belonging to different orders of _Insecta_.
The adjective "beetle-browed," and similarly "beetling" (of a cliff),
are derived from the name of the insect. From another word (O. Eng.
_betel_, connected with "beat") comes "beetle" in the sense of a mallet,
and the "beetling-machine," which subjects fabrics to a hammering
process.
BEETS, NIKOLAAS (1814-1903), Dutch poet, was born at Haarlem on the 13th
of September 1814; constant references in his poems and sketches show
how deeply the beauty of that town and its neighbourhood impressed his
imagination. He studied theology in Leiden, but gave himself early to
the cultivation of poetry. In his youth Beets was entirely carried away
on the tide of Byronism which was then sweeping over Europe, and his
early works--_Jose_ (1834), _Kuser_ (1835) and _Guy de Vlaming_
(1837)--are gloomy romances of the most impassioned type. But at the
very same time he was beginning in prose the composite work of humour
and observation which has made him famous, and which certainly had
nothing that was in the least Byronic about it. This was the celebrated
_Camera Obscura_ (1839), the most successful imaginative work which any
Dutchman of the 18th century produced. This work, published under the
pseudonym of "Hildebrand," goes back in its earliest inception to the
year 1835, when Beets was only twenty-one. It consists of complete short
stories, descriptive sketches, studies of peasant life--all instinct
with humour and pathos, and written in a style of great charm; it has
been reprinted in countless editions. Beets became a professor at the
university of Leiden, and the pastor of a congregation in that city. In
middle life he published further collections of verse--_Cornflowers_
(1853) and _New Poems_ (1857)--in which the romantic melancholy was
found to have disappeared, and to have left in its place a gentle
sentiment and a depth of religious feeling. In 1873-1875 Beets collected
his works in three volumes. In April 1883 the honorary degree of LL.D.
Edin. was conferred upon him. He died at Utrecht on the 13th of March
1903.
BEFANA (Ital., corrupted from _Epifania_, Epiphany), the Italian female
counterpart of Santa Claus, the Christmas benefactor (St Nicholas). On
Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, she plays the fairy godmother to the
children, filling their stockings with presents. Tradition relates that
she was too busy with house duties to come to the window to see the
Three Wise Men of the East pass on their journey to pay adoration to the
Saviour, excusing herself on the ground that she could see them on their
return. They went back another way, and Befana is alleged to have been
punished by being obliged to look for them for ever. Her legends seem to
be rather mixed, for in spite of her Santa Claus character, her name is
used by Italian mothers as a bogey to frighten the babies. It was the
custom to carry her effigy through Italian towns on the eve of the
Epiphany.
BEFFROY DE REIGNY, LOUIS ABEL (1757-1811), French dramatist and man of
letters, was born at Laon on the 6th of November 1757. Under the name of
"Cousin Jacques" he founded a periodical called _Les Lunes_ (1785-1787).
The _Courrier des planetes ou Correspondance du Cousin Jacques avec le
firmament_ (1788-1792) followed. _Nicodeme dans la lune, ou la
revolution pacifique_ (1790) a three-act farce, is said to have had more
than four hundred representations. In spite of his protests against the
evils of the Revolution he escaped interference through the influence of
his brother, Louis Etienne Beffroy, who was a member of the Convention.
Of _La Petite Nanette_ (1795) and several other operas he wrote both the
words and the music. His _Dictionnaire neologique_ (3 vols., 1795-1800)
of the chief actors and events in the Revolution was interdicted by the
police and remained incomplete. Beffroy spent his last years in
retirement, dying in Paris on the 17th of December 1811.
BEGAS, KARL (1794-1854), German historical painter, was born at
Heinsberg near Aix-la-Chapelle. His father, a retired judge, destined
him for the legal profession, but the boy's tastes pointed definitely in
another direction. Even at school he was remarked for his wonderful
skill in drawing and painting, and in 1812 he was permitted to visit
Paris in order to perfect himself in his art. He studied for eighteen
months in the atelier of Gros and then began to work independently. In
1814 his copy of the Madonna della Sedia was bought by the king of
Prussia, who was attracted by the young artist and did much to advance
him. He was engaged to paint several large Biblical pictures, and in
1825, after his return from Italy, continued to produce paintings which
were placed in the churches of Berlin and Potsdam. Some of these were
historical pieces, but the majority were representations of Scriptural
incidents. Begas was also celebrated as a portrait-painter, and supplied
to the royal gallery a long series of portraits of eminent Prussian men
of letters. At his death he held the post of court painter at Berlin.
His son OSKAR (1828-1883) was also a painter and professor of painting
at Berlin. REINHOLD, the sculptor, is noticed below.
BEGAS, REINHOLD (1831- ), German sculptor, younger son of Karl Begas,
the painter, was born at Berlin on the 15th of July 1831. He received
his early education (1846-1851) in the ateliers of C.D. Rauch and L.
Wichmann. During a period of study in Italy, from 1856 to 1858, he was
influenced by Bocklin and Lenbach in the direction of a naturalistic
style in sculpture. This tendency was marked in the group "Borussia,"
executed for the facade of the exchange in Berlin, which first brought
him into general notice. In 1861 he was appointed professor at the art
school at Weimar, but retained the appointment only a few months. That
he was chosen, after competition, to execute the statue of Schiller for
the Gendarmen Markt in Berlin, was a high tribute to the fame he had
already acquired; and the result, one of the finest statues in the
German metropolis, entirely justified his selection. Since the year
1870, Begas has entirely dominated the plastic art in Prussia, but
especially in Berlin. Among his chief works during this period are the
colossal statue of Borussia for the Hall of Glory; the Neptune fountain
in bronze on the Schlossplatz; the statue of Alexander von Humboldt, all
in Berlin; the sarcophagus of the emperor Frederick III. in the
mausoleum of the Friedenskirche at Potsdam; and, lastly, the national
monument to the emperor William (see BERLIN), the statue of Bismarck
before the Reichstag building, and several of the statues in the
Siegesallee. He was also entrusted with the execution of the sarcophagus
of the empress Frederick.
See A.G. Meyer, "Reinhold Begas" in _Kunstler-Monographien_, ed. H.
Knackfuss, Heft xx. (Bielefeld, 1897; new ed., 1901).
BEGGAR, one who begs, particularly one who gains his living by asking
the charitable contributions of others. The word, with the verbal form
"to beg," in Middle English _beggen_, is of obscure history. The words
appear first in English in the 13th century, and were early connected
with "bag," with reference to the receptacle for alms carried by the
beggars. The most probable derivation of the word, and that now
generally accepted, is that it is a corruption of the name of the lay
communities known as Beguines and Beghards, which, shortly after their
establishment, followed the friars in the practice of mendicancy (see
BEGUINES). It has been suggested, however, that the origin of "beg" and
"beggars" is to be found in a rare Old English word, _bedecian_, of the
same meaning, which is apparently connected with the Gothic _bidjan_,
cf. German _betteln_; but between the occurrence of _bedecian_ at the
end of the 9th century and the appearance of "beggar" and "beg" in the
13th, there is a blank, and no explanation can be given of the great
change in form. For the English law relating to begging and its history,
see CHARITY, POOR LAW and VAGRANCY.
BEGGAR-MY-NEIGHBOUR, a simple card-game. An ordinary pack is divided
equally between two players, and the cards are held with the backs
upwards. The first player lays down his top card face up, and the
opponent plays his top card on it, and this goes on alternately as long
as no court-card appears; but if either player turns up a court-card,
his opponent has to play four ordinary cards to an ace, three to a king,
two to a queen, one to a knave, and when he has done so the other player
takes all the cards on the table and places them under his pack; if,
however, in the course of this playing to a court-card, another
court-card turns up, the adversary has in turn to play to this, and as
long as neither has played a full number of ordinary cards to any
court-card the trick continues. The player who gets all the cards into
his hand is the winner.
BEGONIA (named from M. Begon, a French patron of botany), a large genus
(natural order, Begoniaceae) of succulent herbs or undershrubs, with
about three hundred and fifty species in tropical moist climates,
especially South America and India. About one hundred and fifty species
are known in cultivation, and innumerable varieties and hybrid forms.
Many are tuberous. The flowers are usually showy and large, white, rose,
scarlet or yellow in colour; they are unisexual, the male containing
numerous stamens, the female having a large inferior ovary and two to
four branched or twisted stigmas. The fruit is a winged capsule
containing numerous minute seeds. The leaves, which are often large and
variegated, are unequal-sided.
Cuttings from flowering begonias root freely in sandy soil, if placed in
heat at any season when moderately firm; as soon as rooted, they should
be potted singly into 3-in. pots, in sandy loam mixed with leaf-mould
and sand. They should be stopped to keep them bushy, placed in a light
situation, and thinly shaded in the middle of very bright days. In a few
weeks they will require another shift. They should not be overpotted,
but instead assisted by manure water. The pots should be placed in a
light pit near the roof glass. The summer-flowering kinds will soon
begin blooming, but the autumn and winter flowering sorts should be kept
growing on in a temperature of from 55 deg. to 60 deg. by night, with a
few degrees more in the day. The tuberous-rooted sorts require to be
kept at rest in winter, in a medium temperature, almost but not quite
dry. In February they should be potted in a compost of sandy loam and
leaf-mould, and placed in a temperate pit until May or June, when they
may be moved to the greenhouse for flowering. If they afterwards get at
all pot-bound, weak manure should be applied. After blooming, the supply
of water must be again slackened; in winter the plants should be stored
in a dry place secure from frost; they are increased by late summer and
autumn cuttings, after being partially cut down.
BEGUINES (Fr. _beguine_, Med. Lat. _beguina, begina, beghina_), at the
present time the name of the members of certain lay sisterhoods
established in the Netherlands and Germany, the enclosed district within
which they live being known as a beguinage (Lat. _beginagium_). The
equivalent male communities, called also Beguines (Fr. _beguins_, Lat.
_beguini_), but more usually Beghards (Lat. _baghardi, beggardi,
begehardi_, &c., O. Fr. _begard-i_, Flem. _beggaert_), have long ceased
to exist. The origin of the names Beguine and Beghard has been the
subject of much controversy. In the 15th century a legend arose that
both name and organization were traceable to St Begga, daughter of
Pippin of Landen, who consequently in 1630 was chosen by the Beguines as
the patron saint of their association. In 1630 a professor of Louvain,
Erycius Puteanus (van Putte), published a treatise, _De Begginarum apud
Belgas instituto et nomine suffragium_, in which he produced three
documents purporting to date from the 11th and 12th centuries, which
seemed conclusively to prove that the Beguines existed long before
Lambert le Begue. For two centuries these were accepted as genuine and
are admitted as such even in the monumental work of Mosheim. In 1843,
however, they were conclusively proved by the German scholar Hallmann,
from internal evidence, to be forgeries of the 14th and 15th centuries.
It is now universally admitted that both the institution and the name of
the Beguines are derived from Lambert le Begue, who died about the year
1187. The confusion caused by the spurious documents of Puteanus,
however, led, even when the legend of St Begga was rejected, to other
suggestions for the derivation of the name, e.g. from an imaginary old
Saxon word _beggen_, "to beg" or "pray," an explanation adopted even by
Mosheim, or from _begue_, "stammering," a French word of unknown origin,
which only brings us back to Lambert again, whose name of Le Begue, as
the chronicler Aegidius, a monk of Orval (Aureae Vallis), tells us,
simply means "the stammerer," _quia balbus erat_ (_Gesta pontificum
Leodiensium, c_. A.D. 1251). Doubtless this coincidence gave a ready
handle to the scoffing wits of the time, and among the numerous popular
names given to the Beghards--_bons garcons, boni pueri, boni valeti_ and
the like--we find also that of Lollards (from Flemish _lollen_, "to
stammer").
About the year 1170 Lambert le Begue, a priest of Liege, who had devoted
his fortune to founding the hospital and church of St Christopher for
the widows and children of crusaders, conceived the idea of establishing
an association of women, who, without taking the monastic vows, should
devote themselves to a life of religion. The effect of his preaching was
immense, and large numbers of women, many of them left desolate by the
loss of their husbands on crusade, came under the influence of a
movement which was attended with all the manifestations of what is now
called a "revival." About the year 1180 Lambert gathered some of these
women, who had been ironically styled "Beguines" by his opponents, into
a semi-conventual community, which he established in a quarter of the
city belonging to him around his church of St Christopher. The district
was surrounded by a wall within which the Beguines lived in separate
small houses, subject to no rule save the obligation of good works, and
of chastity so long as they remained members of the community. After
Lambert's death (c. 1187?) the movement rapidly spread, first in the
Netherlands and afterwards in France--where it was encouraged by the
saintly Louis IX.--Germany, Switzerland and the countries beyond.
Everywhere the community was modelled on the type established at Liege.
It constituted a little city within the city, with separate houses, and
usually a church, hospital and guest-house, the whole being under the
government of a mistress (_magistra_). Women of all classes were
admitted; and, though there was no rule of poverty, many wealthy women
devoted their riches to the common cause. The Beguines did not beg; and,
when the endowments of the community were not sufficient, the poorer
members had to support themselves by manual work, sick-nursing and the
like.
The Beguine communities were fruitful soil for the missionary enterprise
of the friars, and in the course of the 13th century the communities in
France, Germany and upper Italy had fallen under the influence of the
Dominicans and Franciscans to such an extent that in the Latin-speaking
countries the tertiaries of these orders were commonly called _beguini_
and _beguinae_. The very looseness of their organization, indeed, made
it inevitable that the Beguine associations should follow very diverse
developments. Some of them retained their original character; others
fell completely under the dominion of the friars, and were ultimately
converted into houses of Dominican, Franciscan or Augustinian
tertiaries; others again fell under the influence of the mystic
movements of the 13th century, turned in increasing numbers from work to
mendicancy (as being nearer the Christ-life), practised the most cruel
self-tortures, and lapsed into extravagant heresies that called down
upon them the condemnation of popes and councils.[1] All this tended to
lower the reputation of the Beguines. During the 14th century, indeed,
numerous new beguinages were established; but ladies of rank and wealth
ceased to enter them, and they tended to become more and more mere
almshouses for poor women. By the 15th century in many cases they had
utterly sunk in reputation, their obligation to nurse the sick was quite
neglected, and they had, rightly or wrongly, acquired the reputation of
being mere nests of beggars and women of ill fame. At the Reformation
the communities were suppressed in Protestant countries, but in some
Catholic countries they still survive. The beguinages found here and
there in Germany are now simply almshouses for poor spinsters, those in
Holland (e.g. at Amsterdam and Breda) and Belgium preserve more
faithfully the characteristics of earlier days. The beguinage of St
Elizabeth at Ghent has some thousand sisters, and occupies quite a
distinct quarter of the city, being surrounded by a wall and moat. The
Beguines wear the old Flemish head-dress and a dark costume, and are
conspicuous for their kindness among the poor and their sick nursing.
It is uncertain whether the parallel communities of men originated also
with Lambert le Begue. The first records are of communities at Louvain
in 1220 and at Antwerp in 1228. The history of the male communities is
to a certain extent parallel with the female, but they were never so
numerous and their degeneration was far more rapid. The earliest Flemish
Beghard communities were associations mainly of artisans who earned
their living by weaving and the like, and appear to have been in
intimate connexion with the craft-gilds; but under the influence of the
mendicant movement of the 13th century these tended to break up, and,
though certain of the male beguinages survived or were incorporated as
tertiaries in the orders of friars, the name of Beghard became
associated with groups of wandering mendicants who made religion a cloak
for living on charity; _beguigner_ becoming in the French language of
the time synonymous with "to beg," and _beghard_ with "beggar," a word
which, according to the latest authorities, was probably imported into
England in the 13th century from this source (see BEGGAR). More serious
still, from the point of view of the Church, was the association of
these wandering mendicants with the mystic heresies of the Fraticelli,
the Apostolici and the pantheistic Brethren of the Free Spirit. The
situation was embittered by the hatred of the secular clergy for the
friars, with whom the Beguines were associated. Restrictions were placed
upon them by the synod of Fritzlar (1269), by that of Mainz (1281) and
Eichstatt (1281). and by the synod of Beziers (1299) they were
absolutely forbidden. They were again condemned by a synod held at
Cologne in 1306; and at the synod of Trier in 1310 a decree was passed
against those "who under a pretext of feigned religion call themselves
Beghards ... and, hating manual labour, go about begging, holding
conventicles and posing among simple people as interpreters of the
Scriptures." Matters came to a climax at the council of Vienne in 1311
under Pope Clement V., where the "sect of Beguines and Beghards" were
accused of being the main instruments of the spread of heresy, and
decrees were passed suppressing their organization and demanding their
severe punishment. The decrees were put into execution by Pope John
XXII., and a persecution raged in which, though the pope expressly
protected the female Beguine communities of the Netherlands, there was
little discrimination between the orthodox and unorthodox Beguines. This
led to the utmost confusion, the laity in many cases taking the part of
the Beguine communities, and the Church being thus brought into conflict
with the secular authorities. In these circumstances the persecution
died down; it was, however, again resumed between 1366 and 1378 by Popes
Urban V. and Gregory XI., and the Beguines were not formally reinstated
until the pontificate of Eugenius IV. (1431-1447). The male communities
did not survive the 14th century, even in the Netherlands, where they
had maintained their original character least impaired.
See J.L. von Mosheirn, _De beghardis et beguinabus commentarius_
(Leipzig, 1790); E. Hallmann, _Die Geschichte des Ursprungs der
belgischen Beghinen_ (Berlin, 1843); J.C.L. Giesclcr, _Eccles. Hist._
(vol. iii., Eng. trans., Edinburgh, 1853), with useful excerpts from
documents; Du Cange, _Glossarium_; Herzog-Haurk, _Realencyklopadie_
(3rd ed., 1897) s. "Beginen," by Herman Haupt, where numerous further
authorities are cited. (W. A. P.)