| Unit name | Beguines and their Supporters |
|---|---|
| Unit code | THRSM0096 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Muessig |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Religion and Theology |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will examine the spirituality of holy women called the beguines who flourished in the Low Countries from the late twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. This spiritual movement attracted supporters and detractors. Some Church officials perceived the beguines as heretical. Other clerics, however, defended these women and sought to legitimise their religious expression. The relationship that existed between these sympathetic clerics and the beguines will be examined. The nature of beguinal spirituality, with its emphasis on communal good works and the practise of chastity by virgins, widows and the married, will also be considered.
Aims of the Unit 1. To make students critically aware of how issues of gender shaped medieval theology; 2. To introduce students to the place of women in the medieval church; 3. To analyse the interaction between holy women and their male confessors. 4. To introduce students to primary source material related to the beguines and medieval theology. 5. To train student in research methods and to develop their presentation and argumentation skills.
By the end of the unit students will be expected to have: 1) acquired the knowledge and skill to assess critically a wide range of arguments; advanced by historians and theologians relating to gender and medieval theology; 2) acquired knowledge about women in the medieval church; 3) become aware of the unique relationship which existed between beguines and their confessors; 4) become familiar with significant medieval hagiographical and sermon literature; 5) acquired skills through individual seminar presentations and group dicussions and through an assessed essay, in presenting, analyzing and evaluating complex ideas and arguments in both both written and oral forms.
seminars
One 4000-word essay
Catherine M. Mooney, Gendered voices: medieval saints and their interpreters (Philadelphia, Pa. : University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999).
Two lives of Marie d'Oignies:The life /by Jacques de Vitry. Translated by Margot H. King. Notes by Margot H. King & Miriam Marsolais. Supplement to The life by Thomas de Cantimpré ; translated, with notes, by Hugh Feiss. 4th ed.. (Toronto, Ont. : Peregrina, 1998).
Ernest W McDonnell, The Beguines and Beghards in medieval culture: with special emphasis on the Belgian scene (New York : Octagon, 1969).
Walter Simons, Cities of ladies :Beguine communities in the medieval Low Countries, 1200-1565 (Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001).
Thomas, de Cantimpré, The life of Christina the Astonishing. Translated, with introduction and notes, by Margot H. King, assisted by David Wiljer. 2nd ed. (Toronto : Peregrina, 1999).
