sary ordinances, in small houses adjoining a court (Beginagium),2 and maintained themselves from their own property and the labour of their hands. Not long after there rose foundations of a similar character for noble ladies (Canonissae saeculares.) During the 13th century the Beguinae increased in the Netherlands, Germany and France to a wonderful degree; and

April. iii. 872 the name Beghine is derived from the old Saxon beggen betteln (to beg, begging, beggar):-however the Beguines in the Netherlands, where at all events the name arose, did not beg. For this reason Mosheim, p. 98, takes the word beggen in the signification of praying (as in Ulphilas bidgan or bedgan is used), and explains Beguines as praying-sisters. On the other side: 1. This signification of beggen cannot be authenticated as the Low-Dutch of the middle ages; and 2. How comes a German root to have a termination that is not German? Hallmann S. 51 has lately proved the Vilvorde document to be spurious, and so the derivation from Lambertus le Bègue, and the origin of the un-German form Beguine in the French speaking Liege, will remain as the most likely.

2 See Mosheim, p. 34; also Vineae ibid. p. 141, or Beguinarum curiae p. 146. 172. On the regulations of the Beguinages see Mosheim p. 147. Hallmann S. 11.

8 Jacobus de Vitriaco about 1220 in his hist. Orient. et Occident. lib. ii. c. 31, writes of them as abundant in Germany and Brabant: Canonicas saeculares s. Domicellas appellant, non enim Moniales nominari volunt.-Nonnisi filias militum et nobilium in sua Collegia volunt recipere. Many of them even married relictis Praebendis et Ecclesiis. Thus also Boniface VIII (Sext. Decret. lib. i. tit. vi. c. 43, § 5) speaks of monasteries, ubi sunt juxta quarumdam provinciarum consuetudinem mulieres, quae nec propriis renunciant, nec professionem faciunt regularem, sed vivunt ut in saecularibus Ecclesiis canonici sacculares. Cf. Thomassinus P. i. lib. iii. c. 63, § 6 ss. Even these were sometimes called Beguinae, Mosheim p. 13 ss. Theodorus Engelhusius (1434) in his Chronicle in Leibnit. scriptt. rer. Brunsv. ii. 1072, attributes to the Emperor Henry I. the first establishment of such secular foundations for women; fundavit in Almania ultra XX Ecclesias, quas et abundanter dotavit, pro dominabus saecularibus, quae Canonicae nominantur, utentes habitu Canonicorum regularium Ord s. Augustini, nullam tamen profitentes religionem, nubentes in Domino, quando volunt. Inventae sunt autem pro sustentatione nobilium pro fide Christi ab infidelibus occisorum, ne talium filiae cogerentur mendicare etc. However this very reason points to the age of the crusades; during the same time many of the more ancient monasteries, as Quedlinburg, adopted the freer constitution of chapters.

4 Matth. Paris ad ann. 1250 p. 805: In Alemannia mulierum continentium, quae se Beguinas volunt appellari, multitudo surrexit. innumerabilis, adeo ut solam Coloniam mille vel plures inhabitarent. In like manner ad ann. 1243 p. 611. On the foundation of the earliest

there rose also societies of the same kind for men (Beguini Regharden.) As they were exposed in an unprotected state to many persecutions," most of them deemed it advisable to suffer themselves to be adopted into the tertiary orders of the Franciscans and Dominicans.7

But when the Beguins, after the example of their spiritual guides, addicted themselves to vagrant mendicancy on the Rhine and in France not only did the secret teachers of heresy, as they wandered from place to place, avail themselves of this, to assume likewise the appearance of Beghards; but also many Beghards fell an easy prey to them by reason of their contemplative cast of mind and their want of education. Thus the name Beguin or Beghard, by which at first a high degree of devotion to the Church in laymen was distinguisht, fell into ill

Beguinages, see Hallmann S. 11; in Flanders see Warnkönig's flandr. Staats- u. Rechtsgesch. i. 421.

5 According to J. B. Gramaye antiquitt. Brabantt. p. 31, ann. 1215, Mosheim p. 168. The earliest house known is that of Louvain in the year 1220, ibid. p. 175 ss. In France they are called also Boni Pueri, or Boni Valeti, ibid. p. 36 ss.

6 Mosheim p. 139 ss.

7 Bonaventura in Libellus apologet. in eos, qui Minoribus adversantur qu. 6 already calls the Tertiaries of the Franciscans, simply Beguinae, Mosheim p. 38, 58, 172, 173. So also the Tertiaries of the Dominicans are called in Italy, for instance in a Bull of John XXII. in the year 1326, in Federici istoria de' Cavalieri gaudenti vol. ii. app. p. 91 esse plures mulieres Beghuinas vulgariter nuncupatas, seu de poenitentia b. Dominici, in Lombardiae et Tusciae partibus; and at the same time in Marsilii Ficini defensor pacis P. ii. c. 8: laicos quosdam, quos in Italia Fratres gaudentes, alibi vero Beguinos appellant.

8 Conc. Mogunt. ann. 1259 in Mansi xxiii. 998: Statuimus, quod secta et habitus, nec non conventicula Beguardorum, clamantium per plateas et vicos civitatum, oppidorum et villarum hoc vulgare: Brot durch Gott, et quae aliae singularitates a s. Dei Ecclesia non receptae, sint penitus reprobati; et mandatur universis Plebanis, ut eosdem Beguardos publice tribus diebus dominicis vel festivis admoneant, ut hujusmodi singularitatibus derelictis se teneant sicut alii Christiani, et quod non praedicent in cavernis vel in aliis locis secretis, et non conveniant cum Beguinis, se conformantibus eisdem in moribus, habitu et incessu alioquin extra parochias suas eos expellant. Idem etiam de Beguinis pestiferis statuimus.

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9 Robertus de Sorbona (about 1250) in his iter Paradisi (Bibl. Patr. Lugd. xxv. 362): Aliquis incipit agere poenitentiam, irridetur ab aliquo, qui dicit: iste est Beguinus.

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repute, and became a denomination of wandering Heretics.10 In Germany it was fastened especially upon the sect of the Free Spirit, in France on the heretical Franciscans and their adherents.12 Accordingly in these countries decrees were issued against the Beguins,13 whilst in the Netherlands they continued free from such degeneration, and were protected.14

19 The name also was carried back into earlier times with this signification. So Godfrey (Monk of St Pantaleon in Cologne about 1237) in his Chronica s. Pantaleonis calls the Albigenses Beguini (Mosheim p. 52), and in the vita Johannis ii. Episc. Magalonensis (Gallia christiana v. 755) we find: Petro Beguino ejusque asseclis anno 1176 impia dogmata spargentibus etc.

For instance the secta liberi spiritus was introduced into Swabia and Cologne after the middle of the 13th cent. by their means. Mosheim p. 198 ss. See below § 90. note 31.

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12 The first trace is Conc. Biterrense ann. 1299 can. 4 (Mansi xxiv. 1216) Cum-ad nostram notitiam sit delatum, quod ad suggestionem quorundam,, inter quos nonnulli fuerint, qui dicebantur plurimum literati, quorum aliqui fore noscebantur de religione laudabili, non immerito inter religiones caeteras approbata, ponentium os in caelum, et manus ad vota extendentium, praedicantium multis finem mundi instare, et jam adesse vel quasi tempora Antichristi, novosque poenitentiae modos et abstinentias vestiumque colores utriusque sexus personis suggerentium, et nihilominus virginitatis ac castitatis vota recipientium a pluribus ex eisdem, ad hoc suis exhortationibus prius tractis, quae vota a pluribus violata fuisse noscuntur: quam plures utriusque sexus ad novae superstitionis cultum pertracti fuerunt, Beguini seu Beguinae vulgariter appellati, qui conventualia prohibita facientes, et frequentes de nocte officium praedicationis verbi Dei temere usurparunt, in suam excusationem fictitie praetendentes, quod non praedicant sed loquuntur de Deo se invicem consolantes, et quasdam novas observantias custodire conantur, a communi ritu caeterorumque fidelium discrepantes, e quibus nonnulla scandala sunt suborta, et non modica pericula huic provinciae, quam haereticos olim publice frequentasse est certum, nec dubium est, licet clam, adhuc ab aliquibus frequentari, imminere noscuntur. Sacro igitur approbante Concilio prohibemus cultum superstitionis praefatae -ulterius observari etc. cf. Mosheim p. 206 ss.

13 Conc. Colon. ann. 1306 (Mosheim p. 211) against the Becgardi et Becgardae, et Apostoli vulgariter appellati,-quaestum publicum via prohibita vindicantes, victualia manibus quaerere, prout consueverant, non curando. Conc. Trevir. ann. 1310 (Mosheim p. 235): qui sub praetextu cujusdam religionis fictae Begardos se appellant, cum tabardis et tunicis longis, et longis capuciis cum otio intendentes, ac labores manuum detestantes, conventicula inter se aliquibus temporibus faciunt et conservant, seque fingunt coram personis simplicibus expositores sacrarum Scripturarum,-mendicantes discurrunt.

14 Compare the decrees of Innocent IV. in the year 1245, in favour

$72.

ECCLESIASTICAL ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD.

Chivalry, which under the influence of the Church, particularly during the Crusades, had assumed its peculiar form,1 graspt with especial zeal the idea, that battle with the infidels was the highest of all deeds of piety, and the surest method of effacing sin. Whilst orders of chivalry grew up, uniting this meritorious activity with the monastic life, the pinnacle of all Christian perfection, so as to make the deprivations of the monastic state more tolerable by the love of arms, and work out their salvation; they were quite in keeping with the character of the age, which attacht as much importance to good works as to gallant deeds.

It was the year 1119 when nine knights at Jerusalem first constituted themselves into an ecclesiastical order of knighthood (Fratres militiae templi, milites or equites Templarii), under Hugh de Payens (de Paganis) as grand master (magister militiae.) St Bernard quickly spread through the western

of the Beguines in Mechlin and Diest, of Cardinal Hugo in 1254 for those of Brussels, of Urban IV. in 1261 for those of Liege, Mosheim p. 140. However the Council of Liege in 1287 decreed (Mosheim p. 133), quod omnes Beghinae, privilegio Beghinali gaudere volentes, intrent curiam Beghinarum, et praecipimus commorantibus extra curiam Beghinarum, quod distinguant habitum suum ab habitu Beghinarum.

1 J. B. de la Curne de St Palaye mémoires sur l' ancienne chevalerie, T. 3 Paris 1759--81 8 (translated into German by J. C. Klüber 3 Bde, Nürnberg 1786-91. 8.) Leben und Dichten Wolfram's v. Eschenbach, von San-Marte (Regierungsrath Schulz, 2 Bde. Magdeburg 1836. 41), Bd. 1. Einleitung.

2 Willelmus Tyrensis lib. xii. c. 7 (in Bongarsii gesta Dei per Francos i. 819) Jacobi de Vitriaco hist. Hieros. c. 65 (1. c. p. 1083.) -Histoire des Templiers par P. du Puy. Paris 1650. 4, most fully Brussels 1751. 4. K. G. Anton's Verf. einer Gesch. des Tempelherrnordens. 2e Aufl. Leipz. 1781. 8. Histoire crit. et apologétique des Chevaliers du Temple de Jérusalem, par feu le R. P. M. J. (le Jeune, Prieur de l' Abbaye d'Estival.) Paris 1789. 2 voll. 4. (abridged in German: Die Ritter des Tempels zu Jerus. Leipz. 1790. 2 Bde. 8.) W. F. Wilcke's Gesch. des Tempelherrnordens. Leipz. 1826. 27. 2 Bde. 8 Wilken's Gesch. d. Kreuzzüge. ii. 546. Raumer's Gesch. d. Hohenst. i. 487.

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world the fame of these new monkish nights. They received from the Synod of Troyes in 1128 the sanction of the Church, and a rule drawn up by St Bernard; and increased wonderfully fast in numbers and in wealth.5

This example first animated the brethren of the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem (Fratres hospitalis S. Joh.) who had lived

3 So early as 1125 in epist. 31, he speaks in praise of the entrance of Count Hugo of Champagne into this order. But especially see his tractatus de nova militia s. exhortatio ad milites templi (opp. ed. Mabillon. iv. 98) and also his later epistles, e.g. ep. 173. 392.

4 The Regula pauperum commilitonum Christi templique Salomonici (prim. ed. A. Miraeus in chron. Cisterciensi. Colon. 1614. p. 43, and from this frequently, e.g. in Lucae Holstenii codex Regularum ed. Brockie fi. 429. in Mansi xxi. 359) cannot have assumed its present form till 1172, see Münter's Statutenbuch s. 6 ff. Wilken ii. 558, note. Afterwards the order imposed on itself at its general chapters special rules, which being intended in the first place for the officers of the order, were only partially made known to the rest of the knights, so far as was necessary for each in his own sphere. A collection of these made between 1247 and 1266, was first brought to light in a translation in Fr. Münter's Statute Book of the order of the Templars, vol. i. Berlin 1794, but is now publisht in the original: Règle et statuts sécrets des Templiers, publiés par C. H. Maillard de Chambure, Paris 1840. 8.-Beside the regular knights there belonged also to the order, Capellani-Brothers at arms (armigeri, frères servans d'armes), and craftsmen (famuli, frères servans de mestier.)

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5 Bernardi tract. de nova militia cap. 5: IIaec Jerosolymis actitantur, et orbis excitatur. Audiunt insulae, et attendunt populi de longe, et ebulliunt ab Oriente et Occidente tamquam torrens inundans gloriae gentium, et tamquam fluminis impetus laetificans civitatem Dei. Quodque cernitur jucundius, et agitur commodius, paucos admodum in tanta multitudine hominum illo confluere videas, nisi utique sceleratos et impios, raptores et sacrilegos, homicidas, perjuros, adulteros de quorum profectione sicut duplex quoddam constat provenire bonum, ita duplicatur et gaudium, quandoquidem tam suos de suo discessu lactitificant, quam illos de adventu, quibus subvenire festinant. Prosunt quippe utrobique, non solum utique istos tuendo, sed etiam illos jam non opprimendo. Itaque lactatur Aegyptus in profectione eorum, cum tamen de protectione eorum nihilominus laetetur mons Sion, et exultent filiae Judae. Illa quidem se de manu eorum, ista magis in manu eorum liberari se merito gloriatur. Illa libenter amittit crudelissimos sui vastatores, ista cum gaudio suscipit sui fidelissimos defensores; et unde ista dulcissime consolatur, inde illa aeque saluberrime desolatur. Sic Christus, sic novit ulcisci in hostes suos, ut non solum de ipsis, sed per ipsos quoque frequenter soleat tanto gloriosius, quanto et potentius triumphare etc.

6 Concerning their origin after the year 1048, see Willelm. Tyr. lib. i,