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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 June 2022
The prologue to Jacques de Vitry’s Life of Mary of Oignies introduces us immediately to a situation peculiar to a small part of Europe at the turn of the twelfth century. He draws our attention to a small, like-minded, closely knit group of people, mainly women, whose religious views and experience seemed to have developed only within the confines of the principalities of Brabant-Flanders, an area which the members of this group knew as Lotharingia. In writing the Life his aim was to make the group which he had found and indeed which he himself had been eager to develop, known to a much wider audience, with the ultimate aim of establishing a tradition sufficient to allow for its possible institutionalisation and ultimate acceptance by the ecclesiastical authorities.
1 Vitry, Jacques de, V[ita] M[ariae] 0[igniacensis,] ed Papebroeck, D., ASB June 4 (Antwerp 1707) pp 636–66Google Scholar. For various aspects of the whole Frauenfiage see Grundmann pp 170-98, 452-56; McDonnell, [E. W.], The Beguine; [and Beghards in Medieval Culture] (Rutgers University 1954)Google Scholar; Mens, A., ‘Les béguines et béghards dans le cadre de la culture médiévale’. Moyen Age 64 (1958) pp 305–15Google Scholar; Roisin, [S.], ‘L’efflorescence cistercienne [et le courant féminin de piété au xiii siècle’,] RHE 39 (1943) PP 342–78Google Scholar and Koch, G., Frauenfrage und Ketzertum im Mittelalter (Berlin 1962)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
2 VMOp 666.1.
3 Ibid p 636.1.
4 Ibid p 638.8; Fulk of Toulouse (?-1231), created bishop of Toulouse in 1206, was driven from his diocese by heretics in 1212 and went to preach the crusade in Flanders. His interest in religious women’s communities as a bulwark against heresy had already led to his support of Dominic’s foundation at Prouille. For a useful account of his activities, Lejeune, [R.], ‘L’evêque de Toulouse, [Folquet de Marseille et la principauté de Liège’,] Mélanges Felix Rousseau (Brussels 1958) pp 433–48Google Scholar, and Bolton, [Brenda M.], ‘Fulk of Toulouse: the escape that failed’, SCH 12 (1975) pp 83–93Google Scholar for more general concerns in Languedoc.
5 Brooke, Christopher, The Monastic World (London 1974) pp 20–1, 167Google Scholar.
6 Ibid p 20; Kelly, J. N. D., Jerome: his life, writings and controversies (London 1975)Google Scholar.
7 Jacques de Vitry (c 1160-70-1240) was a regular canon of St Nicholas of Oignies in the diocese of Liège from 1211-16, bishop of Acre from 1216-27, auxiliary bishop of Liège from 1227-9 arid cardinal of Tusculum from 1229-40. For some most illuminating remarks on his career and writings see Hinnebusch, [J. F.], [The] Historia Occidentals [of Jacques de Vitry] SpicFr 17 (1972) pp 3–15Google Scholar. Some other details are given in Bolton, , ‘Mulieres Sanctae’, SCH 10 (1973) pp 77–97Google Scholar.
8 Hinnebusch, , Historia Occidentalis p 9Google Scholar.
9 He saw them as he crossed Umbria on his way to Perugia in 1216, ed Huygens, [R. B. C.], Lettres [de Jacques de Vitry] (Leiden 1960) pp 71–8Google Scholar and also ‘Les passages rélatifs à Saint François d’Assise et à ses premiers disciples’, ed Huygens, , Homages à Leon Herrman, Collection Latonius 44 (Brussels 1960) pp 446–53Google Scholar.
10 Hinnebusch, Historia Occidentalis for his account of several such groups.
11 VMO p.636.1.
12 The beguines were essentially urban and extra-regular. An excellent account is given of them in Southern, R. W., Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (Harmondsworth 1970) pp 318–31Google Scholar. Jacques de Vitry used them in many of his exempla. See The exempla of Jacques de Vitry, ed Crane, T. F., Folk Lore Society Publications 26 (London 1890)Google Scholar; Die Exempla aus den Sermones feriales et communes, ed Greven, J., (Heidel-burg 1914)Google Scholar and Frenken, G., Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie des MiUelalters, 5 (Munich 1914) pp 1–153Google Scholar.
13 Lejeune, , ‘L’evêque de Toulouse’, pp 436–7Google Scholar.
14 VMO p 638.11.
15 Ibid p 637.4. Unfortunately we are not told what these names were. He refers to them as being similar to the ‘new names given to Christ and his followers by the jews’.
16 Ibid.
17 Liège was sacked 3-7 May 1212 by the soldiers of Henry I, duke of Brabant, Moreau, E. de, Histoire de l’église en Belgique, 3 vols (Brussels 1940-5) 2 p 133Google Scholar; McDonnell, , The Beguines p 43Google Scholar. Mary of Oignies had also prophesied that an army of wicked spirits would come there, VMO pp 651-2.57.
18 VMO p 637.5.
19 Ibid pp 636-7.3.
20 Ibid p 638.9.
21 Ibid p 638.8 certainly must refer to Christina of St Trond.
22 When he speaks of those who dissolved with joy when the spirit comforted them, ibid p 637.6, he may well have been referring to Lutgard of Aywières. See below note 134
23 Ibid p 639.11.
24 Ibid p 640.14 in loco qui dicitur Willambroc.
25 Ibid p 657.80. Two such women were Heldewide who had been looked after by Mary for twelve years and Beselene.
26 Ibid p 657.80.
27 Lejeune, ‘L’evêque de Toulouse’, p 439. Fulk was in Liège in 1212 and again between January and September 1213. Mary died in June 1213.
28 Thomas de Cantimpré, V[ita beatae] C[hristinae] M[irabilis Trudonopoli in Hasbania,] ed J. Pinius ASB July 5 (Antwerp 1727) pp 650-60.
29 VCMp 651.4.
30 Ibid p 651.5.
31 Instar avis evetta templi trabes ascendit, ibid p 651.5.
32 Ibid pp 651-2.6-8.
33 Ibid pp 654.21.
34 VMO p 636.8.
35 Thomas de Cantimpré, a native of Liège, moved from the canons regular to the Dominican order in 1232, becoming eventually lector and sub-prior of the house in Louvain. See Roisin, [S.], ‘La méthode hagiographique [de Thomas de Cantimpré’,] in Miscellanea historica in honorem Alberti de Meyer, 2 vols (Louvain/Brussels 1946) 1, PP 546–57Google Scholar.
36 Hugh of Floreffe, V[ita] I[vettae] R[eclusae Huyi,] ed Henschenius, G., ASB January 1 (Antwerp 1643) pp 863–87Google Scholar, p 865.8.
37 VIR pp 865-6.13.
38 Ralph of Liège (1167-91), ibid p 866.16.
39 Ibid p 868.25, 26.
40 Ibid p 870.33.
41 Ibid p 871.39-41. Her father went first to Neufmoustier but found the life there to be laute et laxe tarn in vestitt4 quam in victu and moved to the monastery of Villers. Her eldest son entered Orval in Luxemburg, ibid p 871.42 while her second son, who had gone astray, was eventually converted by his mother’s prayers and went to the abbey of Troisfontaines in Catalonia, ibid pp 874-5.53-9.
42 Ibid p 877.72.
43 Ibid p 864.5-7; Ivetta had an association with Floreffe for the necrology of the abbey names her as the donor of a hogshead of fine wheat, McDonnell, , The Béguines p 62 n 18Google Scholar.
44 Thomas de Cantimpré, V[ita] M[argarete de] Y[pres,] ed Meersseman, [G.], in ‘Les frères prècheurs [et le mouvement dévot en Flandre au xiiie siècle’,] AFP 18 (1948) pp 69–130Google Scholar to which the VMY forms an appendix pp 106-30.
45 VMY p 107-8.2.
46 Ibid p 109.6, ille admoneret earn cuneta secutaría respuere.
47 Ibid p 119.25.
48 Meersseman, ‘Les frères prècheurs’ p 70. Thomas de Cantimpré based the vita on oral information given by Siger of Lille which he wrote down on two little parchments before developing it into a much longer composition for which he used all his skills, Roisin, ‘La méthode hagiographique’ p 549.
49 Ibid pp 119-20.27 Multe enim nostri temporis religiose, perniciosum galline habentes modum, statim clamorem produnt cum ovum ediderunt.
50 Thomas de Cantimpré, V[ita] L[utgardis] V[irgine,] ed Henschenius, G. ASB June 3 (Antwerp 1701) pp 234–52Google Scholar; also Roisin, [S.], L’hagiographie cistercienne [dans le diocèse de Liège au xiiie siècle,] Recueil de Travaux d’Histoire et de Philologie, 3 series, 27 (Louvain 1947) PP 50–4Google Scholar.
51 VLV p 237.1.
52 Ibid p 241.20.
53 Ibid p 241.20.
54 John de Liro was a friend of Jacques de Vitry and adviser to beguines. He was in very close relationship with Lutgard to whom he appeared after his death. Also Hinnebusch, , Historia Occidentalis, pp 285–6Google Scholar.
55 Ibid pp 242.22.
56 Ibid, potius vellem in Inferno esse cum Deo quam in caelo cum Angelis sine Deo.
57 Ut panem recto modo Gallice peteret, ibid p 243.1.
58 She stayed with Ivetta, ibid p 240.16; she knew Christina, ibid p 242.22 and Jacques de Vitry, ibid p 244.3. She also saw the following in visions: Simon de Foigny, ibid p 244.4; Innocent III, ibid p 245.7; John de Liro, ibid p 245.8; Mary of Oignies, ibid p 245.9; Jacques de Vitry, ibid p 257.5 and Jordan of Saxony, former minister general of the Dominicans, ibid p 256.3.
59 Ibid p 261.19.
60 A convenus Guido and his friends cut off a finger and extracted sixteen teeth but the abbess only allowed Thomas de Cantimpré to have the finger, ibid p 261.19.
61 Roisin, ‘La méthode hagiographique’, p 552.
62 Roisin, ‘L’efflorescence cistercienne’, pp 361-4; also Roisin, , ‘Refléxions sur la culture intellectuelle en nos abbayes cisterciennes médiévales’, in Miscellanea Historica in honorem Leonis van der Essen (Louvain 1947) pp 245–56Google Scholar.
63 For some illuminating insights into the relationship between beguines, Cistercians and Dominicans, Freed, [J. B.], ‘Urban development and the cura monialium [in thirteenth century Germany’,] Viator 3 (California 1972) pp 311–27Google Scholar.
64 Roisin, , ‘L’efflorescence cistercienne’, p 364Google Scholar.
65 Roisin, , L’hagiographie cistercienne, pp 547–8Google Scholar.
66 VMO p 640.15.
67 VIR p 866.15.
68 Ibid p 868.25.
69 VMY p 109.6.
70 VLV p 237.1.
71 VCM p 651.1.
72 For the bickground to these ideals see Mollat, M., Ésudes sur l’histoire de la pauvreté, Publications de la Sorbonne, Études, 8, 2 vols (París 1974)Google Scholar especially Gieysztor, A., ‘La légende de Saint Alexis en Occident: un idéal de pauvreté’, 1, pp 125–39Google Scholar.
73 VMO p. 643-28 She used to take a maidservant with her when she went on pilgrimage to a nearby church. The name of one such attendant was Clemencia, ibid p 662.95.
74 Ibid p 639.11, p 646.37.
75 Ibid p 646.37.
76 VIR p 870.34.
77 VMY p 117.22.
78 VCM p 654.22.
79 VLV p 238.7, 8.
80 VMO p. 637.5. On this famine of 1195-98 and some of its social effects see Mollat, M., ‘Hospitalité et assistance au début du xiii siècle’, Poverty in the Middle Ages, ed Flood, D., Franziskanische Forschungen 27 (Werl-Westfalia 1975) pp 37–51Google Scholar.
81 VMO pp 648-9, 45.
82 Ibid p 648.
83 vcm p 654.22.
84 VMY p 117.22.
85 Roisin, , L’hagiographie cistercienne p 96Google Scholar.
86 VMO p 642.22.
87 Ibid p 641.21.
88 Ibid.
89 Roisin, ‘La méthode hagiographique’, p 552, calls them ‘a web of extravagances’.
90 VCM p 652.7.
91 Ibid p 652.10, 12.
92 Ibid p 652.11.
93 Ibid.
94 Ibid.
95 Ibid p 652.13.
96 Ibid.
97 VMO p 642.23.
98 Ibid p 642.24, p 648.44.
99 Ibid p 645.33.
100 Ibid p 643.29.
101 Ibid p 645.36.
102 Ibid 642.25.
103 VCM p 655.25.
104 Ibid p 653.16.
105 Ibid, instar ericei conglobotum corpus redibat ad formam.
106 Ibid p 657.38. Thomas de Cantimpré tells us that he came a long way from France to visit Ivetta and gained much information about Christina from her.
107 VIR p 873.49.
108 Ibid p 873.51.
109 VMY p 108.3, PP 116-17.20.
110 Ibid p 117.21.
111 VLV p 245.9, P 256.4.
112 Ibid p 240.16. They spent two weeks together in prayer and contemplation.
113 VMO p 661.93. On the ascetics of the desert see Brown, P.R L., ‘The rise and function of the holy man in Late Antiquity’, JRS 61 (1971) pp 80–101Google Scholar.
114 VIR p 875.60.
115 VCM p. 653.16.
116 VMY pp 117-18.22, 23, p 112.
117 VCM p 655.28.
118 VLV p 237.2.
119 VMo p 643.29.
120 Ibid p 646.39.
121 VCM p 657.38; VLV p 240.16.
122 VMO p 650.50.
123 Ibid p 649.47.
124 VCM p 655.25.
125 VIR p 870.35.
126 VLV p 243.1.
127 Roisin, , L’hagiographie cistercienne p 127Google Scholar; Meersseman, ‘Les frères prècheurs’, pp 75-7.
128 VMO p 645.35.
129 Ibid p 659.87.
130 Ibid p 664.105. This example is also used by Jacques de Vitry in his commentary on the sacrament of the altar in Hinnebusch, Historia Occidentalis p 207.
131 VCM p 654.22.
132 VMY p 111.11.p 118.24.
133 Ibid p 118.24.
134 VLV p 249.21.
135 Ibid p 246.15.
136 Ibid pp 252-3.42, 43.
137 Roisin, , L’hagiographie cistercienne pp 106–13Google Scholar.
138 Ibid p 117.
139 Ibid p 118; VMO p 660.90 where St Bernard appeared to Mary of Oignies and ibid p 653.63 for her friendship with a Cistercian abbot.
140 Hilarin, P., ‘S. François et l’Eucharistie’, EF 34 (1922) pp 520–37 and McDonnell, , The Beguines p 313Google Scholar.
141 Hinnebusch, , Historia Occidentalis pp 116–18Google Scholar and especially p 116 where he states that women are too frail for the rigours of Cistercian discipline.
142 VMO p 655.69; Huygens, Lettres, p 72 lines 34-46. Compare with VLV p 251.38 where Thomas de Cantimpré refers to Lutgard as mater specialissima.
143 VMO p 654.68, 69.
144 Ibid p 654.69.
145 Ibid; McDonnell, , The Beguines p 23Google Scholar.
146 Ibid p 654.68.
147 VMO p 658.82.
148 Ibid.
149 VLV p 245.8.
150 Huygens, , Lettres p 73Google Scholar lines 61-70.
151 Ibid p 74 lines 76-81.
152 Bolton, ‘Midieres Sanctae’, p 84.
153 VMO pp 674-5.22.
154 Huygens, , Lettres p 72Google Scholar lines 34-46. It was the possession of this relic to which he attributed his safe arrival in Milan in 1216 despite the hazards of crossing rivers in flood in Lombardy, and, VMO p 673.16, his safe return from the Holy Land.
155 Ibid 658.82; VLV p 243.2.
156 Moore, R. I., The Origins of European Dissent (London 1977) pp 168–96Google Scholar.
157 VCM p 657.40.
158 VLV p 239.12.
159 Ibid.
160 Ibid pp 245-6.10. This may have been Sybilla de Gages who composed Lutgard’s epitaph in Latin. See also McDonnell, , The Beguines pp 377, 383Google Scholar.
161 VMO p 663.99,100.
162 VLV p 244-3.
163 Thomas de Cantimpré, V[itae] M[ariae] 0[igniacensis,] S[upplementum] ed Papebroeck, D., ASB June 4 (Antwerp 1707) pp 666–76Google Scholar and Hinnebusch, Historia Occidentalis p 5.
164 Roisin, , ‘La méthode hagiographique’, p 547Google Scholar. Thomas de Cantimpré refers to himself as humilis canonicus, VMOS p 666.1.
165 Ibid p 667.2, 3; McDonnell, , The Beguines p 22Google Scholar.
166 VMOS p 676.27, nondum enim annorum quindecim aetatem attigeram.
167 Ibid p 671.13.
168 McDonnell, , The Beguines, p 17Google Scholar.
169 VMOS p 674.21. His own altar was dedicated to the Trinity.
170 McDonnell, , The Beguines p 38Google Scholar. On the treasures which were collected at Oignies see Link, E. M., Hugo von Oignies (Fribourg-im-Breisgau 1964)Google Scholar; Collon-Gevaert, S., Lejeune, J., Stiennon, J., L’art mosan au xi et xii sueles (Brussels 1951); Hugo of Oignies: the Goldsmith’s Treasure (Brussels 1978)Google Scholar.
171 VMOS p 672.15.
172 Ibid p 675.23.
173 Ibid p 675.25.
174 Ibid.
175 Ibid.
176 Ibid.
177 Cap 13, Lateran IV, COD (2 ed Fribourg 1902) p 218.
178 Bolton, ‘Mulieres Sanclae’ p 89. The death of Mary of Oignies had deprived the beguines of a leader and by 1229 there was no other such charismatic figure on the scene. Further there were new opportunities for women in the Cistercian and mendicant orders. See Freed, ‘Urban development and the cura monialium,’ p 313 for some most convincing figures for their foundations between 1228-73.