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II. History, life, spirituality
III. Beatrice of Nazareth
Daily life
The
painting to the left, dating from 1578, shows 46 scenes of the most important activities
of the beguines of Mechelen (Malines). Underneath the panels are written moralizing or
religious commentaries. (source: Hogenelst and Van Oostrom, p. 135)
This
is a similar, and similarly helpful image, a drawing - without vignettes this
time - of the activities of the beguines in Ghent. On the canvas on the top
right corner panel is written (I believe): Die Regel die Zaligen. So this
is actually a depiction of the Rule of this beguine community. The source of
this image - Weyergans and Zenoni (p.27) - merely states "Ghent", and
unfortunately I have not been able to find further information, either on the
date of creation or on the artist. We can be pretty sure though that this is a
drawing of the Great Beguinage of St. Amandsberg,
because its two gates are recognizable in the two first panels at the top. This
means that the drawing is from the 19h century or later. Still, as we will see,
not much had changed in the beguine's lifestyle between the 16th and the 20th
century, nor, presumably, between the 13th century and now.
So let us examine some of the details of these images, and some more recent and contemporary photographs, to learn about the beguine's daily life.
