UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Kreiger, Alaina Kathryn Anne
Dept./Program:
History
Year:
2010
Degree:
MA
Abstract:
During the reign of Louis IX, the reputation of the Capetian kings for piety became a legitimizing factor to their rule. With the growth of religious movements during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Capetians supported religious houses, including those of the beguines (religious lay women who chose not to take the vows of nuns).
Louis IX founded the Grand Beguinage of Paris in 1264 to make sure these women were secure as well as to promote his family's sanctity. His brother, Charles of Anjou and son, Philip III, would test these women to ensure their orthodoxy as well as utilize them for their own means. By the rule of Philip IV (r. 1285-1314) opinions of the beguines became more negative. To protect the reputation of the Capetians as saintly kings, beguines therefore slipped into the category of those whom Philip persecuted as challenges to the faith and sanctity of the realm. Beguine mystics such as Elizabeth of Spalbeek, Douceline of Digne, and Marguerite Porete all expressed their faith in controversial ways, but they were safe so long as they were supported by the crown and their reputation was intact. When that changed, as shown most dramatically in the execution of Marguerite in 1310, it became more dangerous to be a beguine.
Louis IX founded the Grand Beguinage of Paris in 1264 to make sure these women were secure as well as to promote his family's sanctity. His brother, Charles of Anjou and son, Philip III, would test these women to ensure their orthodoxy as well as utilize them for their own means. By the rule of Philip IV (r. 1285-1314) opinions of the beguines became more negative. To protect the reputation of the Capetians as saintly kings, beguines therefore slipped into the category of those whom Philip persecuted as challenges to the faith and sanctity of the realm. Beguine mystics such as Elizabeth of Spalbeek, Douceline of Digne, and Marguerite Porete all expressed their faith in controversial ways, but they were safe so long as they were supported by the crown and their reputation was intact. When that changed, as shown most dramatically in the execution of Marguerite in 1310, it became more dangerous to be a beguine.