Independent Mystical Women Between Sacredness and Heresy: The Beguines

Yıl 2022, , 43 - 69, 15.09.2022

Halil Temiztürk

https://doi.org/10.56720/mevzu.1118404

Öz

The position of women in Christianity has been controversial from the early period. Although there were many examples of women's activities in religious life during that period, women were excluded from the church hierarchy in the later period. However, unlike institutional Christianity, women were more prominent in mystical Christianity, and they influenced society with some their visions and extraordinary experiences. One of the mystical women's movements that attracted attention in the Middle Ages is the Beguines consisting of independent mystic, secular women. They appeared for the first time in the 12th century in the Low Countries, consisting of a region comprising modern-day Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and also parts of eastern Germany and northern France. On the one hand, they were respected in society as mystical women, and on the other hand, they were kept in view by the Church as they were independent secular mystics. The article deals with the historical conditions and social dynamics in the emergence of the Beguines. It also evaluated the mystical lifestyle of the Beguines, their differences from other mystical groups, and how they are perceived by the Church. It is aimed that the article will contribute to the researches in different fields, in terms of shedding light on the history of Christian mysticism and the relations between the Church, mystics and women.

Anahtar Kelimeler

History of Religions, Christianity, Mysticism, Women, Beguines

Kutsallık ve Heretiklik Arasında Bağımsız Mistik Kadınlar: Beguineler

Öz

Kadınların Hıristiyanlık içerisindeki konumları geçmişten beri tartışmalı olmuştur. Erken dönemde kadınların dinî hayatta etkin olduklarına ilişkin çok sayıda örnek olmasına rağmen daha sonraki süreçte kilise hiyerarşisinden dışlandıkları bilinmektedir. Fakat kurumsal Hıristiyanlığın aksine, kadınlar mistik Hıristiyanlıkta daha öne çıkmışlar, vizyonları ve sıra dışı tecrübeleriyle topluma tesir etmişlerdir. Orta Çağ’da dikkat çeken mistik kadın hareketlerinden biri de Kiliseden bağımsız laik mistik kadınlardan oluşan Beguinelerdir. 12. yüzyılda Aşağı Ülkeler olarak bilinen bugünkü Belçika, Hollanda, Lüksemburg ile Almanya’nın doğusu ve Fransa’nın kuzeyindeki bölgelerde ortaya çıkmışlardır. Bir taraftan mistik kadınlar olarak toplumda saygı görmüş, diğer taraftan bağımsız laik mistikler oldukları için kilise otoritesince dikkatlice takip edilmişlerdir. Makalede Beguinelerin ortaya çıkmasındaki tarihsel koşullar ve sosyal dinamikler ele alınmaktadır. Ayrıca onların yaşam tarzları, diğer mistik gruplardan farkları ve Kilise tarafından nasıl karşılandıkları değerlendirilmiştir. Makale Hıristiyan mistik geleneği ile beraber Kilise, mistikler ve kadınlar arasındaki ilişkileri ele almaktadır, bu bakımdan çalışmanın farklı alanlardaki araştırmacılara katkı sağlaması hedeflenmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Dinler Tarihi, Hıristiyanlık, Mistisizm, Kadın, Beguineler

Kaynakça

• American Beguine Community. (2022). American Beguine Community. https://beguine.org/
• Andrews, F. (2000). The Early Humiliati. Cambridge University Press.
• Batuk, C. (2012). Assisili Francis ve Hıristiyan Mistisizmi (Sy 722). İz Yayıncılık.
• Beaulieu, G. of. (1840). Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France (M. Bouquet & L. Delisle, Ed.). Gregg Press.
• Blom, J. C. H., & Lamberts, E. (Ed.). (1998). History of the Low Countries (J. C. Kennedy, Çev.). Berghahn Books.
• Brasher, S. (2004). Women of the Humiliati: A Moral Response to Medieval Civic Life. Routledge.
• Brunn, E. Z., & Burgard, G. E. (1998). Women Mystics in Medieval Europe. Paragon House.
• Buckham, J. (2017). İsa ve Pavlus’un Mistisizmi (H. Temiztürk, Çev.). Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 4(1), 149-157.
• Butler, D. L. (2002). Hospitallers and Hospital Sister. Içinde T. Carson & J. Cerrito (Ed.), The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition (2nd edition, C. 7, ss. 119-121). Gale Research Inc.
• de Virty, J. (1707). Vita b. Mariae Oignies. İçinde Acta Sanctorum (C. 4, ss. 636-666). Petrus Jacobs,.
• Deane, J. K. (2008). Beguines’ Reconsidered: Historiographical Problems and New Directions. Monastic Matrix-Commentaria, 3461, 1-33.
• Doniger, W. (2006). Encyclopedia of World Religions. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Englebert, O. (2013). St. Francis of Assisi: A Biography. Franciscan Media.
• Episcopal Church Diocese of Pennsylvania. (1864). Woman’s Mission in the Christian Church. King & Baird.
• Ernest, G.-S. (1907). Beguines and Beghards. İçinde Catholic Encyclopedia (C. 2). Robert Appleton Company. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02389c.htm
• Father, E. (2009). Manual of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assis gallrd also the Order of Benanse. Kessinger Publishing.
• Fox, M. (1980). Breakthrough: Meister Eckhart’s Creation Spirituality in New Transition. Doubleday.
• Frassetto, M. (2007). Heretic Lives: Medieval Heresy from Bogomil and the Cathars to Wyclif and Hus (Main edition). Profile.
• Gaposchkin, M. C. (2008). The Making of Saint Louis: Kingship, Sanctity, and Crusade in the Later Middle Ages. Cornell University Press.
• Gelderblom, A.-J., Jong, J. L. D., Vaeck, M. V., Ph. D. Jong, J. L. D., & Vaeck, M. V. (Ed.). (2004). The Low Countries as a Crossroads of Religious Beliefs. Brill Academic Pub.
• Grundmann, H. (1995). Religious Movements in the Middle Ages: The Historical Links between Heresy. University of Notre Dame Press.
• Hornbeck II, J. P. (2013). Heresy. Içinde J. A. Lamm (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Christian Mysticism (1st edition, ss. 89-103). Wiley-Blackwell.
• Howell, M. C. (1998). The Marriage Exchange: Property, Social Place, and Gender in Cities of the Low Countries, 1300-1550 (1st edition). University of Chicago Press.
• Israel, J. I. (1998). The Dutch Republic Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477-1806. Oxford University Press.
• Jordan, W. C. (2016). Louis IX and the Challenge of the Crusade: A Study in Rulership. Princeton University Press.
• Kahveci̇, K. (2014). Mistik Düğün. Atatürk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 50, 83-89.
• Lerner, R. E. (1972). The heresy of the free spirit in the later Middle Ages. University of California Press.
• Lerner, R. E. (1991). The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages (1st edition). University of Notre Dame Press.
• McDonnell, E. W. (1954). The Beguines and Beghards in Medieval Culture, with Special Emphasis on the Belgian Scene. Rutgers University Press.
• McDonnell, E. W. (2002). Beguines and Beghards. Içinde T. Carson & J. Cerrito (Ed.), The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition (2nd edition, C. 2, ss. 204-205). Gale Research Inc.
• Miller, T. S. (2017). The Beguines of Medieval Paris: Gender, Patronage, and Spiritual Authority. University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Moran, S. J., & Pipkin, A. (2019). Introduction. İçinde S. J. Moran & A. Pipkin (Ed.), Women and Gender in the Early Modern Low Countries (C. 217, ss. 1-20). Brill. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctvrxk3hp.6
• Muir, E. G. (2019). Women’s History of the Christian Church: Two Thousand Years of Female Leadership. University of Toronto Press.
• Mulder-Bakker, A. B., King, M. H., & Feiss, H. (2006). Mary of Oignies: Mother of Salvation. Brepols.
• Neel, C. (1989). The Origins of the Beguines. Signs, 14(2), 321-341.
• Paris, M. (1993). Selections from Matthew Paris (Classic Reprint). Sutton Publishing.
• Pope XXII. John. (1961). Mater et Magistra (May 15, 1961). The Holy See. https://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_15051961_mater.html
• Ramos, C. M. (1980). The Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order: With a Catechism and Instructions. Franciscan Herald Press.
• Ranft, P. (2003). Women in Western Intellectual Culture, 600–1500. Palgrave McMillan.
• Simons, W. (2010). Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries, 1200-1565. University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Smith, M. (2017). Kadınlar Arasında Asketizm ve Manastır Hayatı (H. Temiztürk, Çev.). Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 4(2), 215-229.
• Smith, R. J. D. (2018). Excessive Saints: Gender, Narrative, and Theological Invention in Thomas of Cantimpré’s Mystical Hagiographies (s. 320 Pages). Columbia University Press.
• Stroick, A. (Ed.). (1931). Collectio de Scandalis Ecclesiae. Nova Editio. Archivium Franciscanum Historicum, 24, 58.
• Szarmach, P. E. (1984). Introduction to the Medieval Mystics of Europe. New York Press.
• Tanner, N. (1990). Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils (C. 1). Georgetown University Press.
• Thompson, A. (2012). Francis of Assisi: A New Biography. Cornell University Press.
• Vitry, J. de. (1989). The Life of Marie D’Oignies. Peregrina Publishing Company.
• Walsh, J. J. (1910). Hospitals. İçinde Catholic Encyclopedia (C. 7). Robert Appleton Company. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07480a.htm
• Ward, J. (2016). Women in Medieval Europe 1200-1500. Routledge.
• Wright, W. M. (2022). Contemplative Sisters. Home. https://acsisters.org/