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The Begijnhof, Utrecht, was a beguinage ( nl, Begijnhof) in the
As the beguinage lost its independence the builders moved in on its site: new streets were laid out and new houses built. In the aftermath the ''Begijnekerk'' ("Beguine Church") was named after the previous beguinage, and some of the new streets, such as the Wijde Begijnestraat, owe their names to it. Of the original buildings of the Begijnhof very little remains: there are a few converted buildings or fragments reused from demolished ones. The chapel, after use as a stable, was converted to a dwelling house in about 1840; substantial parts of the structure are present in the house Wijde Begijnestraat 112. Also, the terrace of houses in the same street numbered 15-21 is in origin a house of the beguinage converted in about 1840.
''Begijnhof, Utrecht, The Netherlands''
{{Coord, 52, 5, 44.79, N, 5, 7, 18.08, E, scale:6250_type:landmark_region:NL, display=title Buildings and structures in Utrecht (city) Beguinages Former Christian monasteries in the Netherlands
The Begijnhof, Utrecht, was a beguinage ( nl, Begijnhof) in the Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
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Places
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People E ...
city of Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
.
History
The beguinage was located in the northern part of the city. The accepted date for the settlement there of thebeguine
The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christian lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th–16th centuries. Their members lived in semi-monastic communities but did not take forma ...
s is the second quarter of the 13th century. The enclosed but extensive site included a chapel, a ''groothuys'' ("big house") in multiple occupancy and a ''moeshof'' (communal garden). There were also a number of small houses which belonged to individual beguines. In addition, several more beguines lived to the south-east of the beguinage in an area called ''Het Heilige Leven'' ("The Holy Life"). There is no information on the precise number of beguines or on the details of their rule of life, but it seems likely that they were numerous. From about 1400 the Begijnhof was assured of the protection of ''begijnmeesters'' ("beguine masters") provided by the city, although the measure was as much about control as protection. In the 15th century various bishops and archbishops of Utrecht ordered the city to protect the beguines.
After the Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
(circa 1580) the Begijnhof increasingly lost its independence; in 1613 the beguines were forbidden to carry out Roman Catholic worship, and orders were passed concerning the transmission of property and the allocation of living spaces to Protestant townswomen. By about 1675 the Begijnhof had effectively ceased to exist, as in that year the sources of income of the few remaining beguines from the municipal authority were stopped.
As the beguinage lost its independence the builders moved in on its site: new streets were laid out and new houses built. In the aftermath the ''Begijnekerk'' ("Beguine Church") was named after the previous beguinage, and some of the new streets, such as the Wijde Begijnestraat, owe their names to it. Of the original buildings of the Begijnhof very little remains: there are a few converted buildings or fragments reused from demolished ones. The chapel, after use as a stable, was converted to a dwelling house in about 1840; substantial parts of the structure are present in the house Wijde Begijnestraat 112. Also, the terrace of houses in the same street numbered 15-21 is in origin a house of the beguinage converted in about 1840.
References
Sources
*René van Weeren''Begijnhof, Utrecht, The Netherlands''
{{Coord, 52, 5, 44.79, N, 5, 7, 18.08, E, scale:6250_type:landmark_region:NL, display=title Buildings and structures in Utrecht (city) Beguinages Former Christian monasteries in the Netherlands