Replacing the family? Beguinages in early modern western European cities: an analysis of the family networks of beguines living in Mechelen (1532-1591)

In many early modern towns of the southern Low Countries, beguinages gave adult single women of all ages the possibility to lead a religious life of contemplation in a secure setting, retaining rights to their property and not having to take permanent vows. This paper re-examines the family networks of these women by means of a micro-study of the wills left by beguines who lived in the Great Beguinage of St Catherine in sixteenth-century Mechelen, a middle-sized city in the Low Countries. By doing so, this research seeks to add nuance to a historiography that has tended to consider beguinages as artificial families, presumably during a period associated with the increasing dominance of the nuclear family and the unravelling ties of extended family.

Jaar van publicatie:2014

Trefwoorden:A1 Journal article

BOF-keylabel:ja

BOF-publication weight:0.5

CSS-citation score:1

Authors from:Higher Education

Toegankelijkheid:Closed