The Medieval Women Who Refused to Be Nuns or Wives (And Got Away With It for 800 Years)

Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About the Tudors

Heather Teysko

History

4.6 • 624 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The last Beguine died in 2013. Her name was Marcella Pattyn, she was 92 years old, and she was the final link in an 800-year chain of women who refused to be nuns or wives and built something entirely their own instead. The Beguines lived in community, supported themselves, and wrote theology in languages ordinary people could actually read, all without answering to any bishop, abbot, or husband. The medieval Church had no category for them, and that uncertainty turned dangerous fast. This episode follows the Beguines from their origins in 13th century Belgium and the Netherlands through the trial of Marguerite Porete, a mystic who wrote a book the Church burned twice, sat before the Inquisition in silence for eighteen months, and was executed in Paris in 1310. Her book survived. It's still in print. The begijnhofs her community built are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. They were not waiting for permission. They just kept going. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Now, are all the traitors present? Let's get started, shall we?
0:04.5	From rags to riches. I'm so sick of this. Working like a dog and being treated worse.
0:09.1	Yorkshire to New York. Poor climbers, you and me.
0:12.4	A life dedicated to revenge. Let's make this an occasion to remember.
0:16.9	A woman of substance on Channel 4, stream now.
0:23.4	The last Beguine died in 2013.
0:31.1	Her name was Marcella Patton, and she was 92 years old, and she had been living as a Beguine since 1941.
0:40.5	When she died in Kortrick, Belgium, an 800-year-old movement officially ended. And I think most of us had no idea that it had been happening in the first place. So let's fix that, because the Begienes are one of
0:46.4	those stories where the more you learn, the more you cannot believe that nobody told you about
0:52.3	this sooner. If you're new here friend, this channel is all
0:55.8	about Tudor history and the medieval world that shaped it and I would love to have you stick
1:00.5	around. Hit subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. Here's the basic situation. It's the 13th
1:07.2	century. You are a woman in northwestern Europe and you want to live a religious life. You have
1:14.4	two options. You can get married, which means that your spiritual life is largely your husband's business.
1:21.7	Or you can enter a convent, which means paying what was essentially a dowry to the church. Then you had to submit to a strict
1:30.5	rule, take permanent vowels, and you could never leave. That's it. Those are your two options.
1:38.0	The medieval church had a very tidy system, and women fit into it in exactly two ways. Some women looked at those options and said,
1:47.9	no thank you. We'll figure something else out. And they did. Get comfy, settle in, grab a
1:54.0	beverage. Today we are going to talk about the beguines.
2:09.2	Hey friend, welcome back to the Renaissance English History podcast. I am your host, Heather.
2:15.1	I've been podcasting on Tudor England since 2009 with my show, which makes me the original Tudor History podcast. I have to say this topic was actually
2:20.2	recommended or was requested in a video a couple of weeks ago, Women in Convents, by a
	...

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