Single,Safe,and Sorry?

Abstract

The beguine movement is a most remarkable movement in the history of the Low Countries but still remains to be explained. The skewed sex ratio, diminished access to convents, and the religious revival of the late Middle Ages seem insufficient to explain the movement in the long run. I argue that the specific attitude toward women in the Low Countries that originated with the emergence of the European Marriage Pattern created a fertile and unique basis for the beguinages to develop: the beguinages may have offered women in the Low Countries safety and security in case they chose to remain single.