Beghards.

Beghards. Societies of laymen under this name first appeared in Germany, the Netherlands, and the south of France in the beginning of the 13th century, and were known in Italy as Bizaechi and Bocasoti; but they never obtained the reputation enjoyed by the Beguine sisterhood. Towards the end of the 13th century they were commonly stigmatised as bons garçons, boni pueri, and such contemptuous titles, which expressed the low estimation in which they were held. On account of heretics of all sorts retreating into these half-spiritual communities, they were subjected to severe persecutions after 1367, and were gradually dispersed, or joined the orders of Dominicans and Franciscans. In the Netherlands, where they had preserved a better character than elsewhere, they maintained their ground longer, and were protected by Pope Innocent IV. (1245), in Brussels by Cardinal Hugo (1254), and in Liège by Pope Urban IV. (1261); but their communities disappeared in the 14th century. The most probable origin of our word beggar, according to Dr Murray, is none other than the old French begart, begard, or its synonym, beguin, whence the verb beguigner, beguiner, 'to act the beguin.' If this etymology be true, it serves to show how widely these lay mendicants must have been spread over Western Europe.—See BEGUINES; Mosheim, De Beghardis et Beguinabus (Leip. 1790).