Beghard

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A man who belonged to a medieval lay religious community in the Low Countries and Germany, living devoutly without taking formal monastic vows
2. Medieval male member of an unofficial lay brotherhood, the masculine counterpart of the Beguines, devoted to prayer, charity and simple living
3. One of the men in a loosely organized, non-monastic religious fraternity of the late Middle Ages who pursued a pious life among ordinary society

Etymology: The name "beghard" comes from the Low Countries, where it was applied to a loosely organized lay religious man who lived a devout life without taking formal monastic vows. Its ultimate source is the Old French "bégard" or "béguard," and the word is linked to the "beguine," the female counterpart who joined the same kind of communal, pious living. English took the word from French, so it belongs to the vocabulary of medieval religious movements rather than everyday speech. The men it named often lived in small communities, supported themselves by work, and devoted themselves to prayer and charity, which made them hard to fit into the categories of monk, friar or secular clergy. The label was sometimes used as a term of mockery, and the groups came under suspicion from church authorities, so the word carries some of that outsider status with it.

Synonyms: begard