into the following sections: Fibrous-rooted or winter- flowering, semi-tuberous or Soeotran, tu- berous or summer-flowering, and rex or orna- mental-leaved varieties. Many cultural vari- eties and hybrids of each are known to the flor- ist, some of the hybrids being plants of great beauty, as the 'Gloire de Lorraine," the double- llowered, and some of the single-flowered tuber- ous-rooted varieties, etc. The 'Rex Begonias' are of note on account of- the remarkable coloration of the leaves in some varieties. They are origi- nally of Asiatic origin, and have by crossing and selection yielded many fine forms. The Soeo- tran species have peltate leaves, those of the others being all unequal-sided. The cultivation of begonias was begun about 1777, and there are now hundreds of named varieties of recog- nized merit. Of rather easy cultivation, they do not seem to withstand the burning svniimer sun and frequent droughts of the United States, and they grow better as house-plants than they do in the open. See Plate of Greenhouse Pl. ts.
BEG-SHEHR, beg'sher', or BEI-SHEHR
(named from the city on its shores; Turk, beg,
bey -f- Pers. ,Shehr, dwelling). A fresh-water
lake in latitude 37° 45' N. and longitude 31° 30'
E., in the western part of the Province of
Konieh, Asiatic Turkey, and supposed to be
the ancient Caralitis. It is about 20 miles long,
and from 5 to 10 miles broad, and is connected
by a short stream of the same name with the
Lake of Soghla.
BEGUINES, bA-genz', BEGUI'NÆ, or BEGUT'TÆ (ME. he(/i/ne, bi/riyii, OF. beguine, Med. Lat. bcguina, bcghina, from Lambert le Begue).
The name of the earliest of all non-monastic
societies of women united for pious purposes,
dating from the Twelfth Century, and in all
probability founded by Lambert le B6gue (died
1187), i.e. the stanunerer, a priest of Liege,
Belgium. The po])ular tradition of Brabant since
the Seventeenth Century, that a Saint Begga,
daughter of Pepin, and sister of Saint Ger-
trude, founded in 696 the first sisterhood of
Beguines at Namur, has no historical basis. An
account of their establishment at Vilvorde, near
Brussels, is also demonstrably unauthentic. The
Beguines were not restricted by vows, nor did
they follow the rules of any order, but were
united under a sv.perieure for the exercise of
piety and benevolence, and lived generally in sepa-
rate small cottages, which, collectively, formed the
hcgiiwgiuin. or 'vineyard,' as it was Scripturally
termed. Their establishments were often en-
riched by liberal donations. A church, a hospi-
tal, and a house of reception or common enter-
tainment generally belonged to every oomnumity
of Beguines. The sisters were distinguished from
the rest of the laity only by their diligence and
devotedness, piety, modesty, and zeal for the
purity of youthful education. Societies of
Beguines flourished greatly during the Twelfth
and Thirteenth centuries, when they spread them-
selves over France and Gemiany. Among the most
important were those in Hamburg, Liibeck, Eat-
isbon, Magdeburg, Leipzig. Goslar, Rochlitz, and
Gijrlitz. As the pietists of the Jliddle Ages, the
Beguines were often subjected to persecutions
by the mendicant orders of friars; but, on ac-
count of their practical usefulness, were shel-
tered by the Pope and Councils, as well as by
secular authorities. In the Tliirteenth and
Fourteenth centuries, the Beguines became
united with the persecuted spiritualists among
the Franciscans, and with the sect of the
'brethren and sisters of the free spirit.' Hence
arose certain heresies, which, of course, occa-
sioned interference on the part of the Inquisi-
tion; and on account of certain immoralities, a
synod held at Fritzlar required that all candi-
dates must be forty years old before they could
enter a society of Beguines. These sisterhoods
maintained their position in Germany and the
Netherlands longer than in other countries. In
Holland, they existed at the close of the Eigh-
teenth Century, and in the present day we find
here and there so-called Beguinen-hiiuser ; two
still exist at Amsterdam and Breda, in Germany;
but the}' are now nothing more than almshouses
for poor spinsters. In Belgium, at Ghent, there
are two e.xtensive Beguinages, Le Grand Be-
guinage de Saint Elizabeth and Le Petit Beg3'n-
hoven ; the former dates from 1234 and was
transferred from near the Porte de Bruges to its
present site in the northeast of the town in
1874. It contains about 600 sisters, besides
200 locataires, or occasional inmates. Their
houses form a kind of distinct little town, which,
though environed by a wall and a moat, is ojien
to the visits of strangers. Le Petit Beguinage,
in a different suburl), contains about 400 mem-
bers and is also inclosed and has many separate
houses. It is conducted similarly. Lace-making
is one of the industries carried on. There are
within the inclosure eighteen convents in which
the j'ounger sisters live ; the older ones live in
little houses containing two or four occupants.
Living here a life of retirement and piety, the
Beguines in their simple dark dresses go out
as nurses to the hospital, and jierform other acts
of kindness among the poor. As above stated,
they ai'e under no monastic vow, but, having at-
tached themselves to the sisterhood, it is their
boast that none is known to have quitted it.
Each one paj's an entrance fee and yearly board.
There are houses of Beguines also at Antwerp
and Mechlin, and in 18.54 one was established in
France, at Castelnaudarj', in the Department of
Aude. Consult Baedeker, Belgium and Holland,
under "Ghent" (Leipzig, 1897).
Similar societies of laymen appeared in Ger- many, the Netherlands, and the south of France in the beginning of the Thirteenth Century, and were kno«m in Germany as Beghards (Ger. begehren, to seek with importunity), in France as Beguines, and in Italy as bizachi and bocasoti; but they never obtained the reputation enjoyed by the Beguine sisterhood. Toward the end of the I hirteenth Century they were commonly stigma- tized as bans g'ir<;ons, honi pneri, 'ministers' men.' 'bedesmen,' 'pietists,' 'vagabonds' — contemptuous titles, which expressed the low estimation in which they were held. On account of heretics of all sorts retreating into these half-spiritual com- munities, they were subjected to severe persecu- tions after 1307, and were gradually dispersed, or joined the orders of Dominicans and Fran- ciscans. In the Netherlands, where they had preserved a better character than elsewhere, they maintained their ground longer, and were pro- tected by Pope Innocent IV. (1245), in Brus- sels by Cardinal Hugo (1254), and in Lifige by Pope L'rban IV. (1261) ; but their communities disappeared in the Fourteenth Century. Con- talt: Mosheim, De Beghardis et Beguinabus
