You talk, we act.
You learn, we seize.
You inspect, we choose.
You chew, we swallow.
You bargain, we buy.
You glow, we take fire.
You assume, we know.
You ask, we take.
You search, we find.
You love, we languish.
You languish, we die.
You sow, we reap.
You work, we rest.
You grow thin, we grow fat.
You ring, we sing.
You sing, we dance.
You dance, we jump.
You blossom, we bear fruit.
You taste, we savor.
This remarkable text captures a dialogue between a Parisian Master of Theology and a Beguine, recorded in the late 13th century. The Beguines were a group of devout women who, while not officially nuns, chose to live spiritual lives under personal vows. Emerging in the thirteenth century, their movement gained significant popularity in northern France and the Low Countries. However, they also attracted criticism from certain members of the Church.
The dialogue itself was crafted to illustrate this tension, showcasing both the Church’s critiques and the Beguines’ defence of their practices. Representing the scholarly perspective of the Catholic Church, the Master of Theology reproaches the Beguine for what he perceives as her irreverent attitude toward formal religious practices. The Beguine’s spirited response, translated by Walter Simons in his book Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries, offers valuable insight into their perspective. Simons also provides an analysis of the dialogue’s broader significance:
This extraordinary text juxtaposes two genders and two types of knowledge: one male and learned, the other female and intuitive. The beguine makes full use of paradox, a favorite didactic tool of mystics, to demonstrate her superiority over the learned master. The quick succession of opposing and puzzling sign – images fulfills an important, almost ritual function: the elementary opposition between the pronouns ‘‘you’’ and ‘‘we’’ supports a scheme of metonymic transformation; strengthened by a few surprising reversals (‘‘You ring, we sing, you sing, we dance’’), this playful game of wits mocks the master’s received wisdom and implies that the beguine possesses deeper insight, greater truth, and acts on a higher plane. Whatever the ‘‘you’’ does, the ‘‘we’’ does better.
This dialogue is preserved in two manuscripts, each offering a different ending. In one version, the Master of Theology has no response. In the other, he retorts, “You debauch yourself, we dispute,” employing a choice of words that doubles as a pun on the French word pute, meaning prostitute.
This is a remarkable text, one that invites readers to place themselves in the role of the Beguine, identifying with her “we” while casting their opponents as the “you.” The dialogue’s layered meaning resonates with those who have ever defended their beliefs against criticism, making it as thought-provoking today as it was in the 13th century.
You can check out Walter Simons’ Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries, to learn more about this story, as well as The Green Ages: Medieval Innovations in Sustainability, by Annette Kehnel.
Subscribe to Medievalverse
