Member of a community of unmarried women who led a religious life and lived in a beguinageWalled area, originally on the outskirts of a city, with a church and houses that served as residences for beguines.. Beguines took only two (temporary) vows: obedience (to the Grand Mistress of the beguinage) and purity. As they did not take a vow of poverty, they were allowed to own property. They also had to be self-supporting.