Delmaire, Bernard. “Les béguines dans le nord de la France au premier siècle de leur histoire (vers
1230-vers 1350).” In Les religieuses en France au XIIIe siècle, ed. Michel Parisse. Nancy:
Presses Universitaires, 1985.
Le Grand, Léon. “Les béguines de Paris.” In Mémoires de la Société de l’Histoire de Paris et de
l’Île-de-France. Paris: Champion, 1893, Vol. 20.
McDonnell, Ernest W. The Beguines and Beghards in Medieval Culture with Special Emphasis on
the Belgian Scene. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1954.
BELLE HELAINE DE
CONSTANTINOPLE
. A lengthy (14,000–18,000 lines) and convoluted romance of Byzantine inspiration,
Belle Helaine was a popular story, composed first in verse (1250–60; three 15th-c.
manuscripts) and later reworked in prose, notably by Jean Wauquelin. Telling the story of
a heroine whose right hand is cut off to avoid her identification, the anonymous
Tourangeau author used assonanced Alexandrines to disguise his adventure romance as a
chanson de geste.
Wendy E.Pfeffer
[See also: BEAUMANOIR, PHILIPPE DE REMI, SIRE DE]
Ruths, R. Die französische Fassungen des Roman de la belle Helaine. Diss. Greifswald, 1897.
BELLS
. The early history of Christian church bells is obscure. One cannot credit the medieval
view that they were introduced by St. Paulinus (d. 431), who never mentioned them in his
writings. The notion apparently stems from the coincidence that campana and nola are
common terms for church bells and that Paulinus was bishop of Nola in Campania.
Monastic rules in the 4th century already indicate that the monks were assembled for
prayer and meals by a signaling device, but this was probably a wooden gong (sematron)
rather than a metal bell. Gregory of Tours (d. 594) mentions bells on a number of
occasions, and it is clear that they were regularly employed in churches of the
Carolingian period, perhaps influenced in this respect by Irish and English missionaries.
(Another common medieval term for bell, clocca, the origin of the French cloche, derives
from the Gaelic clog.) Bells rapidly became an important part of medieval life. They
increased in size and number, and great towers were built to house them; they were
blessed in an elaborate ritual, given affectionate names, and made to ring on numerous
prescribed occasions. They signaled the beginning of Mass and the canonical hours, the
time of curfew and of the Angelus; they welcomed princes and bishops and sounded the
The Encyclopedia 203