Beatrijs

The story of Beatrice in a nutshell? Behold: a medieval nun steps out of the convent for a childhood love. But that love leaves her and their children as soon as the money runs out. Then Beatrice, ex-nun, goes to work as a sex worker to support her offspring. But eventually she decides to give up her children and return to the monastery.

The Middle Ages are often described as “dark ages” dominated by men where women played no significant role. But the women of those times were much more emancipated than we usually think. Beatrice is the ideal character to put an end once and for all to this one-sided view of history. For this woman is simultaneously a nun, a mother and a sex worker. Lola Bogaert, Sara Heck and Yinka Kuitenbrouwer dig down to the bone to bring out the complexity of this wafer-thin story.

Theme Faith

The Middle Ages are often described as a dark period with men dominating society. Women hardly seem to be involved. But when you look at reality, women during this period turn out to be much more emancipated than we usually think. Take Beatrice, for example. A woman who is both nun, mother and prostitute. A story of an enterprising woman who makes her own choices independent of men or God. This performance does away with our one-sided view of history. Three women comment on the story of Beatrice, singling out certain aspects and deleting others, without pardon. They reconstruct Beatrijs from an emancipated point of view and with a refreshing view on women and gender.

Literarily and historically, Beatrice is very interesting. Literary because it is the first work of Middle Dutch literature in which a woman plays the leading role. Moreover, this woman has her own will and does not allow herself to be manipulated by God or the devil. She makes her own choices. The historical importance of this play is evidenced by its worldwide distribution. As many as 54 medieval versions of the story of Beatrice exist, from Arabic to Old Norse. Not to mention the 147 (!) adaptations of it written later.