Begijnhof

This guide to the Begijnhof in Amsterdam opens with Cornelia Arens, a woman buried inside this chapel on the fourteenth of October 1654 against her own explicit wishes. It follows the days right after her burial, when something began happening to her coffin that authorities could not explain, and asks what finally convinced the men responsible for burying her to change course. It also traces the beguines who settled this courtyard as early as 1346, lay Catholic women who could pray, own property and leave if they wished.