Disquisitio historica de origine beghinarum [...] Belgii.

8vo: [4]-239-[1 bl.] pp. (blank top margin of title cut off.).

Cont. gilt-ruled sheep, spine on 3 raised bands with gilt label (rubbed, front joint splitting). Good copy.

Important early study of the origins of Beguines and beguinages in the Low Countries, by the Antwerp canon Coens (1579-1645). It also refutes the "Declaratio veridica" that "proved" that the Brabantine countess Begga was at the origin of the phenomenon. Ref. BCNI 8066. - de Theux 94-95. Prov. Full-page engr. ecclesiastical arms with device "Vigilentia et prudentia" bound with as frontispiece. - Lib. stamp and ticket. Joined: Ryckel ab Oorbeeck, Josephus Geldolphus a – Vita S. Beggae, ducissa Brabantiae Andetemensium, Begginarum, et Beggardorum fundatricis. Louvain, C. Coenesteyn, 1631. 4to: [36]-758 (= 748)-[4] pp. (lacking engr. portrait of the author, as well as all engravings outside collation; blank top margin of title cut off). Good copy. Extensive biography of St Begga (d. 693) in defense of the thesis that she initiated the phenomenon of Beguines and the like. Woodcut mark on title. Title in red & black. Ref. BCNI 8420. - STCV 6703509. Prov. Old collector’s ticket van Vaernewyck. - 18th-c. annotations on front flyleaf. - Libr. stamp. (2 vol.)