The beguine movement emerged during the twelfth century and spread through western Europe. Almost all members were women, committing themselves to the vita apostolica. The beguine movement was perceived to be over by the second half of the twentieth century, but the romanticised image of beguines lives on. The main goal of this survey is to offer a well-supported synthesis, in contrast to the proliferation of different doubtful hypotheses on many subjects relating to the beguines, such as the origins of the movement, the etymology of the word ‘beguine’, the social status of the candidate beguines, the beguine mystics and the so-called revolutionary feminism of the first generations.