The Brethren of Penance rapidly spread all over the Low Countries, and even penetrated into France and into the provinces beyond the Rhine. There were Beghards in Brussels as early as 1274, perhaps even at a still earlier date, and they observed no fixed rule till 1359, when they became Franciscan Tertiaries. They earned their livelihood by weaving cloth; indeed, until 1474, when the cloth trade was practically dead, no man could join the order unless he were a member of the Weavers' Company, and, naturally enough, they lived in the weavers' quarter behind the Town Hall. Their convent was situated in the street which still bears their name, or rather in the _Rue des Alexiens_, a continuation of the _Rue des Beghards_, and which at one time seems to have formed part of it. It stood at the foot of a steep hill, and the brethren called their home _Mariendael_, or Mary's Valley. Beghards and Beguines were everywhere renowned for their tender devotion to the Madonna--a devotion which they sometimes liked to emphasise in the mystical names they gave to their dwellings. Thus the Béguinage of Vilvorde, for example, was 'Our dear Lady's Consolation,' '_Onze Lieve Vrouw-ten-Troost_,' '_Solatium Sanctæ Mariæ_.' The Zacites or Brethren of the Sack were also established in Brussels at a very early date; they were never a numerous community, and in 1480, having dwindled down to seven aged brethren, their convent was suppressed by the civic authorities, and its revenues bestowed on the new Carthusian priory which the city was at this time founding at Scheut. As for the expelled Zacites, six of them were placed in charitable institutions, and the seventh, who was by profession a surgeon, received a small life pension. Their chapel still remains; it is situated in the _Rue de la Madeleine_, and is well worth visiting--not so much on account of its architectural beauty, for it can never have been anything else than a very plain and unpretentious building, and, moreover, it has been spoiled by clumsy restoration; but it is interesting from its great age--it dates from the close of the twelve hundreds--and because it is the last remaining relic in Brussels of a very curious group of religious communities composed entirely of laymen.