The Berengarians were a religious

sect A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that b ...

who adhered to the views of

Berengar of Tours Berengar of Tours (died 6 January 1088), in Latin Berengarius Turonensis, was an 11th-century French Christian theologian and archdeacon of Angers, a scholar whose leadership of the cathedral school at Chartres set an example of intellectual i ...

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

, and opposed the developing doctrine of

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...

in the mid-eleventh century. The Berengarian sect, considered

heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, is said to have numbered 800,000 according to the historian Belamine.Alien Baptism and The Baptist
/ref>

Classification as heresy

The

held considerable power in Western Europe during the

High High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

and

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...

. Those clergy and theologians whom it judged guilty of

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

could be excommunicated and exiled or sentenced to death unless they formally recanted their errors. A text misattributed to

John Scotus Eriugena John Scotus Eriugena, also known as Johannes Scotus Erigena, John the Scot, or John the Irish-born ( – c. 877) was an Irish Neoplatonist philosopher, theologian and poet of the Early Middle Ages. Bertrand Russell dubbed him "the most ...

, a philosopher-theologian and intellectual heir of

Maximus the Confessor Maximus the Confessor ( el, Μάξιμος ὁ Ὁμολογητής), also spelt Maximos, otherwise known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople ( – 13 August 662), was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his earl ...

in the 9th-Century, had maintained that there was no physical transformation of the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

. Later in 1047,

reignited the debate in the name of Erigena. During the next 30 years, Berengar was asked to recant his heresy concerning what would be declared the Roman Catholic dogma of

no less than five times including a short spell in prison. He later retired into solitude and made no further pronouncements on the matter.

Followers of the sect

It is known that an early supporter of Berengar was Bishop

Eusebius of Angers Eusebius (Bruno) of Angers (died September 1, 1081) was bishop of Angers, France. He first appears in the historical record as bishop of Angers at the synod of Rheims in 1049, and for a long time had been an adherent of Berengar's doctrine of the ...

, although he later renounced the heresy. Although it is known that

Geoffrey II, Count of Anjou Geoffrey, Geoffroy, Geoff, etc., may refer to: People * Geoffrey (name), including a list of people with the name * Geoffroy (surname), including a list of people with the name * Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095–c. 1155), clergyman and one of the m ...

secured Berengar's release from prison, it is unlikely that it was more than political point scoring. The historian Belamine said that the supporters numbered 800,000 by 1160. His followers were divided on the head of the

; though they all agreed that the bread and wine were not essentially changed, some allowed it to be changed in effect, though under an

impanation Impanation (Latin: ''impanatio'', "embodied in bread") is a high medieval theory of the real presence of the body of Jesus Christ in the consecrated bread of the Eucharist that does not imply a change in the substance of either the bread or the bo ...

, which was the opinion of Berenger himself. Others denied any change at all, and resolved all into figure. Yet others allowed a change in part, and others an entire change, with the restriction that to those who presented themselves unworthily, it was changed back again.

Influence on the reformers

As Berengar left no written tracts it is moot what influence the Berengarians had on the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. While

John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

rejected the theory of transubstantiation in favor of "pneumatic presence," earlier

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

criticized the making of this teaching into a dogma as well as some of its metaphysical underpinnings and implications.

References

* {{Proto-Protestantism Former Christian denominations