Berengar of Tours

Berengar of Tours
born с 999, Tours, Touraine
died Jan. 10, 1088, priory of Saint-Cosme, near Tours

French theologian.

He became canon of Tours Cathedral and archdeacon of Angers (с 1040). He rejected the prevailing eucharistic theology and argued against any material change to the bread and wine. He was opposed by numerous theologians, most notably Lanfranc, and may have been excommunicated (1050) by Pope Leo IX. He was condemned by the Council of Vercelli (1050) and the Synod at Paris (1051). After a compromise, he was again condemned in 1076, 1078, 1079, and 1080 and spent the rest of his life in ascetic solitude.

* * *

▪ French theologian
Latin  Berengarius,  French  Bérenger De Tours 
born c. 999, probably Tours, Touraine [now in France]
died Jan. 10, 1088, priory of Saint-Cosme, near Tours

      theologian principally remembered for his leadership of the losing side in the crucial eucharistic controversy of the 11th century.

      Having studied under the celebrated Fulbert at Chartres, Berengar returned to Tours after 1029 and became canon of its cathedral and head of the School of Saint-Martin, which rivaled Bec under Lanfranc, who was later to be his opponent. Berengar befriended Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, and Eusebius Bruno, later bishop of Angers. About 1040 he was appointed archdeacon of Angers.

      Shortly thereafter, Berengar, who always exhibited great independence of thought, began to teach ideas contrary to prevailing beliefs. Most notably, he rejected the then-current view of transubstantiation credited to the 9th-century abbot of Corbie, St. Paschasius Radbertus, who professed that the bread and wine, after consecration in the mass, became the real body and blood of Christ. Berengar favoured the interpretation formulated in De corpore et sanguine Domini (“Concerning the Body and Blood of the Lord”) by Ratramnus, a monk of Corbie, to whom the elements became the body and blood of Christ in a symbolic sense. Berengar's restatement of these views aroused severe opposition. He boldly wrote (c. 1050) to Lanfranc against his condemning Ratramnus. The letter arrived in Lanfranc's absence and, after being read by several persons, finally reached him at Rome. Pope Leo IX excommunicated Berengar at the Easter Synod of 1050 and ordered him to the Council of Vercelli (1050). Berengar reluctantly obeyed. He went to Paris to get permission from the French king Henry I, his nominal abbot, to attend the synod. He was imprisoned by Henry and condemned at Vercelli in absentia.

      On his release from prison, Berengar took refuge with his protector, Geoffrey, and Henry ordered a synod at Paris to judge Berengar and his supporter Eusebius. The synod condemned them both (1051). In 1054 the powerful papal legate Cardinal Hildebrand came to France to preside at the Synod of Tours. To preserve peace, a compromise was reached under which Berengar signed a vague eucharistic statement. In 1059 he was summoned to Rome for another council, at which he was refused a hearing and was asked to sign an extreme statement repugnant to his ideas. After this, Geoffrey died, and Eusebius began to draw away from Berengar. Berengar nevertheless published a treatise (c. 1069) against the Roman council of 1059, which was answered by Hugo of Langres and by Lanfranc, with a rejoinder by Berengar.

      Berengar's position was steadily worsening, and the rigorous pattern of examination, condemnation, and recantation was repeated at the nearly violent Council of Poitiers (1076), the Roman synods of 1078 and 1079, and a trial at Bordeaux in 1080. Thereafter Berengar was silent. He retired to ascetic solitude in the priory of Saint-Cosme.

      Berengar's eucharistic doctrine is expressed in his De sacra coena (“On the Holy Supper”), written in reply to Lanfranc. More than any of his contemporaries, Berengar applied to theological development the method of dialectic. He based his argument on belief that Paschasius' view was contrary to the Scriptures, the Church Fathers, and reason.

Additional Reading
Gary Macy, The Theologies of the Eucharist in the Early Scholastic Period (1984); and Brian Stock, The Implications of Literacy: Written Language and Models of Interpretation in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (1983), provide useful introductions to Berengar and the Eucharistic Controversy. H.E.J. Cowdrey, Lanfranc: Scholar, Monk, and Archbishop (2003), offers perspectives on the controversy from the side of Berengar's main rival.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Berengar of Tours — (c. 999 ndash;January 6, 1088) was a French 11th century Christian theologian, a scholar whose leadership of the cathedral school at Chartres set an example of intellectual inquiry through the revived tools of dialectic that was soon followed at… …   Wikipedia

  • Berengar von Tours — (* Anfang des 11. Jahrhunderts in Tours; † 6. Januar 1088 auf der Insel St. Cosmas bei Tours) war ein Dialektiker der frühen Scholastik. Leben Er war ein Schüler des Bischofs Fulbert in Chartres, wurde um 1030 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Berengar von Tours —   [ tuːr], scholastischer Theologe, * Tours um 1000, ✝ Saint Côme (bei Tours) 1088; Schüler Fulberts an der Schule von Chartres; wurde 1030 Lehrer an der Domschule von Tours, 1040 deren Leiter und zugleich Archidiakon von Angers. Berengar… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Berengar von Tours — Berengar von Tours, berühmter Scholastiker, bald nach 1000 vielleicht in Tours geboren, gest. 1088, Schüler des Bischofs Fulbert von Chartres, ward gegen 1040 Vorsteher der Domschule zu Tours und brachte diese durch seine Gelehrsamkeit, seine… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Berengar von Tours — Berengar von Tours, 998–1088, Geistlicher. Archidiakon zu Angers, lehrte zuerst gegen die Transsubstantiation und behauptete, daß nicht das Brot der Leib Christi werde, sondern daß die Kraft des Brotes durch den Glauben in die Kraft des Leibes… …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • Berengar — (Berengarius), I. Fürsten: 1) B. I., Sohn des Herzogs Eberhard von Friaul u. Giselas, der Tochter Ludwigs des Frommen, folgte seinem Vater 874 als Markgraf von Friaul, s.d. (Gesch.) u. machte, weil er mütterlicher Seits von den Karolingern… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Berengar — ist der Name folgender Persönlichkeiten: Berengar I. von Friaul (840/845–924), Kaiser, König von Italien Berengar II. (um 900–966), König von Italien, Markgraf von Ivrea Berengar von Bayeux (9. Jahrhundert), Herr (oder Graf) von Bayeux Berengar… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Berengar — is a masculine name, of some popularity among certain noble families during the Middle Ages, especially the Unruochings and those related. Bérenger is the French form and Berengario the Italian. *Berengar of Toulouse *Berengar I of Neustria… …   Wikipedia

  • Berengar (Bishop of Venosa) — Berengar (after 25 December 1096) was the Bishop of Venosa. He is mentioned for the last time at Christmas 1096. The son of Arnaud d Échauffour, he became a monk in Saint Evroul sur Ouche as a youth. He was a student of Abbot Thierri. Berengar… …   Wikipedia

  • Berengar [2] — Berengar von Tours, Scholastiker, geb. um 1000 zu Tours, Vorsteher der Domschule das. und Archidiakonus von Angers, Hauptgegner der Lehre von der Brotverwandlung im Abendmahl, schließlich zum Widerruf gezwungen (1079), gest. 6. Jan. 1088 auf der… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”