Part ofa series on the
Reformation
Ninety-five Theses, written byMartin Luther in 1517
Precursors Peter Waldo andWaldensians John Wycliffe andLollardy Jan Hus andHussites Girolamo Savonarola andPiagnoni Arnold of Brescia andArnoldists Gottschalk of Orbais Ratramnus Claudius of Turin Berengar of Tours andBerengarians Wessel Gansfort Johann Ruchrat von Wesel Johannes von Goch Friends of God Pataria
Beginning Ninety-five Theses Diet of Worms Luther Bible Magisterials Radicals
Contributing factors Western Schism Avignon Papacy Bohemian Reformation Northern Renaissance Christian humanism German mysticism Johannes Gutenberg and hisprinting press Erasmus Johann Reuchlin
Theologies of seminal figures Theology of Martin Luther Theology of Huldrych Zwingli Theology of John Calvin
Protestant Reformers Martin Luther Philip Melanchthon Huldrych Zwingli John Calvin Martin Bucer William Tyndale Andreas Karlstadt Theodore Beza George Buchanan Heinrich Bullinger Peter Martyr Vermigli William Farel François Hotman John Knox Hubert Languet Thomas Müntzer Balthasar Hubmaier Menno Simons Thomas Cranmer Richard Hooker Jacobus Arminius Roger Williams Many others
By location Germany Switzerland (Geneva/Zürich) England Scotland Netherlands Czech Lands Hungary Romania Slovenia Denmark–Norway and Holstein Sweden and Finland Iceland Estonia andLatvia Austria France Italy Poland-Lithuania Ireland
Major political leaders Henry VIII Elizabeth I Oliver Cromwell James VI and I William the Silent Gaspard II de Coligny Henry IV of France Jeanne d'Albret Stephen Bocskai Gabriel Bethlen Gustav II Adolf Frederick V, Elector Palatine Philip I of Hesse Electors of Saxony Frederick III John Frederick I
Counter-Reformation Catholic Church Council of Trent Counter-Reformation § Politics Censorship of the Bible § 16th century Anti-Protestantism Criticism Holy Roman Emperors Charles V Ferdinand II
Political and religious conflicts Thirty Years' War French Wars of Religion Eighty Years' War War of the Three Kingdoms German Peasants' War Wars of Kappel Schmalkaldic War
Art and literature Painting and sculpture Northern Mannerism Lutheran art German Renaissance Art Swedish art English art Woodcuts Art conflicts Beeldenstorm Building Influence on church architecture Literature Elizabethan Metaphysical poets Propaganda Welsh Scottish Anglo-Irish German Czech Swiss Slovak Sorbian Romanian Danish Bohorič alphabet Faroese Norwegian Swedish Finnish Icelandic Dutch Renaissance and Golden Age Folklore of the Low Countries 16th century Renaissance humanism 16th century in poetry 16th century in literature Theater English Renaissance theatre Pastoral Morality History Tragedy Revenge
Music Forms Hymnody of continental Europe Music of the British Isles Hymn tune Lutheran chorale Lutheran hymn Anglican church music Exclusive psalmody Scottish church music Normative principle Anglican chant Homophony vs.Polyphony Falsobordone Verse anthem Liturgies Reformed worship Calvin's liturgy Formula missae Deutsche Messe Liturgical Struggle Ecclesiastical Latin Lutheran and Anglican Mass in music Cyclic mass vs.Paraphrase mass Roman vs.Sarum Rites Sequence (retained by Lutherans, mostly banned by Trent) Hymnals First andSecond Lutheran hymnals First Wittenberg hymnal Ausbund Swenske songer Thomissøn's hymnal Book of Common Prayer Metrical psalters Book of Common Order Souterliedekens Genevan Psalter Scottish Psalter Whole Book of Psalms
Conclusion and commemorations Conclusion Confessionalization with subsequentProtestant orthodoxy Peace of Westphalia Simultaneous rise ofPietism andRationalism Monuments Reformation Wall Luther Monuments Calendrical commemoration Reformation Day Lutheran Anglican
Protestantism
v t e

TheBerengarians were aProto-Protestant religioussect who adhered to the views ofBerengar of Tours,Archdeacon ofAngers, and opposed several key Roman Catholic doctrines in the mid-eleventh century. They opposed the emerging doctrine ofTransubstantiation, the practice ofinfant baptism, and privatesacramental confession. Additionally, they upheld the belief thatScripture, rather than the Church, held supreme authority forChristians. The Berengarian sect, considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church, is said to have numbered 800,000 according to the historian Belamine.^[1]

TheRoman Catholic Church held considerable power in Western Europe during theHigh andLate Middle Ages. Those clergy and theologians whom it judged guilty ofheresy could be excommunicated and exiled or sentenced to death unless they formally recanted their errors. A text by Frankish monkRatramnus of Corbie misattributed toJohn Scotus Eriugena, a philosopher-theologian and intellectual heir ofMaximus the Confessor in the 9th-Century, had maintained that there was no physical transformation of theEucharist. Later in 1047,Berengar of Tours reignited the debate in the name of Eriugena. During the next 30 years, Berengar was asked to recant his heresy concerning what would be declared the Roman Catholic dogma oftransubstantiation no less than five times including a short spell in prison. He later retired into solitude and made no further pronouncements on the matter.

It is known that an early supporter ofBerengar was BishopEusebius of Angers. It is also well documented thatGeoffrey II, Count of Anjou, was a follower of Berengarian beliefs and played a key role in securing Berengar's release from imprisonment.The historian Belamine said that the supporters numbered 800,000 by 1160.^[1]

His followers were divided on the head of theEucharist; though they all agreed that the bread and wine were not essentially changed, some allowed it to be changed in effect, though under animpanation, 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.

The Italian reformerGundolfo was said to be an early Berengarian.

As Berengar left no writtentracts it is not completely certain how much influence the Berengarians had on theProtestant Reformation. WhileJohn Calvin rejected the theory of transubstantiation in favor of "pneumatic presence," earlierMartin Luther criticized the making of this teaching into a dogma as well as some of its metaphysical underpinnings and implications.

• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Berengarius of Tours" .Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

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• Articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference