Electors of Saxony Holy Roman Emperors Building Literature Theater Liturgies Hymnals Monuments Calendrical commemoration The Berengarians were a Proto-Protestant religious sect who adhered to the views of Berengar of Tours, Archdeacon of Angers, and opposed several key Roman Catholic doctrines in the mid-eleventh century.
A text by Frankish monk Ratramnus of Corbie misattributed to John Scotus Eriugena, a philosopher-theologian and intellectual heir of Maximus the Confessor in the 9th-Century, had maintained that there was no physical transformation of the Eucharist.
During the next 30 years, Berengar was asked to recant his heresy concerning what would be declared the Roman Catholic dogma of transubstantiation no less than five times including a short spell in prison.
It is also well documented that Geoffrey 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.
While John Calvin rejected the theory of transubstantiation in favor of "pneumatic presence," earlier Martin Luther criticized the making of this teaching into a dogma as well as some of its metaphysical underpinnings and implications.