[See also: ANTIQUITY, ROMANCES OF; ESTRABOT; HISTORIOGRAPHY;
WACE]
Benoît de Sainte-Maure. Chronique des ducs de Normandie, ed. Carin Fahlin. 3 vols. Uppsala:
Almqvist and Wiksell, 1951–67. [A fourth volume of notes was published by Sven Sandqvist in
1979 with the same publisher.]
——. Le roman de Troie, ed. Léopold Constans. 6 vols. Paris: Didot, 1904–12.
BERENGAR OF TOURS
(ca. 1000–1088). Born at Tours, Berengar studied at Chartres under Fulbert and returned
to Tours to become scholasticus at Saint-Martin’s in 1031 and archdeacon of Angers in
- During and after his studies, Berengar displayed a penchant for appealing to reason
rather than to church authorities, a characteristic that perhaps led him to question the
specifics of eucharis-tic theology, the doctrine of the Real Presence. Details of Berengar’s
beliefs must be gleaned from the writings of his opponents and his own obscure treatise,
De sacra coena (ca. 1065–70), a polemic against one of his most vociferous adversaries,
Lanfranc of Bec. For Berengar, the doctrine of the Real Presence seems to have meant
that a spiritual or intellectual presence was added to the bread and wine but that their
substance did not change. Thus, he is credited with having initiated the first heresy in the
history of eucharistic theology.
Berengar attracted many disciples, who were eager to defend him in the debate over
the eucharist. His teachings, however, were countered by numerous tracts written by his
adversaries, most notably Lanfranc of Bec, and were condemned by a series of councils:
at Rome in 1050, Vercelli in 1050, Paris in 1051, and Rome in 1059 and 1079. At the
council of 1079, Berengar signed a profession of faith containing the first official use of
the words substantialiter converti. Returning to France after the council of 1079,
Berengar retired to the island of Saint-Côme near Tours, where he died in 1088. In
addition to De sacra coena, Berengar’s extant work includes correspondence, refutations
of Lanfranc, accounts of the various synods, and a poem, Iuste iudex Iesu Christe.
E.Kay Harris
[See also: FULBERT OF CHARTRES; HERESY; LANFRANC OF BEC]
Berengar of Tours. De sacra coena, ed. Martine Matronola. Milan: Società Editrice “Vitae
Pensiero,” 1936.
Didier, Jean-Charles, and Philippe Delhaye. “Hugues de Breteuil, évêque de Langres (d. 1050):
Lettre à Bérenger de Tours sur la présence réelle.” Revue des études augustiniennes 16
(1981):289–331.
Montclos, Jean de. Lanfranc et Bérengar: la controverse eucharistique du XIe siècle. Louvain:
Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense, 1971.
Southern, Richard W. “Lanfranc of Bec and Berengar of Tours.” In Studies in Medieval History
Presented to Maurice Powicke, ed. Richard W.Hunt et al. Oxford: Clarendon, 1948, pp. 27–48.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 208