Berengar of Tours [key], c.1000–1088?, French theologian, also called Bérenger and Berengarius, b. Tours. He was archdeacon of Angers (c.1040–1060). After studying at Chartres, he returned to Tours to become head of its cathedral school. Berengar is said to have denied the Real Presence in the Eucharist. His defiance of authority angered his contemporaries, particularly Lanfranc. Berengar was defended by Pope Gregory VII and Peter Damian. He wrote a reply to Lanfranc, De Sacra Coena, which was condemned. He was declared a heretic, but became reconciled with the church before his death. Berengar's controversy with the church brought about a more explicit formulation of the doctrine of the Eucharist.
See A. J. Macdonald, Berengar and the Reform of Sacramental Doctrine (1930).
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