'''Amalric of Bena''' ({{fr icon}} '''Amaury de Bène''' or '''Amaury de Chartres'''; {{la icon}} '''Almaricus, Amalricus, Amauricus'''; died c. [[1204]]-[[1207]]) was a [[France|French]] [[theology|theologian]], after whom the [[Amalricians]] are named.

==Biography==
He was born in the latter part of the [[12th century]] at Bennes, a village between [[Ollé]] and [[Chauffours]] in the [[diocese of Chartres]].

He taught philosophy and theology at the [[University of Paris]] and enjoyed a great reputation as a subtle [[dialectic]]ian; his lectures developing the [[philosophy of Aristotle]] attracted a large circle of hearers. In [[1204]] his doctrines were condemned by the university, and, on a personal appeal to [[Pope Innocent III]], the sentence was ratified, Amalric being ordered to return to Paris and recant his errors.

His death was caused, it is said, by grief at the humiliation to which he had been subjected.
In [[1209]] ten of his followers were burnt before the gates of Paris, and Amalric's own body was exhumed and burnt and the ashes given to the winds. The doctrines of his followers, known as the [[Amalrician]]s, were formally condemned by the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran|fourth Lateran Council]] in 1215.

==Propositions==
Amalric appears to have derived his philosophical system from [[Johannes Scotus Eriugena|Erigena]], whose principles he developed in a one-sided and strongly [[pantheist]]ic form.

Three propositions only can with certainty be attributed to him:

#that God is all (''omnia sunt deus'') and thus all things are one because whatever is, is God (''omnia unum, quia quidquid est, est Deus'');
#that every Christian is bound to believe that he is a member of the body of Christ, and that this belief is necessary for salvation;
#that he who remains in love of God can commit no sin.

Because of the first proposition, God himself is thought as invisible and only recognizable in his creation.

These three propositions were further developed by his followers, who maintained that God revealed Himself in a threefold revelation, the first in the Biblical patriarch [[Abraham]], marking the ''epoch of the Father''; the second in [[Jesus Christ]], who began the ''epoch of the Son''; and the third in Amalric and his disciples, who inaugurated the ''era of the [[Holy Spirit|Holy Ghost]].''

Under the pretext that a true believer could commit no sin, the Amalricians seemed to have indulged in excesses, and the sect does not appear to have long survived the death of its founder. Not long after the burning of ten of their members (1210), the sect itself lost its importance, while some of the surviving Amalricans became [[Brethren of the Free Spirit]]<ref>http://www.pinselpark.org/geschichte/einzel/p0375_mittelalter/r_haeresie.html (German)</ref>.

Amalric was a believer in [[Apocatastasis]], the belief that all people would eventually be saved.<ref>"[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Apocatastasis Apocatastasis]". ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. 1913.</ref> This was one of the counts upon which he was declared a heretic by [[Pope Innocent III]].<ref>"[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc01.html?term=Apocatastasis Apocatastasis]". ''New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. I''.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Brethren of the Free Spirit]]

==Sources and references==
*{{1911}}
*[[Catholic Encyclopaedia]] [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01379b.htm]
* [[W. Preger]], ''Geschichte der deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter'' (Leipzig, 1874, i. 167-173)
* [[Haureau]], ''Histoire de la phil. scol.'' (Paris, 1872)
* [[C. Schmidt]], ''Histoire de l'Église d'Occident pendant le Moyen Âge'' (Paris, 1885)
* [[Hefele]], ''Conciliengeschichte'' (2nd ed., Freiburg, 1886).
* G. C. Capelle, ''Amaury de Bène'' (Paris, 1932)
* Christoph Ulrich Hahn: ''Geschichte der Ketzer im Mittelalter'', Vol. 3 (Stuttgart, 1850)
* Arno Borst: ''Religiöse und geistige Bewegungen im Hochmittelalter'', Propyläen Weltgeschichte, Ullstein 1963, Vol. 5, p. 537

<references/>

[[Category:Pantheists]]
[[Category:Scholastic philosophers]]
[[Category:Christian universalists]]
[[Category:12th century births]]
[[Category:1200s deaths]]

[[br:Amalrig Chartrez]]
[[de:Amalrich von Bena]]
[[fr:Amaury de Chartres]]
[[sk:Amalrich z Bene]]
[[sv:Amalrik av Bena]]