AMALRICO (Amalricus, Almaricus, Amauricus) of Bena. - A celebrated French theologian and philosopher of the 12th century, born in Bène (Bènes, Bennes) near Chartres. He completed his advanced studies in Paris and earned his degree at the Sorbonne, where he later established himself as a professor. Due to the sharpness of his intellect, the originality of his method, his critical bent, and his resistance to traditional opinions, Amalrico won the admiration of many. However, he incurred the hostility of the University of Paris, which accused him of heresy. During his journey to Rome, he failed to secure the protection of Innocent III, who instead condemned him. Returning to Paris, he retracted his views only superficially and died shortly thereafter (in 1205 or 1207), leaving behind a group of followers known as the Amalricians (Amalriciani), who propagated and expanded his theories.
The complete absence of writings by Amalrico himself makes it impossible to determine to what extent the errors attributed to him were actually his own. Based on accounts from the anonymous treatise *Contra amauirianos* (c. 1207–20), William of Brittany (d. 1227), Caesarius of Heisterbach (d. 1240), Henry of Susa (d. 1271), Martin of Poland (d. 1279), St. Thomas Aquinas, and other contemporary authors, modern scholars generally agree in attributing to Amalrico an absolute pantheism, grounded in the univocity of being and closely resembling the thought of John Scotus Eriugena, Pseudo-Dionysius, and their Neoplatonic sources, particularly Proclus and Plotinus. As Martin of Poland wrote: *"Just as the nature of Abraham is not different but identical to that of Isaac, so all beings are one being, and all beings are God."* From this erroneous pantheistic conception of the universe, the Amalricians drew the most extreme conclusions in matters of dogma and morality. They incorporated the theories of Joachim of Fiore (d. 1202) regarding the three ages of the world, declaring that the new age of the Holy Spirit had already begun, abolishing the sacraments and incarnating itself in every follower of Amalrico, who thereby became a man-God equal to Jesus Christ. Just as the Holy Spirit, which operates all in all, is absolutely impeccable, so too the "spiritual" man is immune to any fault and may licitly commit any sinful act. The law of the new age is the law of love, and any act, no matter how abominable, performed under the impulse of love is not a sin nor subject to punishment in the afterlife. Hell is ignorance, paradise is the knowledge of truth, possessed only by the Amalricians, for whom neither sacraments nor future resurrection exist.
These errors were first condemned in 1210, along with the writings of John Scotus Eriugena and the books of Aristotle on natural philosophy, by the Synod of Paris, which ordered the exhumation and removal of Amalrico’s body from the cemetery. The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) again proscribed Amalrician doctrine, declaring it *"more foolish than heretical."*