Tanchelm (approx. 1070 - Antwerp, 1115), also known as Tanchelm of Antwerp, Tanchelijn, Tanquelin or Tanchelin, was an

itinerant preacher An itinerant preacher (also known as an itinerant minister) is a Christian evangelist who preaches the basic Christian redemption message while traveling around to different groups of people within a relatively short period of time. The usage of ...

critical of the established

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church, active in the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

around the beginning of the 12th century.

History

Tanchelm was supposed to have been a monk, perhaps from the circle of Count

Robert II of Flanders Robert II, Count of Flanders ( 1065 – 5 October 1111) was Count of Flanders from 1093 to 1111. He became known as Robert of Jerusalem (''Robertus Hierosolimitanus'') or Robert the Crusader after his exploits in the First Crusade. Early lif ...

(1092–1111). From 1112 he preached in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, the

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant, a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries. The Duchy comprised part of the Bu ...

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

and

Zeeland Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east ...

against the official church and its hierarchy, against the

Real Presence The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, sometimes shortened Real Presence'','' is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. Th ...

in the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

. He opposed the payment of

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

s and condemned those priests who lived with women. He was apparently also in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where he is supposed to have campaigned, in vain, for an extension of the Bishopric of Thérouanne to cover the islands of the

Scheldt The Scheldt ( ; ; ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old Englis ...

. He was briefly put under arrest in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

in 1113–1114 but released again, despite the vigorous protests of the cathedral clergy of

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. In 1115, he was slain by a priest while on a water journey. The followers of Tanchelm, who is reported to have allowed them to drink his bathwater, were still to be found for a period after his death in Antwerp; in 1124 Saint

Norbert of Xanten Norbert of Xanten, O. Praem (c. 1080 – 6 June 1134), also known as Norbert Gennep, was a German Catholic bishop who was the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, Archbishop of Magdeburg, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is ...

preached against them. Tanchelm prefigured ideas in the

Protestant reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

Controversy about his views

The negative information regarding Tanchelm has been contained in no more than two documents: * a letter written by canons of the cathedral of Utrecht, * a postmortem memorandum written by followers of saint Norbert. As both these documents were written by enemies of Tanchelm and no contradictory documents have emerged, professor Henri Pirenne put question marks behind the accusations and formulated another thesis. He theorized that Tanchelm was a collaborator of the count of Flanders and, like his master, took sides with the Pope regarding the

investiture controversy The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest (, , ) was a conflict between church and state in medieval Europe, the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture), abbots of monasteri ...

. By acting so, he was declared an enemy by the bishop and the canons of Utrecht, who had taken sides with the Holy Roman Emperor. Hence the fierce opposition and the slanderous accusations against him and, in the end, his assassination.

References

Sources

* Henri PIRENNE, ''Tanchelin et le projet de démembrement du diocèse d'Utrecht vers 1100'', in: Bulletin des Classes des lettres et des sciences morales et politiques de l'Académie royale de Belgique, 1927. * Beulertz, S. (ed. ) 1999: ''Tanchelm'', in: ''Lexikon des Mittelalters'', vol. 8, col. 455. Stuttgart-Weimar * Cohn, Norman 1958: '' The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarism and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages''. Secker & Warburg.

External links

* 11th-century births 1115 deaths 11th-century clergy from the Holy Roman Empire People from Antwerp Heresy in Christianity in the Middle Ages {{netherlands-reli-bio-stub