Berthold of Rohrbach

Berthold of Rohrbach a layman who preached at Wurzburg about 1336 against the bad practices of the clergy. Having been arrested by the Inquisition, he recanted and was released. Preaching again at Spires, he was condemned and burnt in 1356. His teachings seem to have been of a mystical and extravagant tendency; e.g. that man can reach such a degree of perfection in this life that prayer and fasting are no longer necessary for him. Trithemius calls him a Beghard (q.v.); Mosheim classes him with the "Brethren of the Free Spirit" (q.v.). See Mosheim, De Beghardis, p. 325 sq.