Beside this movement of the Cathari, which was dualistic in its conception and which in spite of the many excellent characters it produced, cannot be claimed as purely a gospel movement, there were heard other voices who cried aloud in the general degeneration of the times for a return to the simplicity of the gospel. One of these stanch defenders of gospel truth was PETER OF BRUYS (fl. 1105-1126). His followers were called Petrobrusians. We know nothing of his youth; our only information comes from Peter the Venerable, his opponent. PFF1 811.1
He was a powerful preacher and made the four Gospels the cornerstone of his preaching; then followed the Epistles. He did not, however, regard the Old Testament too highly. He recognized only the baptism of adults; those who had received baptism in infancy had to be rebaptized. He rejected transubstantiation, the sacrifice of the mass, and even the Lord’s supper. He abhorred the veneration of the cross and of relics, as well as prayers for the dead. He was not opposed to marriage; he obliged priests who accepted his teachings to take a wife. He disparaged images, saint worship, fasting, and holy days. PFF1 811.2
His great dislike for crosses and crucifixes led him into rashly burning a number of them, which so outraged the populace that eventually he was seized and burned to death on a heap of crosses which he had lighted. 5Albert H. Newman, op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 559-562; Lagarde, op. cit., p. 449; Elliott, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 282. His followers seem to have been absorbed by the more widespread and better organized Waldenses, as we shall see in the following chapter. PFF1 811.3