Picards
Encyclopedia
The Picards were a sect
of Neo-Adamites
in the sixteenth century and earlier, in the Flemish Netherlands and in Bohemia
.
". They were often not distinguished from the Waldensians
, and the Catholic Church moved against both of them as heretics. For example, the Inquisitor
Heinrich Kramer
was empowered to proceed against the Waldensians and Picards in 1500.
sent a force of 400 men to exterminate a group of Picards in 1421. The sect members had taken possession of an island in the river Nezarka, and were living in a communistic society in accordance with their beliefs, which included rejection of marriage, holding of wives in common, and the abolition of distinctions of rank and fortune. Despite attempts to suppress the sect, it later grew to a reported size of 80,000 members. Some have said that claims of the Picards stripping naked during worship services and engaging in licentious behavior were untrue or exaggerated.
The Bohemian Brethren of 1457 were also commonly called Picards, and the original Picards may have amalgamated with them.
Sect
A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and...
of Neo-Adamites
Adamites
The Adamites, or Adamians, were adherents of an Early Christian sect that flourished in North Africa in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries, but knew later revivals.-Ancient Adamites:...
in the sixteenth century and earlier, in the Flemish Netherlands and in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
.
Origins
The origin of their name is not clearly known. They are said to have been named after their founder, "one Picard of Flanders"; but "Picards" is also explained as a corruption of "BeghardsBeghards
Beghards and Beguines were Roman Catholic lay religious communities active in the 13th and 14th centuries, living in a loose semi-monastic community but without formal vows...
". They were often not distinguished from the Waldensians
Waldensians
Waldensians, Waldenses or Vaudois are names for a Christian movement of the later Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions, primarily in North-Western Italy. There is considerable uncertainty about the earlier history of the Waldenses because of a lack of extant source...
, and the Catholic Church moved against both of them as heretics. For example, the Inquisitor
Inquisitor
An inquisitor was an official in an Inquisition, an organisation or program intended to eliminate heresy and other things frowned on by the Roman Catholic Church...
Heinrich Kramer
Heinrich Kramer
Heinrich Kramer also known under the Latinized name Henricus Institoris, was a German churchman and inquisitor....
was empowered to proceed against the Waldensians and Picards in 1500.
Persecution
Jan ŽižkaJan Žižka
Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha , Czech general and Hussite leader, follower of Jan Hus, was born at small village Trocnov in Bohemia, into a gentried family. He was nicknamed "One-eyed Žižka"...
sent a force of 400 men to exterminate a group of Picards in 1421. The sect members had taken possession of an island in the river Nezarka, and were living in a communistic society in accordance with their beliefs, which included rejection of marriage, holding of wives in common, and the abolition of distinctions of rank and fortune. Despite attempts to suppress the sect, it later grew to a reported size of 80,000 members. Some have said that claims of the Picards stripping naked during worship services and engaging in licentious behavior were untrue or exaggerated.
The Bohemian Brethren of 1457 were also commonly called Picards, and the original Picards may have amalgamated with them.
External links
- A biased definition of the Picards from 1898
- Origin of the Anabaptist Churches, which cites historical mention of the Picards in a letter to Erasmus, and of Picards in BohemiaBohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
in a work by Sebastian FranckSebastian FranckSebastian Franck was a 16th century German freethinker, humanist, and radical reformer.Franck was born about 1499 at Donauwörth, Bavaria. Because of this he styled himself Franck von Word... - A note on the Picards from the 1928 edition of the Malleus MaleficarumMalleus MaleficarumThe Malleus Maleficarum is an infamous treatise on witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, an Inquisitor of the Catholic Church, and was first published in Germany in 1487...
- Adamites in the Catholic Encyclopedia, with mention of the Picards
- A chapter from Communism in Central Europe with historical facts about the Picards