DAVIDICI, or David Georgians, a sect of heretics, the adherents of David George, a native of Delft, who, in 1525, began to preach a new doctrine; publishing himself to be the true Messiah; and that he was sent thither to fill heaven, which was quite empty for want of people to deserve it. He is likewise said to have denied the existence of angels, good and evil, of heaven and hell, and to have rejected the doctrine of a future judgment. He rejected marriage, with the Adamites; held, with Manes, that the soul was not defiled by sin; and laughed at the self-denial so much recommended by Jesus Christ. Such were his principal errors. He made his escape from Delft, and retired first into Friesland and then to Basil, where he changed his name, assuming that of John Bruck, and died in 1556.

He left some disciples behind him, to whom he promised, that he would rise again at the end of three years. Nor was he altogether a false prophet herein; for the magistrates of that city, being informed, at the three years end, of what he had taught, ordered him to be dug up and burnt, together with his writings, by the common hangman.

There are still some remains of this ridiculous sect in Holstein, Friesland, and other countries; whose temper and conduct seem to discredit the exaggerated account which some writers have given of their founder. He was probably a deluded fanatic and mystic.