He first published his notions in Germany and the low countries, and persuaded many people to go naked, and gave them the name of Adamites. After this he seized on an island in the river Laufneez, some leagues from Thabor, the head quarters of Zifca, where he fixed himself and his followers. His women were common, but none were allowed to enjoy them without his permission; so that when any man desired a particular woman, he carried her to Picard, who gave him leave in these words, Go, increase, multiply, and fill the earth.

At length, however, Zifca, general of the Hussites, (famous for his victories over the emperor Sigismund), hurt at their abominations, marched against them, made himself master of their island, and put them all to death except two; whom he spared, that he might learn their doctrine.

Such is the account which various writers, relying on the authorities of Æneas Sylvius and Varillas, have given of the Picards, who appear to have been a party of the Vaudois, that fled from persecution in their own country, and sought refuge in Bohemia. It is indeed doubtful whether a sect of this denomination, chargeable with such wild principles and such licentious conduct, ever existed; and it is certainly astonishing that Mr Bayle, in his art Picards, should adopt the reproachful representations of the writers just mentioned; for it appears probable at least that the whole is a calumny invented and propagated in order to disgrace the Picards, merely because they deserted the communion and protested against the errors of the church of Rome. Ladislaus informs us, that Picard, together with 40 other persons, besides women and children, settled in Bohemia in the year 1418. Balbinus the Jesuit, in his Epitome Rerum Bohemicarum, lib. ii. gives a similar account, and charges on the Picards none of the extravagancies or crimes ascribed to them by Sylvius. Schlecta, secretary of Ladislaus, king of Bohemia, in his letters to Erafmus in which he gives a particular account of the Picards, says that they considered the pope, cardinals, and bishops of Rome, as the true Antichrists, and the adorers of the consecrated elements in the eucharist as downright idolaters; that they denied the corporal presence of Christ in this ordinance; that they condemned the worship of saints, prayers for the dead, auricular confession, the penance imposed by priests, the feasts and vigils observed in the Romish church; and that they confined themselves to the observance of the sabbath, and of the two great feasts of Christmas and Pentecost. From this account it would appear that they were no other than the Vaudois; and M. de Beaufobre has shown that they were both of the same sect, though under different denominations. Besides, it is certain that the Vaudois were settled in Bohemia in the year 1178, where some of them adopted the rites of the Greek, and others those of the Latin church. The former were pretty generally adhered to till the middle of the 14th century, when the establishment of the Latin rites caused great disturbance. On the commencement of the national troubles in Bohemia, on account of the opposition to the papal power (see Moravians), the Picards more publicly avowed and defended their religious opinions; and they formed a considerable body in an island by the river Launitz or Laufneez, in the district of Bechin, and recurring to arms, were defeated by Zifca. Encyclop. art Picards.