Picarts - the extreme left wing of the taborites during the Hussite movement in the Czech Republic in the 15th century . The ideology of picards was a Christian religious doctrine of chiliasm and a return to the ideals of early Christianity; were considered a neoadamite sect. The main preachers are Martin Guska , Peter Kanish, Martin Lokvis and others.
The Adamites of the first quarter of the 15th century stood out from among the taborites protesting against the spread of Catholicism .
The name comes from the distorted “Begard” or from the Waldenses , who came to the Czech Republic in 1418 from Picardy . They were allegedly led by a certain Picard, calling himself the son of God and Adam ; he passed through Germany and through his miracles gained many followers.
Picards believed that the time had come for the “millennial kingdom of God” on earth, as the kingdom of social justice, and called for its establishment through the merciless armed struggle of the people (“God's chosen ones”) against “sinners”, “enemies of God” - kings, lords, rich clergy. Preached universal equality. They opposed the church hierarchy, the sacraments.
Picards had a decisive role in the emergence of the first stage of the Hussite movement. Picarts tried to put their ideas into practice, in particular, established an equalization distribution in a number of cities ( Tabore , Piseke ). In February 1421, they were expelled from Tabor and settled on a small island by the Luzhnitsa River near the castle of Přenice . At the end of March, the taborite hetman Jan ижižka took possession of the island, destroyed their commune and killed many picards, but several dozen people managed to escape. In October, they were hunted down and publicly burned at the stake. In total, about 75 picartes were burnt by the taborites during that period.
During the confrontation between the Protestant Czech estates and the kings of the Habsburg dynasty in the XVI-XVII centuries, the king's supporters used the name picarta in relation to members of the Czech brothers community.