Adrianists (2)

Adrianists, an obscure sect of Dutch Anabaptists, named after Adrian Hamsted. Among other heresies, they-denied the miraculous conception of our Lord by the Virgin Mary. Hamsted was minister of the Dutch sectaries in London; and was deposed by Grindal, bishop of London, in the year 1561. A form of recantation, stating' his heretical tenets, is printed in Strype's Annals of the Reformation (i, 176); but it was not signed by Hamsted, who was excommunicated by Grindal, and went abroad. He seems to have organized a small community in Holland, which was called after his name.' See Grindal, Works, p. 243.