Adam Duff - Ireland - 14th Century

[TJ]

Adam Duff was burned for heresy in Ireland in the early 14th century for denying, among other things, the Trinity. It may be that he denied the Scriptures themselves, but as with many of these cases where we lack writings by the individuals under question, it's difficult to ascertain what his true views were.

Thomas Emlyn was convicted of Blasphemy in Ireland several centuries later, but we can see from his writings that he was extremely respectful of God and the Scriptures. As even the charges against Jesus demonstrate, hyperbole and out-and-out lies are common in cases against those that disrupt the religious order of the day.

During this period the fire of persecution against heresy was lighted in Ireland, and the first victim was one Adam Niger, or Adam Duff, of the family of the O'Tools, in Leinster; who, in the year 1326 or 1327, being possessed, as was said, with a diabolical spirit, denying the incarnation of Christ, the Trinity of Persons, and the resurrection of the flesh, professing also that the Scriptures were fabulous, and that the See of Rome did affirm these errors, was by the Church adjudged to death, and was burned and hanged in the fire in Hoggin-green, near Dublin.

History of the Church of Ireland, by Richard Mant (1839). Source

In Bishop Mant's "History of the Church of Ireland," p. 29, there is a brief account of a Unitarian martyr of the fourteenth century; one of a great number of whom we know little, who died for the Unity of God. Adam Duff appears to have denied the Incarnation and the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead; he was therefore said to be "possessed with a diabolical spirit." He was tried, and sentenced to be burned at Hoggin Green, near Dublin, in the year 1326. The sentence was carried out.

Memorable Unitarians, by Robert Spears (1906). Source