Ferenc Dávid

Ferenc Dávid
Ferenc Dávid at the Diet of Torda by Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch
Born	c. 1510 Kolozsvár, Kingdom of Hungary (today Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
Died	15 November 1579 (aged c. 68–69) Déva, Principality of Transylvania (today Deva, Romania)
Occupation	Bishop
Spouse(s)	Unidentified (1st) Kata Barát (2nd)
Children	Kata, Dávid, Zsófia, János
Theological work
Era	Reformation
Tradition or movement	Unitarianism

Ferenc Dávid (also rendered as Francis David) (c.1510 – 15 November 1579) was a Transylvanian Nontrinitarian and Unitarian preacher, the founder of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania.

Born in Kolozsvár, Hungary (present-day Cluj-Napoca, Romania) to a Hungarian family, he studied in Wittenberg and Frankfurt. Elected Calvinist bishop of the Hungarian churches in Transylvania, he was appointed court preacher to János Zsigmond Zápolya, Prince of Transylvania. Dávid's discussion of the Trinity began in 1565, with doubts of the personality of the Holy Ghost, because he could find no scriptural basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.

His antagonist in public disputations was the Calvinist leader, Péter Melius Juhász; his supporter was Giorgio Blandrata. János Zsigmond Zápolya, adopting his court preacher's views, issued (1568) an edict of religious liberty at the Torda Diet, which allowed Dávid (retaining his existing title) to transfer his episcopate from the Calvinists to the Nontrinitarians, Kolozsvár being evacuated by all but his followers.

In 1571, János Zsigmond Zápolya was succeeded by István Báthory, a Roman Catholic, and the policy shifted toward persecution of the new religious institutions. When, under the influence of Johannes Sommer, rector of the Kolozsvár gymnasium, Dávid denied the necessity of invoking Jesus Christ in prayer (about 1572), the attempted mediation of Faustus Socinus, upon Blandrata's request, was unsuccessful. Tried as an innovator, Dávid died in prison at Déva, in the Principality of Transylvania, in 1579. The ruins of the prison site in the city now hold a memorial for Dávid.