Dictionary.net

A sect of heretics which originated in Alsace in the thirteenth century, and quickly became disseminated over Italy, France, and Germany. They claimed "freedom of spirit," and based their claims on Rom. viii. 2-14: "The law of the spirit hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Thence they deduced that they could not sin, and lived in open lewdness, going from place to place accompanied by women under the name of "sisters.".