The Münster Rebellion was an attempt by radical Anabaptists to establish a theocracy in Münster. The city became an Anabaptist center from 1532 to 1535, and fell under Anabaptist rule for 16 months - from February 1534, when the city hall was seized and Bernhard Knipperdolling installed as mayor, until its fall in June 1535. It was Melchior Hoffman, who initiated adult baptism in Strassburg in 1530, and his "brand" of eschatological Anabaptism, that helped lay the foundations for the events of 1534-1535 in Münster. Anabaptists (re-baptizers, from Greek ana and baptizo; in German: Wiedertäufer) are Christians of the so-called radical wing of the Protestant Reformation. ... Theocracy is a form of government in which a religion and the government are allied. ... Münster is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ... Events May 16 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster is conquered and disbanded. ... February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events May 10 - Jacques Cartier explores Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage. ... Bernhard Knipperdolling (b. ... June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster is conquered and disbanded. ... Melchior Hoffman (1495-1543) was an Anabaptist prophet and a visionary leader in northern Germany and the Netherlands. ... Strasbourg townscape Strasbourg (German Straßburg, road to castle, Alsatian Strossburi) is the capital and principal city of the Alsace région of northeastern France. ... Events June 25 - Augsburg confession presented to Charles V of Holy Roman Empire. ... Albrecht Dürer - Four horsemen of the Apocalypse Eschatology literally means the study of the eschaton, the times of the end, last things, or end times. ... Events May 10 - Jacques Cartier explores Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster is conquered and disbanded. ...

After the Peasants' War, a second and more determined attempt to establish a theocracy was made at Münster, in Westphalia (1532-1535). Here the group had gained considerable influence, through the adhesion of Bernhard Rothmann, the Lutheran pastor, and several prominent citizens; and the leaders, Jan Matthys (or Matthijs, Mathijz, Matthyssen, Mathyszoon), a baker of Haarlem, and Jan Bockelson or Beukelszoon, a tailor of Leiden, had little difficulty in obtaining possession of the town and deposing the magistrates. Matthys was a follower of Melchior Hoffman, who, after Hoffman's imprisonment at Strassburg, obtained a considerable following in the Low Countries, including Jan Bockelson. Bockelson and Gerard Boekbinder visited Münster, and returned with a report that Bernhard Rothmann was there teaching doctrines similar to their own. Matthys identified Münster as the "New Jerusalem", and on January 5, 1534, a number of his disciples entered the city and introduced adult baptism. Rothmann apparently accepted "rebaptism" that day, and well over 1000 adults were soon baptized. Vigorous preparations were made, not only to hold what had been gained, but to proceed from Münster toward the conquest of the world. The town was being besieged by Franz von Waldeck, its expelled bishop. In April 1534 on Easter Sunday, Matthys, who had prophesied God's judgment to come on the wicked on that day, made a sally with only thirty followers, under the fanatical idea that he was a second Gideon, and was cut off with his entire band. He was killed, his head severed and placed on a pole for all in the city to see. Bockelson, better known in history as John of Leiden, was installed as king. expanding insurgences The Peasants War (in German, der Deutsche Bauernkrieg) was a popular revolt in Europe, specifically in the Holy Roman Empire between 1524- 1526 and consisted, like the preceding Bundschuh movement and the Hussite Wars, of a mass of economic as well as religious revolts by peasants, townsfolk and... Westphalia (in German, Westfalen) is a (historic) region in Germany, centred on the cities of Dortmund, Münster, Bielefeld, and Osnabrück and now included in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia (and the (south-)west of Lower Saxony). ... Events May 16 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster is conquered and disbanded. ... Bernhard Rothmann, or Bernard Rothmann, (ca. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... Jan Matthys (also known as Jan Matthias, Johann Mathyszoon, et al. ... Haarlem is a city in the west of the Netherlands, capital of the North Holland province. ... John of Leiden (Dutch: Jan van Leiden or Jan Beukelszoon, aka John Bockold) (1509? - 1536) was an Anabaptist leader from the Dutch city of Leiden. ... Leiden (in English also, but now rarely, Leyden) is a city and municipality in South Holland, The Netherlands. ... The Low Countries are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine and Meuse rivers— usually used in modern context to mean the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (an alternate modern term, more often used today, is Benelux). ... New Jerusalem is the concept of Jerusalem (in the definite or indefinite sense) as being renewed or rebuilt, either in the present day or in the future, either at the Temple Mount or in a different location. ... January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events May 10 - Jacques Cartier explores Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage. ... Franz von Waldeck (or Francis of Waldeck) was Prince-Bishop of Münster, and a leading figure in putting down the Münster Rebellion. ... Bishop (disambiguation). ... April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... Events May 10 - Jacques Cartier explores Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage. ... Easter (also called Pascha) is generally accounted the most important holiday of the Christian year, observed March or April each year to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead (after his death by crucifixion; see Good Friday), which Christians believe happened at about this time of year, almost two... Gideon (גִּדְעוֹן, Standard Hebrew Gidʿon, Tiberian Hebrew Giḏʿôn) is a character who appears in the Bibles Book of Judges. ... John of Leiden (Dutch: Jan van Leiden or Jan Beukelszoon, aka John Bockold) (1509? - 1536) was an Anabaptist leader from the Dutch city of Leiden. ...

Claiming to be the successor of David, he claimed royal honours and absolute power in the new "Zion". He justified the most arbitrary and extravagant measures by the authority of visions from heaven, as others have done in similar circumstances. John of Leiden legalized polygamy, and himself took sixteen wives, one of whom he beheaded with his own hand in the marketplace in a fit of frenzy. As a natural consequence of such license, Münster was for twelve months a scene of unbridled profligacy. Community of goods was also established. After an obstinate resistance the town was taken by the besiegers on June 24, 1535, and in January 1536 Bockelson and some of his more prominent followers, after being cruelly tortured, were executed in the marketplace. Their dead bodies were exhibited in cages, which hung from the steeple of St. Lamberti church. (These cages are still hanging there.) Michelangelos David This page is about the Biblical king David. ... This article deals with the historical and biblical Zion of Israel. ... Polygamy, literally many marriages in ancient Greek, is a marital practice in which a person has more than one spouse simultaneously (as opposed to monogamy where each person has a maximum of one spouse at any one time). ... June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 190 days remaining. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster is conquered and disbanded. ... January is the first month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... Events February 2 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Argentina. ...

The outbreak at Münster was the crisis of the Anabaptist movement. It never again had the opportunity of assuming political importance, the civil powers naturally adopting the most stringent measures to suppress an agitation whose avowed object was to suppress them. It is difficult to trace the subsequent history of the group as a religious body. The fact that, after the Münster insurrection the very name Anabaptist was proscribed in Europe, is a source of twofold confusion. The enforced adoption of new names makes it easy to lose the historical identity of many who really belonged to the Münster Anabaptists, and, on the other hand, has led to the classification of many with the Münster sect who had no real connection with it. The latter mistake, it is to be noted, has been much more common than the former. The Mennonites, for example, have been identified with the earlier Anabaptists, on the ground that they included among their number many of the fanatics of Münster. But the continuity of a sect is to be traced in its principles, and not in its adherents, and it must be remembered that Menno Simons and his followers expressly repudiated the distinctive doctrines of the Münster Anabaptists. They have never aimed at any social or political revolution, and have been as remarkable for sobriety of conduct as the Münster sect was for its fanaticism. Politics is the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. ... The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations based on the teachings and tradition of Menno Simons. ... A sect is a small religious group that has branched off of a larger established religion. ... Menno Simons (1496-1561) was an Anabaptist religious leader from the province of Fryslân (today Netherlands and Germany). ...

In English history frequent reference is made to the Anabaptists during the 16th and 17th centuries, but there is no evidence that any considerable number of native Englishmen ever adopted the principles of the Münster sect. Many of the followers of Thomas Müntzer and Johann Bockelson seem to have fled from persecution in Germany and the Netherlands to be subjected to a persecution scarcely less severe in England. England is the largest and most populous of the four main divisions of the United Kingdom. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Thomas Müntzer, in a 18th century engraving by C. Van Sichem Thomas Muentzer (or Müntzer, Münzer) (1489 or 1490–27 May 1525) was an early Reformation-era German pastor who was a rebel leader during the Peasants War. ... Persecution is persistent mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Official language None; English is de facto Capital London Capitals coordinates 51° 30 N, 0° 10 W Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831...

The excesses of John of Leiden, the "Brigham Young" of that age, cast an unjust stigma on the Baptists, of whom the vast majority were good, quiet people who merely carried out in practice the early Christian ideals of which their persecutors prated. They have been reckoned an extreme left wing of the Reformation, because for a time they followed Luther and Zwingli. Yet their Christology and negative attitude towards the state rather indicate, as in the case of John Wyclif, Jan Hus and the Fraticelli (Brethren), an affinity to the Cathars and other medieval sects. But this affiliation is hard to establish. Brigham Young Brigham Young ( June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) was the second prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church; see also Mormonism). ... Baptist churches are part of a Christian movement often regarded as an evangelical, protestant denomination. ... This article is about the religious people known as Christians. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... For other people named Martin Luther see: Martin Luther (disambiguation), or here for Martin Luther King, Jr. ... Zwinglis Successor Zwinglis successor, Heinrich Bullinger, was elected on December 9, 1531, to be the pastor of the Great Minster at Zürich, a position which he held to the end of his life (1575). ... Christology is that part of Christian theology that studies and defines who Jesus Christ was and is. ... This article discusses states as sovereign political entities. ... Wycliffe may also refer to Wycliffe Bible Translators John Wyclif (or Wycliffe) (1328 - December 31, 1384) was an English theologian and early proponent of reform in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century. ... Jan Hus (1369 Husinec, Southern Bohemia – July 6, 1415 Constance) was a religious thinker and reformer. ... A medieval Roman Catholic group which can trace its origins to the Franciscan Spirituals, but which came into being as a separate entity - and problem - for the Church in 1318, when Angelo da Clareno defied the authority of Pope John XXII. Other figures included Michael of Cesena and Peter Olivi. ... The Brethren are any of several Christian denominations, most of which are Anabaptist-Pietist . ... Cathars being expelled from Carcassone in 1209. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...

The Anabaptists were great readers of the Book of Revelation and of the Epistle of James, the latter perhaps by way of counteracting what they considered Luther's one-sided teaching of justification by faith alone. Luther rejected this scripture as "a right strawy epistle". English Anabaptists often knew it by heart. Excessive reading of Revelation may have increased the aberrations of the Münster fanatics. The Book of Revelation or The Apocalypse of John (from apokalypsis / αποκάλυψις, the Greek for revelation), is the last book and the only prophetical book of the New Testament in the Bible. ... The Epistle of James is a book of the New Testament, best known for its teaching that faith without works is dead (James 2:26 KJV). ...

Reference

• The Tailor King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Munster, by Anthony Arthur ISBN 0312205155

External Links

• Zürich: Seedbed of Radical Change (http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/node/view/186) - offers a more in depth look at attempts to rehabilitate the Anabaptist label after Münster
• Anabaptist Radicals Declare Muenster the "New Jerusalem" (http://www.newsoftheodd.com/article1010_2.html) - an account of the Anabaptist uprising in Münster from Odd News

Work of fiction:

• Q, by Luther Blissett ISBN 0151010633.