John of Leiden (Dutch: Jan van Leiden, Jan Beukelsz or Jan Beukelszoon; aka John Bockold or John Bockelson) (1509? - January 22 1536), was an Anabaptist leader from the Dutch city of Leiden. He was the illegitimate son of a Dutch mayor, and a tailor's apprentice by trade.
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Life
Raised a "bastard" and dogged by poverty, young John became a charismatic leader who was widely revered by his followers. According to his own testimony, he went to the German city of Münster, arriving in 1533, because he had heard there were inspired preachers there. He sent for Jan Matthys, who had baptized him, to come. After his arrival Matthys - recognized as a prophet - became the principal leader in the city. Following a failed military attempt on Easter Sunday 1534, in which Matthys died, John of Leiden became King of Münster until its fall in June of 1535. He set up a theocracy in Münster and led a communalistic and polygamous state. Some sources report that John of Leiden took sixteen wives. He publicly beheaded one of his wives after she rebelled against his authority. The army of Münster was defeated in 1535 by the prince bishop Franz von Waldeck, and John of Leiden was captured. He was first taken to a dungeon in Dülmen, then brought back to Münster. On January 22, 1536, along with Bernhard Krechting and Bernhard Knipperdolling, he was tortured and then executed. Each attached to a pole by an iron spiked collar, their bodies were ripped with red-hot tongs for the space of an hour, then each was killed with a dagger thrust through the heart. Their bodies were raised in three cages above St. Lambert's Church, the remains left to rot. Their bones were removed about 50 years later, but the cages have remained into the 21st century.
In proverb, on stage and in fiction
John's name still lives on in the Netherlands in the saying zich met een Jan(tje) van Leiden van iets afmaken, which means not putting too much effort (or any effort) into something. The opera Le prophète (1849) by Giacomo Meyerbeer features John as its hero. Its climactic scene is set in John's palace in Münster but uses only traces of his true story in its melodramatic plot. John also features in Luther Blissett's novel, Q. John Leiden features in Thomas Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller (1594), whose hero, Jack Wilton, satirically describes the siege of Munster and Leiden's death. John (as Jan Bockelson) is one of the main protagonists in the play Die Wiedertäufer by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
See also
External links
- Picture of the cages at St. Lambert's Church
- Polygamy in Münster - by Kate Arms (pdf)
- "Der wedderdoeper eidt" / oath of the Münster Anabaptists
- Online Biography of Jan van Leiden
References
- The Tailor-King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Münster, by Anthony Arthur, ISBN 0-312-26783-5
