John of Leiden

Timeline

1. c. 1509–1534Leiden · County of HollandOf humble origin, John first trained as a tailor, then traded and ran an inn in Leiden while performing in biblical plays; he briefly traveled to London and elsewhere and had visited Münster to hear preaching by 1533. After the prophet Jan Matthijs baptized him, he was sent to Westphalia to organize believers, turning from a folk performer into a traveling Anabaptist organizer.
2. 1534Münster · WestphaliaIn early 1534 John entered Münster, already under Anabaptist control, helping expel those refusing rebaptism and imposing communal property. That Easter, Jan Matthijs died attacking the besieging army, and John took over defense and governance, establishing twelve elders and transforming the city into a 'New Jerusalem' awaiting the end times.
3. 1534–1535Münster · WestphaliaPolygamy was imposed in July 1534, and in September John proclaimed himself king of 'Zion' or the 'New Jerusalem', likening himself to the biblical David, holding court and preaching and enforcing law in the market square. He repeatedly repelled the sieges of Bishop Franz von Waldeck while maintaining order amid famine through death penalties, and called on Netherlandish Anabaptists to come to his aid, with few responding.
4. 1535–1536Münster · WestphaliaIn June 1535 traitors inside opened the gates, the bishop's allied forces entered, and the Anabaptist regime fell. John, Bernhard Knipperdolling, and Bernhard Krechting were captured, and after months of trial were tortured to death in the market square on 22 January 1536. Their bodies were placed in iron cages and hung from the tower of St. Lambert's Church as a public warning against radical Anabaptism.