John of Leiden - Life

Life

Raised in 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 1536.

The army of Münster was defeated in 1536 by the prince bishop Franz von Waldockis, and John of Leiden was captured. He was found in the cellar of a house, from where he was 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 of the three was attached to a pole by an iron spiked collar and his body ripped with red-hot tongs for the space of an hour. After Knipperdolling saw the process of torturing John of Leiden, he attempted to kill himself with the collar, using it to choke himself. After that the executioner tied him to the stake to make it impossible for him to kill himself. After the burning, their tongues were pulled out with tongs before each was killed with a burning dagger thrust through the heart. The bodies were placed in three cages and hung from the steeple of St. Lambert's Church and the remains left to rot. About fifty years later the bones were removed, but the cages have remained into the 21st century.

Motto of Jan van Leiden: "Gottes macht ist myn cracht" (God's power is my strength)

Read more about this topic:  John Of Leiden

Famous quotes containing the word life:

    The arbitrary division of one’s life into weeks and days and hours seemed, on the whole, useless. There was but one day for the men, and that was pay day, and one for the women, and that was rent day. As for the children, every day was theirs, just as it should be in every corner of the world.
    Alice Caldwell Rice (1870–1942)

    Inexpressibly beautiful appears the recognition by man of the least natural fact, and the allying his life to it.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    No Life can pompless pass away—
    The lowliest career
    To the same Pageant wends its way
    As that exalted here—
    Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)