round were engaged, under the direction of the engineer Wilkin von
Stedingen, in raising the walls and digging the trenches. The work
was carried on with vigour by relays of peasants; nevertheless, the
undertaking was on so great a scale, that several months must elapse
before it could be completed.[211]
[211] Kerssenbroeck, p. 75 _et seq._; Heresbach, p. 132.
The cost of this terrible siege had already risen to 600,000
florins, the treasury was empty, and the country could bear no
further taxes. Francis of Waldeck appealed to the Elector Palatine,
the Electors of Cologne, Mainz, and Trèves, to give help and
subsidies; he had recourse also to the princes and nobles of the
Upper and Lower Rhine; and it was decided that a diet should
assemble on the 13th December, 1534, to make arrangements for the
complete subjugation of the insurgent fanatics. All the princes,
Catholic and Protestant, trembled for their crowns, for the
Anabaptist sect ramified throughout the country, and if John of
Leyden were successful in Münster, they might expect similar risings
in their own principalities.[212]
[212] _Ibid._ p. 75; Bussierre, p. 372; Hast, p. 366.
Whilst the preparations for the blockade were in progress, John
Bockelson, inflated with pride, placed no bounds to his prodigality,
his display, and his despotism. He frequently pronounced sentences
of death. Thus Elizabeth Holschers was decapitated for having
refused her husband what he demanded of her; Catherine of Osnabrück
underwent the same sentence for having told one of the preachers
that he was building his doctrines upon the sand; Catherine
Knockenbecher lost her head for having taken two husbands. Polygamy
was permitted, but polyandry was regarded as an unpardonable
offence.[213]
[213] Kerssenbroeck, p. 75; Bussierre, p. 372.
However, the people chafed at the tyranny they were subjected to,
and murmurs, low and threatening, continued to make themselves
heard; whereupon, by King John's order, Dusentscheuer announced from
the pulpit, "that all those who should for the future have doubts in
the verities taught them, and who should venture to blame the king
whom the Father had given them, would be given over to the anointed
of the Lord to be extirpated out of Israel, decapitated by the
headsman, and condemned to eternal oblivion."
Amongst those who viewed with envy the rise and splendour of the
tailor-king was Knipperdolling. He had opened his home to the
prophet, had patronised him, introduced him to the people of
Münster, and now the draper was eclipsed by the glory of the tailor.
Thinking that the time was come for him to assume the pre-eminence,
he made an attempt to dethrone Bockelson.
On the 12th of September he was seized with the spirit of prophecy,
became as one possessed, rushed through the town howling, foaming
at the mouth, making prodigious leaps and extravagant gestures,
and crying in every street, "Repent! repent!" After having carried
on these antics for some time, Knipperdolling dashed into the
market-place, cast himself down on the ground, and fell into an
ecstasy.
The people clustered around him, wondering what new revelation was
about to be made, and the king, who was then holding audience,
looked on uneasily at the crowd drifting from his throne towards his
lieutenant-general, whose object he was unable to divine, as this
performance had not been concerted between them.
He was not left long in uncertainty, for Knipperdolling, rising
from the ground with livid face, scrambled up the back of a sturdy
artisan standing near, and crawled on all fours "like a dog," says
Sleidan, over the heads of the throng, breathing in their faces,
and exclaiming, "The celestial Father has sanctified thee; receive
the Holy Ghost." Then he anointed the eyes of some blind men with
his spittle, saying, "Let sight be given you." Undiscomfited by the
failure of this attempt to perform a miracle, he prophesied that he
would die and rise again in three days; and he indicated a corner
of the market-place where this was to occur. Then making his way
towards the throne, he began to dance in the most grotesque and
indecent manner before the king, shouting contemptuously, "Often
have I danced thus before my mistresses, now the celestial Father
has ordered me to perform these dances before my king."[214]
[214] Kerssenbroeck, p. 81 _et seq._; Sleidan, p. 416.
John was highly displeased at this performance; and he ran down the
steps of his throne to interrupt him. But Knipperdolling nimbly
leaped upon the dais, seated himself in the place of majesty, and
cried out, "The Spirit of God impels me: John Bockelson is king
according to the flesh, I am king according to the Spirit; the
two Testaments must be abolished and extirpated. Man must cease
from obeying terrestrial laws; henceforth he shall obey only the
inspirations of the Spirit and the instincts of nature."
John of Leyden sprang at him, dragged him from the throne, beat
his head with his golden sceptre, and administering a kick to the
rear of his lieutenant, sent him flying head over heels from the
platform, and then calmly enthroning himself, he gave orders for the
removal and imprisonment of the rebel.
He was obeyed.[215]
[215] Kerssenbroeck, Hast p. 366.
Knipperdolling, left to cool in the dungeon, felt that his only
chance of life was to submit. He therefore sent his humble apology
to the king, and assured him that he had been possessed by an evil
spirit, which had driven him, against his judgment and conscience,
into revolt. "And," said he, "last night the Father revealed to me
that one must venerate the royal majesty, and that John is destined
to reign over the whole earth."
He was at once released, for Bockelson needed him, and the failure
of this attempt only secured the king's hold over him. He sent him
a letter of pardon, concluding with the royal signature in this
eccentric fashion:--
"In fide persiste salvus
Carnis curam agit Deus.
Johannes Leydanus.
Potentia Dei, robur meum."[216]
[216] Persist secure in Faith. God takes care of the Flesh. John
of Leyden. The Power of God is my strength.
Another event took place at Münster, which distracted the thoughts
of the people from the events of the siege, and the attempt of
Knipperdolling to dethrone the king.
The prophet Dusentscheuer, on the same day, the 12th September,
sought the King of Zion in his palace, and said to him with an
inspired air, "This is the commandment of the Lord to me: Go and say
unto the chief of Israel, that he shall prepare on the Mount Zion
(that is, the cathedral square) a great supper for all Christian
brethren and sisters, and after supper he shall commission the
teachers of my Word to go forth to the four quarters of the world,
that they may teach all men the way of my righteousness, and that
they may be brought into my fold."
The king accepted the message with respect, and gave orders for its
immediate execution.
On the 13th September, Dusentscheuer called together the elect,
traversing the streets playing upon a flute. At noon 1700 men,
capable of bearing arms, 400 old men and children, and 5000 women
assembled on Mount Zion.
Bockelson left his palace, habited in a scarlet tunic over which was
cast a cloth of silver mantle, on his head was his crown, and his
sceptre was in his right hand. Thirty-two knights, magnificently
dressed, served as his bodyguard. Then came Queen Divara and the
rest of the wives of the court.
When the king had taken his place, the Grand Marshal Tilbeck made
the people sit down. Tables had been arranged along the sides of the
great square under the trees, with an open space in the centre.
When all were seated, the king and his familiars distributed food
to those invited. They were given first boiled beef and roots,
then ham with other vegetables, and finally roast meat. When the
plates had been removed, thin round cakes of fine wheat flour were
brought in large baskets, and John, calling the faithful up before
him, communicated them with the bread, saying, "Take and eat this,
and show forth the Lord's death." Divara followed, holding the
chalice in her jewelled hands; she made the communicants drink from
it, repeating the words to each, "Drink this, and show forth the
Lord's death." Then all sang the _Gloria in excelsis_ in German,
and this fantastic parody of the communion was over. Bockelson now
ordered all his subjects to arrange themselves in a circle, and he
demanded if they would faithfully obey the Word of God. All having
assented, Dusentscheuer mounted the pulpit and said, "The Father
has revealed to me the names of twenty-seven apostles who are to
be sent into every part of the world; they will spread everywhere
the pure doctrine of the celestial kingdom, and the Lord will cover
them with the shadow of His wings, so that not a hair of their head
shall be injured. And when they shall arrive at a place where the
authorities refuse to receive the Gospel, there they shall leave a
florin in gold, they shall shake off the dust of their garments, and
shall go to another place." Then the prophet designated the chosen
apostles--he saw himself of the number--and he added, "Go ye into
all the cities and preach the Word of God." The twenty-seven stepped
forward, and the king, mounting the pulpit, exhorted the people to
prepare for a grand sortie.[217]
[217] Kerssenbroeck, p. 86; Montfort., p. 34; Dorpius, f. 397 b;
Heresbach, p. 139, _et seq._; Bullinger, lib. ii. c. 10; Sleidan,
p. 417; this author sets the number of communicants at 5,000, the
"Newe Zeitung" at 4,000, f. 329. This authority adds that the
communicants distributed the sacrament they had received amongst
themselves saying, "Brother and sister, take and eat thereof. As
Christ gave Himself for me, so will I give myself for thee. And
as the corn-wheat is baked into one, and the grape branches are
pressed into one, so we being many are one." Also, "Letter of the
Bishop to the Electors of Cologne," _ibid._ p. 390.
The banquet was over for the people; but John, his wives and court,
and those who had been on guard upon the walls, to the number of
500, now sat down.
The second banquet was much more costly than the first. In the midst
of the feast, Bockelson, rising, said that he had received an order
from the Father to go round and inspect the guests. He accordingly
examined those present, and recognising amongst them a soldier of
the Episcopal army, who had been made prisoner, he confronted him
sternly, and asked--
"Friend, what is thy faith?"
"My faith," replied the soldier, who was half drunk, "is to drink
and make love."
"How didst thou dare to come in, not having on the wedding garment?"
asked the king, in a voice of thunder.
"I did not come of my own accord to this debauch,"[218] answered the
prisoner; "I was brought here by main force."
[218] The expression used was somewhat broad--Hurenhochzeit.
At these words, the king, transported with rage, drew his sword and
smote off the head of the unfortunate reveller.
The night was spent in dancing.[219]
[219] Kerssenbroeck, p. 88 _et seq._; Heresbach, p. 139; Dorp. f.
398.
Whilst the king was eating and drinking, the twenty-seven apostles
were taking a tender farewell of their 124 legitimate wives,[220]
and making their preparations to depart.
[220] Evidence of Heinrich Graess. Dorpius says that the number
of apostles was twenty-eight, and gives their names and the
places to which they were sent, f. 398.
When all was ready, they returned to Mount Zion; Bockelson
ascended the pulpit, and gave them their mission in the following
terms:--"Go, prepare the way; we will follow. Cast your florin of
gold at the feet of those who despise you, that it may serve as a
testimony against them, and they shall be slain, all the sort of
them, or shall bow their necks to our rule."
Then the gates were thrown open, and the apostles went forth, north
and south, and east and west. The blockade was not complete, and
they succeeded in traversing the lines of the enemy.
However, the prince-bishop notified to the governors of the towns in
his principality to watch them and arrest them, should they attempt
to disseminate their peculiar doctrines.[221]
[221] Kerssenbroeck, p. 89 _et seq._; Heresbach, pp. 89, 101,
141; Montfort., p. 35; Bullinger, lib. ii. c. 10; Sleidan, pp.
417-8; Hast, p. 368; "Historia v. d. Münst. Widerteuffer." p. 329
a.
We shall have to follow these men, and see the results of their
mission, before we continue the history of the siege of Münster.
In fact, on their expedition and their success, as John Bockelson
probably felt, everything depended. As soon as the city was
completely enclosed no food could enter: already it was becoming
scarce; therefore an attack on the Episcopal army from the flank
was most essential to success; the palisades and ramparts recently
erected sufficiently defending the enemy against surprises and
sorties from the town.
Seven of the apostles went to Osnabrück, six to Coesfeld, five to
Warendorf, and eight, amongst whom was Dusentscheuer himself, betook
themselves to Soest.[222]
[222] For the acts of these apostles, Kerssenbroeck, p. 92 _et
seq._; Menck. p. 1574; Montfort., p. 36 _et seq._; Sleidan, p.
418; Bullinger, lib. ii. c. 10; Heresbach, p. 149.
On entering Soest, Dusentscheuer and his fellow-apostles opened
their mission by a public frenzied appeal to repentance. Then,
hearing that the senate had assembled, they entered the hall and
preached to the city councillors in so noisy a fashion that the
magistrates were obliged to suspend their deliberations. The
burgomaster having asked them who they were, and why they entered
the town-hall unsummoned and unannounced, "We are sent by the king
of the New Zion, and by order of God to preach the Gospel," was the
reply of Dusentscheuer; "and to execute this mission we need neither
passports nor permission. The kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by storm." "Very well," said the burgomaster
collectedly. "Guards, remove the preachers and throw them into
prison." A few days after several of them lost their heads on the
block.
John Clopris, at the head of four evangelists, entered Warendorf.
They took up their abode in the house of an Anabaptist named Erpo,
one of the magistrates of the town, and began to preach and prophesy
in the streets. The first day they rebaptised fifty persons. Clopris
preached with such fervour and persuasive eloquence, that the whole
town followed him; the senate received the sign of the covenant in a
body, and this was followed by a rebaptism of half the population.
Alarmed at what was taking place, and afraid of a diversion in his
rear, Francis of Waldeck wrote to the magistrates ordering them to
give up the apostles of error. They refused, and the prince at once
invested the town and bombarded it. The magistrates sent offers
of capitulation, which the prince rejected; they asked to retain
their arms and their franchises. Francis of Waldeck insisted on
unconditional surrender, and they were constrained to yield. Some
of the senators and citizens who had repented of their craze, or
who had taken no part in the movement, seized the apostles and
conducted them to the town-hall. Clopris and his fellows cast down
their florins of gold and declared that they shook off the dust of
their feet against the traitors, and that they would carry the pure
Word of God and the living Gospel elsewhere; but escape was not
permitted, and they were delivered over to the prince-bishop.
Francis of Waldeck at once placed sentinels in the streets, ordered
every citizen to deliver up his weapons, took the title-deeds of the
city, withdrew its franchises, and executed four of the apostles
and three of the ringleaders of the senators. Clopris was sent to
Cologne, and was burnt there on the 1st February, 1535, by the
Elector. The bishop then raised a fortress to command the town,
and placed in it a garrison to keep the Warendorfians in order.
Seventeen years after, the greater part of the franchises were
restored, and all the rest in 1555.
The apostles of the east, under Julius Frisius, were arrested at
Coesfeld, and were executed.[223]
[223] The "Newe Zeitung v. d. Widerteuffer. zu Münster," f. 329
b, 330 a, gives a summary of the confessions of these men, and
their account of the condition of affairs in the city. They said
that every man there had five, six, seven, or eight wives, and
that every girl over the age of twelve was forced to marry; that
if one wife showed resentment against another, or jealousy, or
complained, she was sentenced by the king to death.
Those of the north reached Osnabrück. Denis Vinnius was at their
head. They entered the house of a certain Otto Spiecher, whom they
believed to be of their persuasion, and they laid at his feet their
gold florins bearing the title and superscription of King John,
as tokens of their mission. Spiecher picked up the gold pieces,
pocketed them, and then informed his visitors that he did not
belong to their sect, and that the only salvation for their necks
would be reticence on the subject of their mission.
But this was advice Vinnius and his fellow-fanatics were by no
means disposed to accept. They ran forth into the streets and
market-place, yelling, dancing, foaming, and calling to repentance.
Then Vinnius, having collected a crowd, preached to them the setting
up of the Millennial kingdom at Münster. Thereupon the city-guard
arrived with orders from the burgomaster, arrested the missionaries,
and carried them off to the Goat-tower, where they shut them in, and
barred fast the doors.[224]
[224] Kerssenbroeck, p. 100 _et seq._
The rabble showed signs of violence, threatened, blustered, armed
themselves with axes and hammers, and vowed they would batter open
the prison-gates unless the true ministers of God's Word, pure from
all human additions, were set at liberty. The magistrates replied
with great firmness that the first man who attempted to force
the doors should be shot, and no one caring to be the first man,
though very urgent to his neighbours to lead the assault, the mob
sang a psalm and dispersed, and the ministers were left to console
themselves with the promises of Dusentscheuer that not a hair of
their head should fall.
A messenger was sent by the magistrates post haste to the
prince-bishop, and before morning the evangelists were in his grasp
at Iburg.
As they were led past Francis of Waldeck, one of them, Heinrich
Graess, exclaimed in Latin, "Has not the prince power to release
the captive?" and the prince, disposed in his favour, sent for
him. Graess then confessed that the whole affair was a mixture of
fanaticism and imposture, the ingredients being mixed in pretty
equal proportions, and promised, if his life were spared, to abandon
Anabaptism, and, what was more to the point, to prove an Ahitophel
to the Absalom in Zion.
Graess was pardoned, Strahl died in prison, the other four were
brought to the block.
Graess was the sole surviving apostle of the seventy-seven, and the
miserable failure of their mission had rudely shaken out of him
all belief in its divine character, and he became as zealous in
unmasking Anabaptism as he had been enthusiastic in its propagation.
There is no reason to believe that the man was an unprincipled
traitor. On the contrary, he appears to have been thoroughly in
earnest as long as he believed in his mission, but his confidence
had been shaken before he left the city, and the signal collapse of
the mission sufficed to convince him of his previous error, and make
him resolute to oppose it.
Laden with chains, he was brought to the gates of Münster one dark
night and there abandoned. In the morning he was recognised by the
sentinels, and was brought into the city, and led in triumph before
the king, by a vast concourse chanting German hymns.[225]
[225] Kerssenbroeck, p. 103 _et seq._; Montfort., pp. 40-1; Hast
p. 368.
And thus he accounted for his presence:--"I was last night at Iburg
in a dark dungeon, when suddenly a brilliant light filled my
prison, and I saw before me an angel of God, who took me by the hand
and led me forth, and delivered me from the death which has befallen
all my companions, and which the ungodly determined to inflict on
me upon the morrow. The angel transported me asleep to the gate of
Münster, and that none may doubt my story, lo! the chains, wherewith
I was laden by the enemies of Israel, still encumber me."
Some of the courtiers doubted the miracle, but not so the people,
and the king gave implicit credence to his word, or perhaps thought
the event capable of a very simple explanation, which had been
magnified and rendered supernatural by the heated fancy of the
mystic.
Graess became the idol of the people and the favourite of Bockelson.
The king passed a ring upon his finger, and covered him with a
robe of distinction, half grey, half green--the first the symbol
of persistence, the other typical of gratitude to God.[226] Graess
profited by his position to closely observe all that transpired of
the royal schemes.
[226] Montfort., p. 40.
John Bockelson became more and more tyrannical and sanguinary. He
hung a starving child, aged ten, for having stolen some turnips. A
woman lost her head for having spit in the face of a preacher of the
Gospel. An Episcopal soldier having been taken, the king exhorted
him to embrace the pure Word of God, freed from the traditions of
men. The prisoner having had the audacity to reply that the pure
Gospel as practised in the city seemed to him to be adultery,
fornication, and all uncleanness; the king, foaming with rage,
hacked off his head with his own hand.[227]
[227] Kerssenbroeck, p. 110.
Provisions became scarce in Münster, and the inhabitants were driven
to consume horse-flesh; and the powder ran short in the magazine.
The Diet of Coblenz assembled on the 13th December. The envoys of
the Elector Palatine, the prince-bishops of Maintz, Cologne, and of
Trier, the princes and nobles of the Upper and Lower Rhine and of
Westphalia appeared. Francis of Waldeck, unable to be present in
person, sent deputies to represent him.[228]
[228] _Ibid._ p. 114.
These deputies having announced that the cost of the siege had
already amounted to 700,000 florins, besought the assembled princes
to combine to terminate this disastrous war. A long deliberation
followed, and the principle was admitted that as the establishment
of an Anabaptist kingdom in Münster would be a disaster affecting
the whole empire, it was just that the bishop should not be obliged
to bear the whole expenses of the reduction of Münster. The Elector
John Frederick of Saxony, though not belonging to the three circles
convoked, through his deputies sent to the Diet, promised to take
part in the extirpation of the heretics.[229] It was finally
agreed that the bishop should be supplied with 300 horse soldiers,
3000 infantry, and that an experienced General, Count Ulrich von
Ueberstein, should command them and take the general conduct of the
war.[230]
[229] _Ibid._; Sleidan, p. 419; Heresbach, p. 132.
[230] Sleidan, p. 419.
The monthly subsidy of 15,000 florins was also promised to be
contributed till the fall of Münster. It was also agreed that the
prince-bishop should be guaranteed the integrity of his domains;
that each prince, Catholic or Protestant, should use his utmost
endeavours to extirpate Anabaptism from his estates; that the Bishop
of Münster should request Ferdinand, King of the Romans, and the
seven Electors, to meet on the 4th April, at Worms, to consult with
those then assembled at Worms on measures to crush the rebellion, to
divide the cost of the war, and to punish the leaders of the revolt
at Münster.
Lastly, the Diet addressed a letter to the guilty city, summoning it
to surrender at discretion, unless it were prepared to resist the
combined effort of all estates of the empire.
But if the princes were combining against the Anabaptist New
Jerusalem, the sectarians were in agitation, and were arming
to march to its relief from all sides, from Leyden, Freisland,
Amsterdam, Deventer, from Brabant and Strassburg.