massacring the "unbelievers" in this city, and then marching on
Münster, when the plot was discovered, and the four ringleaders
were executed. The vigilance of the Regent of the Netherlands
prevented the adherents of the mystic sect, who were then very
numerous, from rolling in a wave upon Westphalia, and sweeping the
undisciplined Episcopal army away and consolidating the power of
their pontiff-king.
It was towards the Low Countries that John of Leyden looked with
impatience. When would the expected delivery come out of the west?
Why were not the thousands and tens of thousands of the sons of
Israel rising from their fens, joined by trained bands from the
cities, marching by the light of blazing cities, singing the songs
of Zion?
Graess offered the king to hie to the Low Countries and rouse the
faithful seed. "The Father," said he, "has ordered me to gather
together the brethren dispersed at Wesel, at Deventer, at Amsterdam,
and in Lower Germany; to form of them a mighty army that shall
deliver this city and smite asunder the enemies of Israel. I will
accomplish this mission with joy in the interest of the faithful. I
fear no danger, since I go to fulfil the will of God, and I am sure
that our brethren, when they know our extremity, and that it is the
will of their king, will rise and hasten to the relief."[231]
[231] Montfort., p. 40; Kerssenbroeck, p. 104 _et seq._; Hast, p.
368.
John Bockelson was satisfied; he furnished Graess with letters of
credit, sealed with the royal signet. The letters were couched
in the following terms:--"We, John, King of Righteousness in the
new Temple, and servant of the Most High, do you to wit by these
presents, that the bearer of these letters, Heinrich Graess, prophet
illumined by the celestial Father, is sent by us to assemble, for
the increase of our realm, our brethren dispersed abroad throughout
the German lands. He will make them to hear the words of life, and
he will execute the commandments which he has received from God and
from us. We therefore order and demand of all those who belong to
our kingdom to confide in him as in ourselves. Given at Münster,
city of God, and sealed with our signet, in the twenty-sixth year
of our age and the second of our reign, the second day of the first
month, in the year 1535 after the nativity of Jesus Christ, Son of
God."
Graess, furnished with this letter and with 300 florins from the
treasury, left the city, and betook himself direct to Iburg, which
he reached on the vigil of the Epiphany;[232] and appeared before
the bishop, told him the whole project, the names of the principal
members of the sect at Wesel, Amsterdam, Leyden, &c., the places
where their arms were deposited, and their plan of a general rising
and massacring their enemies on a preconcerted day.
[232] Montfort., p. 40.
The bishop sent dispatches at once to the Duke of Juliers and
the Governors of the Low Countries to warn them to be on their
guard. They replied, requesting his assistance in suppressing the
insurrection; and as the most effectual aid he could render would be
to send Graess, he commissioned him to visit Wesel, and arrest the
execution of the project.
Graess at once betook himself to Wesel, where he denounced the
ringleaders and indicated the places where their arms and ammunition
were secreted in enormous quantities. A tumult broke out; but the
Duke of Juliers entered Wesel on the 5th April (1535), at the head
of some squadrons of cavalry, seized the ringleaders, who were
members of the principal houses in the place and of the senate, and
on the 13th executed six of them. The rest were compelled to do
penance in white sheets, were deprived of their arms, and put under
close surveillance.
Another division of the Anabaptists attempted to gain possession of
Leyden, but were discomfited, fifteen of the principal men of the
party were executed, and five of the women most distinguished for
their fanaticism were drowned, amongst whom was the original wife of
John Bockelson.[233]
[233] Hast, p. 370; Bussierre, p. 403.
In Gröningen, the partisans of the sect were numerous; orders
reached them from the king to rise and massacre the magistrates, and
march to the relief of the invested city. As the Anabaptists there
were not all disposed to recognise the royalty of John of Leyden,
an altercation broke out between them, and the attempt failed; but
rising and marching under Peter Shomacker, their prophet, they
were defeated on January 24th, by the Baron of Leutenburg, and the
prophet was executed.
We must now return to what took place in the town of Münster at the
opening of the year 1535.
Bockelson inaugurated that year by publishing, on January 2nd, an
edict in twenty-eight Articles. It was addressed "To all lovers of
the Truth and the Divine Righteousness, learned in and ignorant of
the mysteries of God, to let them know how those Christians ought to
live or act who are fighting under the banner of Justice, as true
Israelites of the new Temple predestined for long ages, announced
by the mouths of all the holy prophets, founded in the power of the
Holy Ghost, by Christ and his Apostles, and finally established by
John, the righteous King, seated on the throne of David."
The Articles were to this effect:--
"1. In this new temple there was to be only one king
to rule over the people of God.
2. This king was to be a minister of righteousness, and to bear
the sword of justice.
3. None of the subjects were to desert their allotted places.
4. None were to interpret Holy Scripture wrongfully.
5. Should a prophet arise teaching anything contrary to the
plain letter of Holy Scripture, he was to be avoided.
6. Drunkenness, avarice, fornication, and adultery were
forbidden.
7. Rebellion to be punished with death.
8. Duels to be suppressed.
9. Calumny forbidden.
10. Egress from the camp forbidden without permission.
11. Any one absenting himself from his wife for three days,
without leave from his officer, the wife to take another
husband.
12. Approaching the enemy's sentinels without leave forbidden.
13. All violence forbidden among the elect.
14. Spoil taken from the enemy to go into a common fund.
15. No renegade to be re-admitted.
16. Caution to be observed in admitting a Christian into one
society who leaves another.
17. Converts not to be repelled.
18. Any desiring to live at peace with the Christians, in trade,
friendship, and by treaty, not to be rejected.
19. Permission given to dealers and traders to traffic with the
elect.
20. No Christian to oppose and revolt against any Gentile
magistrate, except the servants of the bishops and the monks.
21. A Gentile culprit not to be remitted the penalty of his
crime by joining the Christian sect.
22. Directions about bonds.
23. Sentence to be pronounced against those who violate these
laws and despise the Word of God, but not hastily, without the
knowledge of the king.
24. No constraint to be used to force on marriages.
25. None afflicted with epilepsy, leprosy, and other diseases,
to contract marriage without informing the other contracting
party of their condition.
26. Nulla virginis specie, cum virgo non sit, fratrem
defraudabit; alioquin serio punietur.
27. Every woman who has not a legitimate husband, to choose from
among the community a man to be her guardian and protector.
"Given by God and King John the Just, minister of the Most High
God, and of the new Temple, in the 26th year of his age and
the first of his reign, on the second day of the first month
after the nativity of Jesus Christ, Son of God, 1535."[234]
[234] Kerssenbroeck, p. 132 _et seq._
The object Bockelson had in view in issuing this edict was to
produce a diversion in his favour among the Lutherans. He already
felt the danger he was in, from a coalescence of Catholics
and Protestants, and he hoped by temperate proclamations and
protestations of his adhesion to the Bible, and the Bible only, as
his authority, to dispose them, if not to make common cause with
him, at least to withdraw their assistance from the common enemy,
the Catholic bishop.
For the same object he sent letters on the 13th January to the
Landgrave of Hesse, and with them a book called "The Restitution"
(Von der Wiederbringung), intended to place Anabaptism in a
favourable light.[235]
[235] Kerssenbroeck, p. 128; Sleidan, p. 420; Hast, p. 373 _et
seq._; "Acta, Handlungen," &c., f. 365 b. The king's letter began
"Leve Lips" ("Dear Phil").
The Landgrave replied at length, rebuking the fanatics for their
rebellion, for their profligacy, and for their heresy in teaching
that man had a free will.[236]
[236] Sleidan, p. 421.
This reply irritated the Anabaptists, and they wrote to him again,
to prove that they clave to the pure Word of God, freed from all
doctrines and traditions of men, and that they followed the direct
inspiration of God through their prophet. They also retorted on
Philip with some effect. The Landgrave, said they, had no right to
censure them for attacking their bishop, for he had done precisely
the same in his own dominions. He had expelled all the religious
from their convents, and had appropriated their lands; he had
re-established the Duke of Wurtemburg in opposition to the will
of the Emperor; he had changed the religion of his subjects, and
was unable to allege, as his authority for thus acting, the direct
orders of Heaven, transmitted to him by the prophets of the living
God. They might have retorted upon the Landgrave also, the charge
of immorality, but they forbore; their object was to persuade the
champion of the Protestant cause to favour them, not to exasperate
him by driving the _tu quoque_ too deep home.
With this letter was sent a treatise by Rottmann, entitled, "On the
Secret Significance of Scripture."
Philip of Hesse wavered. He wrote once more; and after having
attempted to excuse himself for those things wherewith he had been
reproached, he said, "If the thing depended on me only, you would
not have to plead in vain your _just_ cause, and you would obtain
all that you demand; but you ought ere this to have addressed the
princes of the empire, instead of taking the law into your own
hands; flying to arms, erecting a kingdom, electing a king, and
sending prophets and apostles abroad to stir up the towns and the
people. Nevertheless, it is possible that even now your demands may
be favourably listened to, if you recall on equitable conditions
those whom you have driven out of the town and despoiled of their
goods, and restore your ancient constitutions and your former
authorities."[237]
[237] Kerssenbroeck, p. 129; Sleidan, p. 421.
Luther now thundered out of Wittemberg. Sleidan epitomises this
treatise. Five Hessian ministers also issued an answer to the
doctrine of the Anabaptists of Münster, which was probably drawn up
for them by Luther himself, or was at least submitted to him for his
approval, for it is published among his German works.[238] It is
full of invective and argument in about equal doses. A passage or
two only can be quoted here:--
"Since you are led astray by the devil into such blasphemous error,
drunk and utterly imprisoned you wish, as is Satan's way, to make
yourselves into angels of light, and to paint in brightness and
colour your devilish doings. For the devil will be no devil, but
a holy angel, yea, even God himself, and his works, however bad
they may be before God and all the world, he will have unrebuked,
and himself be honoured and reverenced as the Most Holy. For that
purpose he and you, his obedient disciples, use Holy Scripture as
all heretics have ever done."[239]
[238] Luth. "Sämmtliche Werke," Wittenb. 1545-51, ii. ff.
367-375; "Von der Teuffelischen Secte d. Widerteuffer. zu
Münster."
[239] _Ibid._ f. 367.
"What shall I say? You let all the world see that you understand far
less about the kingdom of Christ than did the Jews, who blame you
for your want of understanding, and yet none spoke or believed more
ignorantly of that same kingdom than they. For the Scripture and the
prophets point to Messiah, through whom all was to be fulfilled, and
this the Jews also believed. But you want to make it point to your
Tailor-King, to the great disgrace and mockery of Christ, our only
true King, Saviour, and Redeemer."[240]
[240] _Ibid._ f. 369.
But this was the grievous rub with the Reformer--that the Anabaptist
had gone a step beyond himself. "You have cast away all that Dr.
Martin Luther taught you, and yet it is from him that you have
received, next to God, all sound learning out of the Scripture; you
have given another definition of faith, after your new fashion, with
various additional articles, so that you have not only darkened, but
have utterly annihilated the value of saving faith."[241]
[241] _Ibid._ f. 373.
In a treatise of Justus Menius, published with Luther's approval,
and with a preface by him, "On the Spirit of the Anabaptists,"
it is angrily complained, that these sectaries bring against the
Lutheran Church the following charges:--"First, that our churches
are idol-temples, since God dwelleth not in temples made with hands.
Secondly, that we do not preach the truth, and have true Divine
worship therein. Thirdly, that our preachers are sinners, and are
therefore unfit to teach others. Fourthly, that the common people
do not mend their morals by our preaching." All which charges
Justus Menius answers as well as he can, sword in one hand against
the Papists, trowel in the other patching up the walls of his
Jerusalem.[242]
[242] _Ibid._ ii. ff. 298-325.
Melancthon also wrote against the Anabaptist book, combating all its
propositions, and to do so falling back on the maxim, _Abusus non
tollit substantiam_, a maxim completely ignored by the Reformers
when they attacked the Catholics.[243] Thus the new sect fought
Lutheranism with precisely the same weapons wherewith the Lutherans
had fought the Church; and the Lutherans, to maintain their
ground, were obliged to take refuge in the authority of the Church
and tradition--positions they had assailed formerly, and to use
arguments they had previously rejected.
[243] _Ibid._ ii. ff. 334-363. Melancthon says that things had
come to such a pass in Münster, that no child knew who was its
father, brother, or sister.
In the treatise of the five Hessian divines, drawn up by Philip of
Hesse's orders, the errors of the Anabaptists are epitomised and
condemned; they are as follows:--
"1. They do not believe that men are justified
by faith only, but by faith and works conjointly.
2. They refer the redemption of Christ alone to the fall of
Adam, and to its consequences on those born of him.
3. They hold community of goods.
4. They blame Martin Luther as having taught nothing about good
works.
5. They proclaim the freedom of man's will.
6. They reject infant baptism.
7. They take the Bible alone, uninterpreted by any commentary.
8. They declare for plurality of wives.
9. They do not correctly teach the Incarnation of Christ."[244]
[244] "Acta Handlung." &c. f. 366 a.
This "Kurtze: und in der eile gestelte Antwort," is signed by
John Campis, John Fontius, John Kymeus, John Lessing, and Anthony
Corvinus.
It was high time that the siege should come to an end, so every one
said; but every one had said the same for the last twelve months,
and Münster held out notwithstanding.
An ultimatum was sent into the city by the general in command,
offering the inhabitants liberal terms if they would surrender, and
warning them that, in case of refusal, the city would be taken by
storm, and would be delivered over to plunder.[245] No answer was
made to the letter; nevertheless, it produced a profound impression
on the citizens, who were already suffering from want of victuals. A
party was formed which resolved to seize the person of the king, and
to open the gates and make terms with the bishop.[246] Bockelson,
hearing of the plot, assembled the whole of the population in the
cathedral square, and solemnly announced to them by revelation from
the Father that at Easter the siege would be raised, and the city
experience a wonderful deliverance. He also divided the town into
twelve portions, and placed at the head of each a duke of his own
creation, charged with the suppression of treason and the protection
of the gates. Each duke was provided with twenty-four guards for
the defence of his person, and the infliction of punishment on
those citizens who proved restive under the rule of the King of
Zion.[247] These dukes were promised the government of the empire,
when the kingdoms of Germany became the kingdom of John of Leyden.
Denecker, a grocer, was Duke of Saxony; Moer, the tailor, Duke of
Brunswick; the Kerkerings were appointed to reign over Westphalia;
Redecker, the cobbler, to bear rule in Juliers and Cleves. John Palk
was created Duke of Guelders and Utrecht; Edinck was to be supreme
in Brabant and Holland; Faust, a coppersmith, in Mainz and Cologne;
Henry Kock was to be Duke of Trier; Ratterberg to be Duke of Bremen,
Werden, and Minden; Reininck took his title from Hildesheim and
Magdeburg; and Nicolas Strip from Frisia and Gröningen. As these
men were for the most part butchers, blacksmiths, tailors, and
shoemakers, their titles, ducal coronets and mantles, and the
prospect of governing, turned their heads, and made them zealous
tools in the hands of Bockelson.
[245] Kerssenbroeck, p. 130.
[246] _Ibid._ p. 140.
[247] Sleidan, p. 419; Bullinger, l. ii. c. 9; Heresbach, p. 156;
Dorp. f. 498.
The king made one more attempt to rouse the country. He issued
letters offering the pillage of the whole world to all those
who would join the standard. But the bishop was informed of the
preparation of these missives by a Danish soldier in Münster;
he was much alarmed, as his _lantzknechts_ were ready to sell
their services to the highest bidder. He therefore pressed on the
circumvallation of the city, kept a vigilant guard, and captured
every emissary sent forth to distribute these tempting offers.
On the 11th February, 1535, the moat, mound, and palisade around
the city were complete; and it was thenceforth impossible for
access to or egress from the city to be effected without the
knowledge of the prince and his generals. The unfortunate people of
Münster discovered attempting to escape were by the king's orders
decapitated. Many men and women perished thus; amongst them was a
mistress of Knipperdolling named Dreyer, who, weary of her life,
fled, but was caught and delivered over to the executioner. When
her turn came, the headsman hesitated. Knipperdolling, perceiving
it, took from him the sword, and without changing colour smote
off her head. "The Father," said he, "irresistibly inspired me to
this, and I have thus become, without willing it or knowing it, an
instrument of vengeance in the hands of the Lord."[248]
[248] Kerssenbroeck, p. 148.
The legitimate wife of Knipperdolling, for having disparaged
polygamy, escaped death with difficulty; she was sentenced to do
public penance, kneeling in the great square, in the midst of the
people, with a naked sword in her hands.[249]
[249] _Ibid._ p. 149.
Easter came, the time of the promised delivery, and the armies of
the faithful from Holland and Friesland and Brabant had not arrived.
The position of Bockelson became embarrassing. He extricated
himself from the dilemma with characteristic effrontery. During
six days he remained in his own house, invisible to every one. At
the expiration of the time he issued forth, assembled the people
on Mount Zion, and informed them that the deliverance predicted
of the Father _had_ taken place, but that it was a deliverance
different in kind from what they had anticipated. "The Father," said
he, "has laid on my shoulders the iniquities of the Israelites. I
have been bowed down under their burden, and was well-nigh crushed
beneath their weight. Now, by the grace of the Lord, health has
been restored to me, and you have been all released from your sins.
This spiritual deliverance is the most excellent of all, and must
precede that which is purely exterior and temporal. Wait, therefore,
patiently, it is promised and it will arrive, if you do not fall
back into your sins, but maintain your confidence in God, who never
deserts His chosen people, though He may subject them to trials and
tribulations, to prove their constancy."[250] One would fain believe
that John Bockelson was in earnest, and the subject of religious
infatuation, like his subjects, but after this it is impossible to
so regard him.
[250] Kerssenbroeck, pp. 153, 154; Sleidan, p. 422; Bullinger,
lib. ii. c. 2; Heresbach, pp. 159, 160.
The princes, when separating after the assembly of Coblenz, had
agreed to reassemble on the 4th of April. Ferdinand, King of the
Romans, convoked all the Estates of the empire to meet on that
day at Worms. The deputies of several towns protested against the
decisions taken at Coblenz without their participation, and the
deliberations were at the outset very tumultuous. An understanding
was at length arrived at, and a monthly subsidy of 20,000 florins
for five months was agreed upon, to maintain the efficacy of the
investment of Münster. But before separating, a final effort
to obtain a pacific termination to the war was resolved upon,
and the burgomasters of Frankfort and Nürnberg were sent as a
deputation into the city. This attempt proved as sterile as all
those previously essayed. "We have nothing in common with the Roman
empire," answered the chiefs of Zion; "for that empire is the fourth
beast whereof Daniel prophesied. We have set up again the kingdom of
Israel, by the Father's command, and we engage you to abstain for
the future from assailing this realm, as you fear the wrath of God
and eternal damnation."[251]
[251] Kerssenbroeck, p. 155; Hast, 394.
The famine in Münster now became terrible. Cats, rats, dogs, and
horses were eaten; the starving people attempted various expedients
to satisfy their craving hunger. They ate leather, wood, even
cow-dung dried in the sun, the bark of trees, and candles. Corpses
lately buried were dug up during the night and secretly devoured.
Mothers even ate their children. "Terrible maladies," says
Kerssenbroeck, "the consequence of famine, aggravated the position
of the inhabitants of the town; their flesh decomposed, they rotted
living, their skin became livid, their lips retreated; their eyes,
fixed and round, seemed ready to start out of their orbits; they
wandered about, haggard, hideous, like mummies, and died by hundreds
in the streets. The king, to prevent infection, had the bodies
cast into large common ditches, whence the starving withdrew them
furtively to devour them. Night and day the houses and streets
re-echoed with tears, cries, and moans;--men, women, old men, and
children sank into the darkest despair."[252]
[252] Kerssenbroeck, p. 157 _et seq._; Heresbach, pp. 151, 152;
Hast, p. 395; Montfort., p. 46.
In the midst of the general famine, John of Leyden lived in
abundance. His storehouses, into which the victuals found in every
house had been collected, supplied his own table and that of his
immediate followers. His revelry and pomp were unabated, whilst his
deluded subjects died of want around him.[253]
[253] _Ibid._ p. 157.
When starvation was at its worst, a letter from Heinrich Graess
circulated in the town, informing the people that his miraculous
escape had been a fable, and that he had rejected the follies of
Anabaptism, disgusted at the extravagance to which it had led
its votaries, and assuring them that their king was an impostor,
exploiting to his advantage the credulity of an infatuated mob.[254]
[254] Montfort., p. 47.
This letter produced an effect which made the king tremble. He
summoned his disciples before him, reproached them for putting the
hand to the plough and turning back, and gave leave to all those
whose faith wavered to go out from the city. "As for me," said
he, "I shall remain here, even if I remain alone with the angels
which the Father will not fail to send to aid me to defend this
place."[255]
[255] Kerssenbroeck, p. 161.
When the king had given permission to leave the city, numbers of
every age and sex poured through the gates, leaving behind only the
most fanatical who were resolved to conquer or die with John of
Leyden.