[Cronos]

25-year-old John of Leiden was subsequently recognized as Matthys' religious and political successor, justifying his authority and actions by claiming visions from heaven. His authority grew until eventually he proclaimed himself the successor of David and adopted royal regalia, honors, and absolute power in the new "Zion". There were now in the town at least three times as many women of marriageable age as men, so he made polygamy compulsory, and he himself took 16 wives (John is said to have beheaded Elisabeth Wandscherer in the marketplace for refusing to marry him, though this act might have been falsely attributed to him after his death.) Meanwhile, most of the residents of Münster were starving as a result of the year-long siege.

[Chickensoup]

If I recall correctly there was some running around naked as well.

[Nateman]

Three iron cages are still hanging from the steeple of St. Lambert’s Church (St. Lamberti) in Münster, Germany. They were used to publicly display the tortured, dismembered corpses of three Anabaptist leaders following the brutal suppression of the Münster Rebellion in 1536.

[doorgunner69]

Monster Antibaptists?

Sounds medieval all right

[Verginius Rufus]

The two swords theory comes from the two swords of Luke 22.38. It was not original with the Anabaptists.

[Jan_Sobieski]

There’s crazies in every generation. Munster crazies don’t represent Anabaptists anymore than David Koresh was Roman Catholic

[Big Red Badger]

Fascinating Read.
1500s’ seems a Tough time.
But the Naked part and the cages ?
The Dark Age torture Was Varied and Extreme But nothing Compared to
The Cross of Christ.
Amen
.
.
Thanks cronos
which means ‘Time’

[TomEd]

Let me quote Daniel Stephen Courney’s essay about another Baptist movement::

~~THE BLOODIEST CIVIL WAR IN HUMAN HISTORY ~~~

TWENTY TO THIRTY **MILLION** DEAD. Mass cannibalism. Rape and pillage. Desertification due to slash-and-burn warfare. No less than 600 cities were wiped off the map. Total War.
All this was caused by an insane but charismatic Chinese antichrist named Hong Xiuquan who claimed to the brother of Jesus and the second son of God.
(No wonder China got rid of all religion during the Cultural Revolution!)
This was the war with the highest casualty count up to that point and STILL REMAINS
Hong Xiuquan — who claimed to be the brother of Jesus after being influenced by western Christian missionaries in China — led The Taiping Rebellion, from 1850-1864, which was meant to usher in the “Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping”.
The contemporaneous American Civil War, which resulted in about 1 million deaths, is dwarfed by the 20,000,000 to 30,000,000 body count of the Chinese Civil War — led by a man who claimed to be a Christian.
We Americans still can’t forget our civil war and argue about the Confederate Flag and tear down statues of soldiers. I don’t think the Chinese so easily forget a civil war far more bloody and due to the purported influence of a “foreign” religion.
And Hong Xiuquan’s brutality and disregard for human life (he believed the ruling Manchus were “demons” incarnate to be exterminated, for example) inspired another bloodthirsty tyrant nearly 75 years later named Mao Zedong, who caused the death of at least as many people.

[GingisK]

It seems the the Anabaptist movement is the root of the Amish.