The Tailor-King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Muenster
Sign in to keep track of books you’ve read and want to read.
He was only a Dutch tailor's apprentice, but from 1534 to 1535, Jan van Leyden led a radical sect of persecuted Anabaptists to repeated triumphs over the combined powers of church and state. Revered by his followers as the new David, the charismatic young leader pronounced the northern German city of Muenster a new Zion and crowned himself king. He expropriated all private property, took sixteen wives (supposedly emulating the biblical patriarchs), and in a deadly reign of terror, executed all who opposed him. As the long siege of Muenster resulted in starvation, thousands fled Jan's deadly kingdom while others waited behind the double walls and moats for the apocalyptic final attack by the Prince-Bishop's hired armies, supported by all the rulers of Europe.
Read more
With the sudden rise to power of a compelling personality and the resulting violent threat to ordered society, Jan van Leyden's distant story strangely echoes the many tragedies of the twentieth century. More than just a fascinating human drama from the past, The Tailor-Kingalso offers insight into our own troubled times.
Liked The Tailor-King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Muenster? Here’s where I’d start.
These suit anyone who liked The Tailor-King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Muenster. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.
-
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages (Complete - Volume 1, 2 and 3) Shares history, nonfiction, religion
-
The Pope and the Heretic: The True Story of Giordano Bruno, the Man Who Dared to Defy the Roman Inquisition Shares history, religion, nonfiction -
Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages Shares history, religion, nonfiction -
A Dark History: The Popes Shares history, nonfiction, religion
“People who read The Tailor-King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Muenster tend to reach for these next.”
“If you want more of the same (history about religion), start with these.”
-
The Course of German History: A Survey of the Development of German History Since 1815
-
The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation
-
Peasant Fires: The Drummer of Niklashausen
-
A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus's Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich
