I wouldn't know an Anabaptist from a Baptist, although Anna Baptist will be my drag queen name. The Tailor King helped make the distinction between Anabaptists and the rest somewhat clearer and to be honest this atheist found the Anabaptist creed rather uncontroversial. Of course, 21st Century Australia is rather different to medieval Europe in the age of Luther and anything against the grain ecumenically was stamped out with great haste.

Which brings us to the city of Munster and the Anabaptists who take the city and attempt to transform it into utopia, with rather mixed results. Arthur kept me engaged throughout the Tailor King and it turns out I enjoyed this foray into medieval politics, even when the inevitable dictatorial Tailor King of Munster turned out worse than the Catholics. ( )

This is a straightforward telling of the remarkable rise and fall of the Kingdom of Munster in the sixteenth century. I didn't know any of these details so the book was a great way to learn the basics.

At the end Arthur does attempt a bit of analysis, to try to understand what could have driven people quite so crazy. He spends perhaps the most time following Ernest Jones's Freudian analysis of the Devil. I didn't find any of this analysis very convincing or informative, but it could provide a reader with some starting points.

I would have liked a bit more theology, e.g. laying out the different strands of Anabaptism. I don't recall a mention in the book of the Swiss Brethren. Of course this is a short book and the theological context is utterly vast so it is perfectly valid to stick to the bare bones as this book does. Author Arthur (ha!) tells us that it was the Waco Branch Davidian siege that motivated him to study King Jan and to write this book. It's really mass psychology that forms the parallel between these events, rather than theology.

Nowadays I would love to see something similar about Islamic Millennialism. Can we see Bin Laden, e.g., as a modern King Jan? This book was published in 1999 so it was too early to make that question at all urgent. Is there a Hindu Millennial wing of the BJP? ( )

A fascinating story of the powers of faith at their most powerful yet destructive, told skillfully with annotations by a historian that can walk the line between storytelling and the delivery of straight facts.

The book chronicles the brief yet amazing story of the anabaptist kingdom of Munster, from the building of tensions as millenialist preachers arrive to spread the gospel that Munster is the holy city of the second coming to the brutal collapse of what had become a corrupt city-kingdom ostensibly ruled by a mad young king, ending eventually in the brutal execution of Jan van Lieden, King of Munster and the Second David, at the hands of the prince-bishop of Munster who leaves the dead hanging in great iron cages that still top the cathedral of Munster to this day. ( )

Many of us would think that David Koresh, Jim Jones or Charles Manson are modern phenomenons. Think again.

Jan van Leiden considered himself a man chosen by G-d to usher in a glorious new age of peace and godliness across Europe. Jan was an Anabaptist - one of the sects that sprouted like weeds once the Catholic Church was splintered by the Reformation. His people believed that one could only come to the Kingdom of Heaven by willingly being baptized as an adult. They also believed in some fairly-forward thinking ideas such as pacifism, freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state - ideas that could get you killed in the early 1530s.

Jan, from the Dutch city of Leiden, came to Münster in 1533. He had heard that the city was friendly to Anabaptists and that he'd be able to make something of himself amongst a group of fellow believers. He heard correctly.

Within months of his arrival, Jan, along with a few of his Anabaptist followers, had seized control of the city, kicking out the city's council and stacking it with fellow believers. They achieved this mostly by running around the streets in a state of half-dressed religious zeal, singing about the End of Days and the glories that awaited G-d's chosen ones. Amazingly, this worked - you have to remember that this was an age of intense religious strife and hysteria. Anyone promising a little peace and prosperity far from the blood and muck of this world was considered worth hearing out.

Unfortunately, power began to go to their heads. The 'rules' began to get a little crazy. Capital punishment without a trial started to be the order of the day. The medieval version of the ATF stepped in, surrounded the city and prepared to starve the people into submission. Eventually, some were brave enough to escape Munster and help the local Bishop storm the city and regain control.

Jan and two of his most loyal cronies were arrested and eventually executed in a most painful, slow and torturous manner. Their bodies were put on display in three cages hung from the church steeple as a 'warning' to anyone else who might try to rock the boat. If you visit the city of Munster today, you will still see the cages hanging there.

This is a fascinating book and I would highly recommend it to any history buff. ( )

Remarkably vivid and (within reason) sympathetic accont of
the Anabaptist state in 16th century Germany ( )