The history of the movement is as follows: The doctrine of adult baptism was first put forth by Thomas Miinzer, the Lutheran pastor of Zwickau in Saxony, in the year 1520. Miin zer soon obtained many followers who joined him in his uprising against all civil and reli gious authority. Although openly belonging to the Reformation movement they very soon became completely repudiated by the followers of Luther and his adherents. But the spirit of insurrection against feudal tyranny pre vailed amongst all the common people on the Rhine, in Westphalia, Holstein, Switzerland, Flanders and throughout the whole Nether lands, and the increase of Miinzer's followers became so dangerous that the magistrates and civil authorities found it difficult to restrain them. Miinzer was compelled to leave Zwic kau; he visited Bohemia, resided for two years at Alstadt and Thuringia and in 1524 was found propagating his doctrines in Switzer land. He was the principal inciter of the Peasants' War, which was entered upon with a view of establishing an ideal Christian com monwealth with communistic institutions. This war reached its culmination in 1525, when Miinzer led his forces against the representa tions of established order and was defeated at the battle of Frankenhausen 15 May 1525, Miin zer was taken prisoner and with several of his associate leaders was tried, condemned and executed. But all this was looked upon by the Anabaptists as merely a form of welcome persecution. New associations were formed; new prophets and teachers arose; the propa ganda was extended amongst the peasants and serfs of Germany, Austria and Hungary in every direction. It may be necessary to state that the tenets of the Anabaptists are to be summarized in their own words as follows: iiImpiety prevails everywhere. It is therefore necessary that a new family of holy persons should be founded, enjoying, without distinc tion of sex, the gift of prophecy, and skilled to interpret Divine Revelations. Hence, no need for learning; for the internal word is more than the outward expression. No Christian is to be allowed to go to law, to hold an office in the civil government, to take an oath in a court of justice or to possess personal property; everything amongst Christians must be in common.
John Bochhold, or Bockel, a tailor, of Ley den, aged 26, and John Matthias, or Matthiesen, a baker of Haarlem, came, in 1553, to Miinster in Westphalia, a town whose inhabitants fol lowed the doctrines of the Reformation. Here they soon won the adherence of the excited populace, and among the rest, of Rothmann, a Protestant clergyman, and the Councillor Knip perdolling. The magistrates in vain excluded them from the churches. They took violent possession of the council-house, and toward the end of the year a treaty was signed securing the religious liberty of both parties. Being strengthened by the accession of the restless spirits of neighboring cities, they soon made themselves masters of the town by force, and drove out their adversaries. Matthiesen came forward as their prophet, and persuaded the people to devote gold and silver and movable property to the common use, and to burn all books but the Bible; but in a sally against the bishop of Miinster, who had laid siege to the city, he lost his life. He was succeeded in the prophetic office by Bochhold and Knipperdolling. The churches were destroyed, and 12 judges were set over the tribes, as in Israel; but even this form of government was soon abolished, and Bochhold, under the name of John of Leyden, raised himself to the dignity of king of New Zion, as the Anabaptists of Munster called their kingdom, and as such was ceremoniously crowned. From this period
Miinster was the scene of all excesses of fanati cism, lust and cruelty. The introduction of polygamy, and the neglect of civil order, con cealed from the infatuated people the avarice and madness of their tyrant and the increase of danger from abroad. Bochhold lived in luxury and magnificence; he sent out seditious procla mations against the Pope and Luther, as well as the neighboring authorities; he threatened to destroy with his mob all who differed in opinion from him; made himself an object of terror to his subjects by frequent executions, and while famine and pestilence raged in the city, persuaded the wretched, deluded inhabitants to a stubborn resistance of their besiegers. The city was at last taken, 24 June 1535, by treachery, though not without a brave defense, in which Rothmann and others were killed, and the king dom of the Anabaptists destroyed by the execu tion of the chief men. Bochhold, and two of his most active companions, Knipperdolling and Kretchting, were tortured to death with red-hot pincers, and then hung up in iron cages on Saint Lambert's steeple, at Miinster, as a terror to all rebels. In the meantime, some of the 26 apostles, who were sent out by Bochhold to ex tend the limits of his kingdom, had been suc cessful in various places ; and many other teach ers, who preached the same doctrines, continued active in the work of founding a new empire of pure Christians, and propagating their visions and revelations in the countries above men tioned. It is true that they rejected the prac tice of polygamy., community of goods, and in tolerance toward those of different opinions, which had prevailed in Munster; but they en joined upon their adherents the other doctrines of the early Anabaptists and certain heretical opinions in regard to the humanity of Christ, which seemed to result from the controversies of that day about the sacrament. The most celebrated of these Anabaptist prophets were Melchior Hoffmann and David Joris. The for mer, a furrier from Suabia, first appeared as a teacher in Kiel in 1527; afterward, in 1529, in Emden; and finally in Strasburg, where, in 1540, he died in prison. He formed, chiefly by his bold promises of a future elevation of him self and his disciples, apeculiar sect, whose scattered members retained the name of Hoff mannists in Germany till their remains were lost among the Anabaptists. They have never owned that Hoffmann recanted before his death. David Joris, or George, a glass-painter of Delft, born in 1501, and rebaptized in 1534, showed more depth of mind and warmth of imagination in his various works. In his endeavors to unite the discordant parties of the Anabap tists, he collected a party of quiet adherents in the country, who studied his works (as the Gich telians did those of Bohme), especially his book of miracles, which appeared at Deventer in 1542, and revered him as a kind of new Mes siah. Unsettled in his opinions, he traveled a long time from place to place, till at last, to avoid persecution, in 1554, he became a citizen of Basil, under the name of John of Bruges. In 1556, after an honorable life, he died there among the Calvinists. In 1559 he was accused, though without much reason, of profligate doc trine and conduct, and the Council of Basil or dered his body to be burnt.