The Tailor-King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Muenster

by Anthony Arthur

Book Overview

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),...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312267835
• ISBN13: 9780312267834
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Unusual history story....

This book by Anthony Arthur proves to be one of the more unusual book on the Anabapist kingdom of Munster that existed from 1534-35. Considered as a heretical kingdom by both Catholic and Protestant movements, the city went through a year and a half siege before finally falling to their enemies. During that time, this Dutch tailor became a self-proclaim king who ruled the city with an iron hand. From the author's writing, its pretty clear that this fellow was pretty psychotic and the entire situtation reminded me of what happened in Waco, Texas back in the 1990s. An interesting reading material all the way....

The reign of terror in the Anabaptist Kingdom.

This is a good, original story of radicals in the Reformation movement taking a town over and transforming it into a theocracy.Munster had a uneasy alliance of Catholics and Lutherians who tolerated each other. The radical Anabaptists took over the townand forced Catholics and moderate elements to leave the city. The Prince Bishop which ruled Munster opposed them. Two Jans transformed the city into a Nazi like state. I agree with the review that the final chapter was a stretch in how it related to modern movements. Arthur wanted to say that history repeats itself. The final chapter could have been cut down. Also in the beginning, more focus could have been given the Anabaptist beliefs. A good short read.

Living history at its engrossing best

The Tailor King is a masterful account of what happened both inside and outside the ancient walls of sixteenth-century Munster when Protestant religious fervor transformed otherwise intelligent and rational men into irrational creatures capable of unbelievable brutality. Readers beware - the graphic descriptions and concrete imagery bring the sixteenth-century fully alive. The characters in this book could easily populate a wide-screen, action-filled film. The author's meticulous research and gift for storytelling combine to create a rare pairing of erudition and page-turning readability. Like the narrator who seizes the wedding guest in Coleridge's "The Ancient Mariner," the author seizes the reader's attention and does not let go. His calm journalistic voice only heightens the "you are there" quality of the book. And his occasional strokes of subtle dry wit surprise and delight. This is living history at its engrossing best. The carefully annotated illustrations, culled from archives and museums in Germany, highlight events in the story and are a unique bonus. A well told story from first page to last!

A great (even titillating) read ...

This well-researched and entertaining book will not disappoint. I recommend it to all Mennonite/Anabaptist researchers and scholars - and laypersons.