The citizens of this town had expelled their
bishop, and had in consequence been treated with great severity by
Luther, in his effort to keep the cause of religious reform separate
from politics. The new-comers were received with enthusiasm, and the
people of Muenster quickly fell under the influence of two of their
fanatical preachers, John Matthiesen, a baker, of Harlem, and John
Bockhold, or Bockelson, a tailor, of Leyden.
Muenster soon became the seat of an extraordinary outburst of profligacy,
fanaticism, and folly. The Anabaptists took possession of the town,
drove out all its wealthy citizens, elected two of themselves--a
clothier named Knipperdolling and one Krechting--as burgomasters, and
started off in a remarkable career of self-government under Anabaptist
auspices.
A community of property was the first measure inaugurated. Every person
was required to deposit all his possessions, in gold, silver, and other
articles of value, in a public treasury, which fell under the control of
Bockelson, who soon made himself lord of the city.
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