The Anabaptist reign over Munster began in early 1534. During the course of 1533, Anabaptists poured into the city in thousands, coming, by and large, from the Netherlands. By 1534, they had gained control over the elected city council and quickly expelled all unbelievers from the city. The struggle for power between the Anabaptists in Munster and the Prince-Bishop of Westphalia would continue throughout all of 1534 and 1535, finally ending in early 1536 with the execution of Jan van Leyden and other high ranking members of the Anabaptist ruling class. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the saga of Munster is the length of time the city held out under the siege by the Prince-Bishop. Munster was a well-fortified city with substantial resources, including breweries and gardens, inside the city walls, thus enabling the city to withstand the siege for nearly two full years.
The Anabaptist control of the city officially began on February 8, 1534. During the course of this night, an Anabaptist mob surrounded Bernard Rothmann, a young reform preacher. Rothmann preached a message of repentance in the last days before the second coming. Rothmann's message spoke not only to the men of the town, but specifically to the women of a local convent. He told the nuns that it was their holy duty to "go forth and multiply." The sixteenth-century Melchiorite Anabaptists were an apocalyptic sect. They believed that the Last Judgment was imminent and their daily lives reflected this. This belief may account for the persistence and courage demonstrated by the Anabaptist community in the face of such adversity. They clearly believed that martyrdom for their faith was a far better option than surrender to "heretical" Lutheran and Catholic beliefs.
In order to fully understand the impact of the Anabaptist kingdom of Munster on women, it is necessary to briefly review the events that occurred during the tumultuous years of 1534 and 1535. The saga of the Anabaptist kingdom of Munster officially began on February 8, 1534. A young Anabaptist preacher, Bernard Rothmann, had predicted that a local convent would crumble at midnight on February 8, 1534. While the convent did not crumble before the will of God, the wild revelries of the night of February 8 signal the first critical event in the saga of the Anabaptist kingdom of Munster. The bizarre revelries of that night continued over the following days.
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