On April 9, 1534 Bernard Knipperdolling appeared in the town square and announced that he had received a vision from God that "All that is high shall be made low and all that is low shall be high." The time had come to destroy the visible evidence of Catholicism, the papacy, and the bishop in the city. The church towers that defined the city landscape were destroyed, although a few remained to use in the defense of the city as guntowers. Approximately a week later, Jan van Leyden was affected by a religious fervor that caused him to be "struck dumb" for three days. At the end of this time he proclaimed a new constitution for the city, one that placed him at the head of a council of twelve Elders. Bernard Knipperdolling was assigned the title of Schwertfuhrer, or chief enforcer and executioner.
Under Jan van Leyden's rule, all members of the community of Munster were subjected to harsh and brutal justice. The crimes punishable by death included blasphemy, impurity, avarice, fraud, theft, lying, and disobedience (to the Elders or, in the case of women, male authority figures). Jan van Leyden also set forth laws to govern daily life, including animal husbandry and the distribution of goods. All attempts at counter-revolution were quickly and brutally handled, with the majority of those who opposed Jan van Leyden being tortured and executed. Shortly after Jan van Leyden's ascension to power in Munster, in July of 1534, he declared polygamy to be the law of the land, and himself took a number of wives, including Jan Matthijs' widow. His biblical justification for this practice was, of course, found in the Old Testament, particularly in the lives of David and Solomon. According to Jan van Leyden, polygamy was not only a right, but in fact, a responsibility of the men of Munster. It was the responsibility of every woman to marry and reproduce, and given the comparative numbers of men and women in Munster, polygamy was necessary to accomplish this goal. Women, both maidens & widows, were expected to marry, even if they were already past the age of childbearing. According to Jan van Leyden, it was the responsibility of the men of the community to ensure that there were no unmarried women. The impact of polygamy on women and the community will be discussed later in this paper.
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