The Sixteen-Month Anabaptist Theocracy in the German City of Münster That Ended on 24 June 1535 With the Polygamous King-Prophet Hanged in an Iron Cage From the Cathedral Spire
A radical Anabaptist movement under Jan van Leiden seized the city of Münster in February 1534. The "New Jerusalem" they established practised mandatory polygamy and community of goods. The Bishop of Münster recaptured the city on 25 June 1535. Jan van Leiden, Bernhard Knipperdolling, and Bernhard Krechting were tortured publicly with red-hot tongs for an hour, killed, and their bodies hung in iron cages from the spire of Saint Lambert's Church.
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