The Dutch Anabaptist John of Leiden (1509-1536) led the Anabaptist attempt to establish by force a "kingdom of God" in Münster, Germany. His excesses unfairly discredited all Anabaptists in the eyes of contemporaries and of succeeding generations.

Also known as Jan Beuckels or Bockelszoon, John was born in a village near Leiden. He practiced various occupations, including those of tailor, merchant, and innkeeper. In November 1533, having been baptized by John Matthys of Haarlem, John became a follower of Anabaptism. He grew quite active in this religious movement and was sent by John Matthys to various parts of the Netherlands as an apostle for this faith. His views at that time were the conventional and generally peaceful Anabaptist ones of the need for the faithful to pray and await the coming of the kingdom of God. But he gradually abandoned those principles in favor of calling the...