Medieval King-Making and the Logic of Violence in Anabaptist Münster

While many Anabaptists saw physical violence as a detriment to the kingdom of God, the Melchiorite convert and short-lived Anabaptist king of Münster, Jan of Leiden, claimed the religious chivalric identity precisely through physical violence. Taking up the mantle of the second David, Jan of Leiden projected his authority and performed his role taking cues from the world of chivalry. Jan of Leiden performed chivalry through clothing, public ceremonial entries, and the tournament culture of the late Middle Ages. This chapter argues that it was not fanaticism that drove Jan of Leiden’s choices in his city, but rather it was a desire to legitimize his kingship through blunt but easily understood displays of chivalric opulence. Jan of Leiden’s chivalric performances illustrate the multivalence of the knighthood trope among Anabaptists, revealing how the literary themes of elect nobility, violence against spiritual enemies, and the harnessing of martial imagery from the Bible could be deployed to material and coercive ends.