During the Protestant Reformation, a period of religious instability emerged, fostering the development of multiple Christian confessional movements and significant religious pluralism. This environment also paved the way for sects and social experiments often deemed deviant. Among these was the Anabaptist experiment in Münster. The city was divided between the Reformers, led by the former priest Rothmann, who had allied with artisans and the lower classes, and the Catholic Bishop Franz von Waldeck, head of the noble and ecclesiastical oligarchy. Meanwhile, thousands of Anabaptists had migrated to the city. In 1534, led by the baker Jan Matthys (who claimed to be the new Enoch) and John of Leiden ("King of Israel"), the Anabaptists expelled both Catholics and Lutherans, establishing a theocratic regime inspired by Old Testament models, promoting communal ownership of goods and wives, and engaging in “purification” practices, such as burning all books except the Bible and conducting collective purification rituals.

The “millennial kingdom” of Münster became a symbol for the European Anabaptist movement, viewed as an experiment in justice for the oppressed against tyrannical powers. However, to the wider religious world (both Catholic and Lutheran), it represented a new Gomorrah, a view confirmed by the unfolding events. After Jan Matthys's death, John of Leiden became the sole leader. Following a collaboration with the “Twelve Judges of Israel,” he was proclaimed “King of Zion” and of the entire world by a Dutch goldsmith during a public assembly. John required his subjects to bow before him and practiced polygamy, taking eighteen wives in total and executing dissenters. All this occurred in an increasingly apocalyptic atmosphere, exacerbated by the siege Münster endured from Catholic and Lutheran forces, traditionally opposed to each other but now united against the Anabaptist threat.

After fifteen months of siege, the city of Münster, worn down by starvation, finally fell. The Anabaptists were slaughtered, and John, after enduring torture, was ultimately beheaded. His remains were displayed in iron cages on the church’s tower, where they still hang today.