the struggle, hurling missiles from the windows upon their
foes beneath. By midday on the 25th the city of Muenster, the New Zion,
passed over once more into the power of its feudal lord, Franz von
Waldeck, and the reign of the saints had come to an end. The vengeance
of the conquerors was terrible; all alike, irrespective of age or sex,
were involved in an indiscriminate butchery. The three leaders,
Bockelson, Krechting, and Knipperdollinck, after being carried round
captives as an exhibition through the surrounding country, were, some
months afterwards, on January 22, 1536, executed, after being most
horribly tortured. Their bodies were subsequently suspended in three
cages from the top of the tower of the Lamberti church. The three cages
were left undisturbed until a few years ago, when the old tower, having
become structurally unsafe, was pulled down and replaced, with
questionable taste, by an ordinary modern steeple, on which, however,
the original cages may still be seen. A papal legate, sent on a mission
to Muenster shortly after the events in question, relates that as he and
his retinue neared the latter town "more and more gibbets and wheels
did we see on the highways and in the villages, where the false
prophets and Anabaptists had suffered for their sins."

The Muenster incident was the culmination of the Anabaptist movement.
After the catastrophe the militant section rapidly declined. It did
not die out, however, until towards the end of the century. The last
we hear of it was in 1574, when a formidable insurrection took place
again in Westphalia, under the leadership of one Wilhelmson, the son
of one of the escaped Anabaptist preachers of Muenster. The movement
lasted for five years. It was finally suppressed and Wilhelmson burned
alive at Cleves on March 5, 1580. Meanwhile, soon after the fall of
Muenster, the party split asunder, a moderate section forming, which
shortly after came under the leadership of Menno Simon. This section,
which soon became the majority of the party, under the name of
Mennonites, settled down into a mere religious sect. In fact, towards
the end of the sixteenth century the Anabaptist communities on the
continent of Europe, from Moravia on the one hand to the extreme
North-west of Germany on the other, showed a tendency to develop into
law-abiding and prosperous religious organizations, in many cases
being officially recognized by the authorities.

The Anabaptist revolt of the f