[TW: EXTREME CONTENT] Source post for Munster/Commie Waco

This is gonna be a post listing the sources I used in the Commie Waco posts and giving a short summary of them, in the interest of transparency. If anyone was suspicious of the info in my posts or whatever you can check these out and call me out on it, at which point I will delete my posts, issue an apology, delete my account, transfer all my savings to the concerned parties, donate all my assets to the Palestine Advocacy Project, paint myself in blackface, and livestream myself jumping off the One World Trade Center before activating an explosive suicide vest half way down.

1. Historical Narrative

The Tailor King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Munster, by Anthony Arthur

AND

False Prophets and Preachers: Henry Gresbeck's Account of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Münster, Translated and Edited by Christopher Mackay

These two are where I got most of the historical narrative from. Arthur attempts to give an objective, detailed account of events as they happened in Munster while the translation of Gresbeck's account is (obviously) heavily biased and very disjointed, but gives many interesting anecdotes about Munster and insight into what someone actually there might have thought of the incident. Gresbeck's account is heavily footnoted, so that clears a lot of the confusion up and clarifies a lot of biases.

Another source I wish to give attention to (but did not directly use) is Hermann von Kerssenbrock's "Narrative of the Anabaptist Madness the overthrow of Munster, the famous metropolis of Westphalia." He was a Catholic monk who lived in Munster prior to February 27, when all non protestants were exiled from the city. His account is sourced from a variety of contemporary witnesses to Munster, including himself. Once again, it's obviously heavily biased (it's also over 700 pages, and frick that). Anthony Arthur uses it as one of the sources for his book which is why it's important to list here.

2. Wider Context

Anabaptism: Abortive Counter-Revolt within the Reformation

Lowell H. Zuck

Church History

jstor.org/stable/3161743

Just attempts to lift the fog surrounding the beginnings of the early Anabaptist movement, its leading figures, and their beliefs. Zuck criticizes subsequent Anabaptist historians and Munster's apologists as guilty of spreading narratives on Anabaptism and Munster similarly as misleading as Catholic historians.

State and Anabaptists in the Sixteenth Century: An Economic Approach

Walther Kirchner

The Journal of Modern History

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1875955

This article does not directly relate to Munster, but it gives important context on the form Anabaptism took in the Lowlands (where many Anabaptists Munsterites migrated from). It also serves to clear up some misconceptions spread about Anabaptists, particularly that they were mostly of lower classes. In realty, a vast majority of Anabaptists in the Netherlands and North Germany were middle class (which classes were represented in Anabaptist demographics was largely dependent on geographical location), with a non insignificant number of them possessing upper class backgrounds (that's one of the misleading narratives Anabaptists apologists like to push: that Anabaptists were lower class, and thus pushed into violent activities by their poverty).

The Anabaptist Movement in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, 1531-1535: An Initial Investigation into its Genesis and Social Dynamics

Gary K. Waite

The Sixteenth Century Journal

jstor.org/stable/2541180

This article theorizes that economic troubles present in the Netherlands at the time of the 1530s was what pushed many middle class residents to Anabaptism. As the middle class is most susceptible to changes in economic well-being, economic downturn in the Netherlands (particularly in the South) pushed many people to the Northern cities, and served as the impetus for the popularization of radical sects of the Reformation.

The Dutch Nobility and Anabaptism, 1535-1545

Gary Waite

The Sixteenth Century Journal

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2542489

Similarly to his above article, Waite discusses here the forces pushing the upper classes toward Anabaptism. Though they were relatively safe from the economic troubles effecting the middle class, social changes in the Netherlands still pushed the upper class toward a similar direction as them. Government administrations of the region were increasingly looking to employ highly skilled or educated civilians in government positions, rather than the nobility, who had previously held dominance in those areas. Waite theorizes that the loss of social power incurred by the Lowland nobility was what pushed them toward Anabaptism.

The Munsterite Tragedy

Constantine Prokhorov

Novosibirsk Baptist Theological Seminary, Russia

https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/166016

Provides a comparative analysis of Anabaptism with other popular sects of the time. Prokhorov advocates for a much more nuanced position on Anabaptism, one not colored solely by the events in Munster, but instead taking the wider movement into consideration.

3. Anabaptist Theology

Restitution

From "A Reformation Reader: Primary Texts With Introductions"

Bernard Rothmann

This is a translation of one of the texts Rothmann published while the events in Munster took place. It's a short pamphlet clarifying some Anabaptist beliefs and calling anyone willing and able to assist in Munster's struggle against the Bishop.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find any other translated copies of his work and I would really like to see them. I know if it's a long shot, but if anyone knows where I can find "On Revenge" (1534) or "A Confession of Faith and Life in the Church of Christ of Münster" (1534) in English I'd be your bestest friend ever in the whole wide world

This has got to be the gayest thing I have ever done