Livin' Like Larry: The Life and Times of Jan van Leiden

Portrait engraving by Heinrich Aldegrever, 1536

          Hopefully everyone's seen the famous "Livin' Like Larry" Spongebob episode at least once in their lifetime, because to me Jan van Leiden was pretty much the inventor of #YOLO.  His life was pretty dang crazy, and that's definitely putting it lightly. First of all he comes to the city of Münster to welcome his leader, Matthys, who was known by many as a great prophet.  On the event of Matthys' death via ruthless spear, Leiden decided to take matters into his own hands.  You'd think that witnessing the death of his leader after he tried to attack the bishop would maybe be enough to throw Leiden off, but he decided to do whatever it took to get his name out there.  

Photomanipulation by Kaley Etzkorn

          So "King Jan" as he liked to call himself went streaking through the city streets, fell into some kind of coma, and then emerged from it telling everyone that he was the king of Zion as well as a prophet.  But it didn't stop there.  Leiden decided polygamy was the new black so he forced the council to make it legal and thusly took fifteen wives for himself, one of which was the widow of Matthys himself.  Leiden then ruled the city of Münster for almost two years before it was finally taken by the Hessian Army.  He was then captured, paraded throughout the city, and then mutilated and hanged in cages above the city walls to act as a warning against false prophets and fanaticism.  He definitely lived on the edge in life, and although it ended in an untimely death, he most certainly made a huge impact in his time.

Sources:  Renaissance and Reformation Europe, Zophy