of Münster and Leiden's death. The opera Le prophète (1849) by Giacomo Meyerbeer features John as its hero. It involves the capture of Münster (Acts III and IV), John's coronation as God's elect at the cathedral (Act IV), and its finale is set in John's palace in Münster. John appears as a proxy for Hitler in Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen’s 1937 anti-Nazi novel, Bockelson: Geschichte eines Massenwahns ("Bockelson: A Tale of a Mass Insanity"). John of Leiden is featured in the 1962 Peter Vansittart novel published as The Siege in USA and as Friends of God in the U.K. John (as Jan Bockelson) is one of the main protagonists in the 1967 play Die Wiedertäufer by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and in the 1985 opera Behold the Sun by Alexander Goehr. John of Leiden appears in the novel L'Œuvre au noir or The Abyss by Marguerite Yourcenar, from 1968, in which Yourcenar blends fictitious and real characters, describing the whole Münster Rebellion and its downfall. The passage occupies a short chapter. The 1993 German TV drama about Leiden features Christoph Waltz as Jan Beuckelszoon and Mario Adorf as Bishop von Waldeck. John is also featured in Luther Blissett's novel, Q. John (Jan) of Leiden is the central character in Anita Mason's 2003 novel Perfection. John is a central character in Antonio Orejudo's 2005 novel, "Reconstruction" John is a central character in Jonathon Rainbow's 2010 novel, Speak to Her Kindly, a novel of historical fiction set during the events of the Munster Rebellion. The protagonist of Richard Powers's 2014 novel Orfeo composes an opera with John of Leiden as the main character. References Further reading The Tailor-King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Münster, by Anthony Arthur, The Pursuit of the Millennium by Norman Cohn, External links Picture of the cages at St. Lambert's Church Polygamy in Münster – by Kate Arms (pdf) "Der wedderdoeper eidt" / oath of the Münster Anabaptists Online Biography of Jan van Leiden Jan Beukelszoon (ca. 1509–1536) in Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online The Siege of Munster from "In Our Time" BBC 1509 births 1536 deaths Dutch Protestant religious leaders People from Leiden Münster Polygamy Dutch Anabaptists Dutch torture victims Dutch people executed abroad 16th-century executions in the Holy Roman Empire People executed by stabbing Self-proclaimed monarchy