Early Life
Born at the beginning of the sixteenth century in Münster, Knipperdolling was the son of a wealthy, patrician cloth merchant. Little is known of his life as a young man. He first came into the public eye when he became a guild leader in the city council. A follower of the preacher Bernhard Rothmann, in 1528 he showed his colours as a "bold and proud" Protestant by suing the Catholic Münster town council and the Bishop Franz von Waldeck at the Imperial Court of Justice. His position as guild leader meant he had the financial and political support of the guilds.
In January 1534, wandering Dutch Anabaptist preachers arrived in Münster proclaiming that a new prophet was on his way. They were soon followed by the "prophet" himself, the baker Jan Matthys of Haarlem. Knipperdolling became a passionate believer.
Read more about this topic: Bernhard Knipperdolling
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