König der letzten Tage

The 1530s. Many are convinced that the Day of Judgement is at hand. A protest movement is making the heart of Europe beat faster and louder: it is a protest against the dissipation of the Catholic clergy, but also against the religious remedies prescibed by Lutheranism. The Anabaptist movement preaches the second coming and prophesies that all enemies of the 'true faith' will 'drown in rivers of blood'. All those, however, who renounce the devil are promised both earthly and heavenly happiness in a 'new Jerusalem'. When the Anabaptist doctrine overtakes the flourishing town of Münster ('the pearl of Westphalia') and the town's Catholics are either driven out or forced to live in a ghetto, the newly-elected Prince-Bishop of Münster and Osnabrück, Count Franz Waldeck, decides to take fiercer action against what he sees as the 'Anabaptist scourge'; anyone who lets themselves be rebaptized in his diocese, whether male or female, is to be hanged from the nearest tree. Sebastian Kien, a vagrant travelling actor (actually quite similar in nature and temperament to François Villon) uses a mixture of cunning and deceit to save a young girl from being hanged. Since the girl, Engele Kerkerinck, has lost her entire family, Sebastian takes her under his wing, gives her the courage to carry on living, and says he will teach her how to sing and to dance. Engele, however, wants to go to Münster where the legendary Jan van Leyden, an Anabaptist, is preaching, and to whose sermons Catholics and Protestants alike - and women in particular - are flocking. Engele, too, is under the spell of this man, and mesmerised by his stature, his fire, his powerful words and his charisma. Sebastian Kien recognises an old friend in Jan van Leyden: the latter is none other than the actor and pimp Jan Bockelson, with whom he used to make the same kind of living (often a pathetic one) that he still does now. A rapturous reunion ensues. Bockelson wants his old friend to join forces with him and predicts a glorious future for himself: 'One day I'll be King of Münster!' But resistance from those Catholics who still remain in Münster has not yet been fully overcome. The prosperous burghers still distrust the man who preaches poverty and renunciation while stashing his own coffers with money and jewellery. Bockelson overcomes a crisis of confidence in his abilities, sparked off by the town council, by asking a famous prophet known as Jan Matthys to come to the town's assistance. Sebastian Kien is given instructions to turn the prophet's arrival into an occasion of popular celebration. After an almost supernatural piece of stage direction, Bockelson succeeds in winning the hearts of the townsfolk once more, little realising that the prophet's arrival in Münster means that he is about to be inexorably caught up in a rapid succession of events. The reason for this is Divara, Jan Matthys' wife. She and Bockelson seem to recognise one another as kindred spirits from their very first meeting: both are held in the sway of a powerful mutual fascination. Divara sees the future potential of the young, beaming Bockelson, and considers him far more promising than the already ageing Jan Matthys who, plagued by self-doubt, is falling prey to alcoholism. Divara, attractive, desirable and very self-confident, uses all the weapons a woman possesses. She provokes Jan Bockelson into killing the Catholics' leader, Trutelink, and accuses her husband of weakness, urging him to practice what he preaches and to go and prove his mettle against the Prince-Bishop. Fully aware of what is going on, and in the knowledge that his days are numbered, Jan Matthys rides off into a trap carefully prepared by Tom Korteboldt, a double agent in the pay of both sides. Jan Matthys dies with a prophecy upon his lips: 'In three days' time I shall be resurrected from the dead!' When this prophecy is not fulfilled, Jan Bockelson faces yet another crisis of confidence. At the very last moment Divara manages to st