During the early 1530s, Van Batenburg converted to Anabaptism and found himself the leader of a large number of his co-religionists in Friesland and Groningen.
Before long Van Batenburg had established a new and completely independent sect, which quickly became the most extreme of all the early Anabaptist movements.
David Joris tried to compromise by declaring the time had not yet come to fight against the authorities, and that it would be unwise to kill any 'infidel' (non-Anabaptists), lest the Anabaptists themselves be seen as common thieves and killers.
Van Batenburg, correctly suspecting that his fervent belief in both polygamy and the use of force would be condemned by other Anabaptist leaders, had stayed away from the conference at Bocholt, although he had sent representatives.
But such unions could be ended just as readily, and on occasion the prophet did order an unwilling wife to return to servicing the remainder of the Batenburger men.
Members of his sect were required to swear oaths of absolute secrecy, however, and had to endure a painful initiation designed to ensure they would be able to resist torture if they were ever captured, so the true extent of his following never emerged.
It was only after Van Batenburg himself was captured and burned at the stake, at Vilvoorde, Brabant, in 1538, that they came together at last, transforming themselves into a robber-band and infesting the Imperial marches for at least another decade under the leadership of a Leyden weaver called Cornelis Appelman.
Its sole creed appears to have been revenge against the infidel; on one notorious occasion its members stabbed to death 125 cows that belonged to a local monastery.