§ 130. The Reformation in German Switzerland,A.D.1519-1531.While Luther’s Reformation spread in Germany, a similar movement sprang up in the neighbouring provinces of German Switzerland. Its earliest beginnings date back as far asA.D.1516. The personal characteristics of its first promoter, and the political democratic movement in which it had its rise, gave it a complexion entirely different from that of the Lutheran Reformation. The most conspicuous divergence occurred in the doctrine of the supper (§131), and since the Swiss views on this point were generally accepted in the cities of the uplands, the controversy passed over into the German Reformed Church and hindered common action, notwithstanding common interests and common dangers.
While Luther’s Reformation spread in Germany, a similar movement sprang up in the neighbouring provinces of German Switzerland. Its earliest beginnings date back as far asA.D.1516. The personal characteristics of its first promoter, and the political democratic movement in which it had its rise, gave it a complexion entirely different from that of the Lutheran Reformation. The most conspicuous divergence occurred in the doctrine of the supper (§131), and since the Swiss views on this point were generally accepted in the cities of the uplands, the controversy passed over into the German Reformed Church and hindered common action, notwithstanding common interests and common dangers.
§ 130.1.Ulrich Zwingli.—Zwingli, born at Wildhaus in Toggenburg on January 1st,A.D.1484, a scholar of the famous humanist Thomas Wyttenbach at Basel, was, after ten years’ service as pastor at Glarus, made pastor of Maria-Einsiedeln inA.D.1516. The crowding of pilgrims to the famous shrine of Mary at that place led him to preach against superstitious notions of meritorious performances. But far more decisive in determining his attitude toward the Reformation was his appointment on January 1st,A.D.1519, as Lent priest at Zürich, where he first became acquainted with Luther’s works, and took sides with him against the Romish court party. Zwingli soon took up a distinctive position of his own. He would be not only a religious, but also a political reformer. For several years he had vigorously opposed the sending of Swiss youths as mercenaries into the armies of foreign princes. His political opponents, the oligarchs, whose incomes depended on this traffic, opposed also his religious reforms, so that his support was wholly from the democracy. Another important distinction between the Swiss and German movements was this, that Zwingli had grown into a reformer not through deep conviction of sin and spiritual conflicts, but through classical and biblical study. The writings of Pico of Mirandola (§120, 1), too, were not without influence upon him. To him, therefore, justification by faith was not in the same degree as to Luther the guiding star of his life and action. He began the work of the Reformation not so much with purifying the doctrine, as with improving the worship, the constitution, the ecclesiastical and moral life. His theological standpoint is set forth in these works:Comment. de vera et falsa relig.,A.D.1525;Fidei ratio ad Car. Imp.,A.D.1530;Christian. fidei brevis at clara expos., ed. Bullinger,A.D.1536;De providentia Dei; andApologeticus. Of the two principles of the anti-Romish Reformation (§121) the Wittenberg reformer placed the material, the Zürich reformer the formal, in the foreground. The former only rejected what was not reconcilable with Scripture; the latter repudiated all that was not expressly enjoined in Scripture. The former was cautious and moderate in dealing with forms of worship and mere externals; the latter was extreme, immoderate, and violent. Luther retained pictures, altars, the ornaments of churches, and the priestly character of the service, purifying it simply from unevangelical corruptions; Zwingli denounced all these things as idolatry, and burnt even organ pipes and clock bells. Luther recognised no action of the Holy Spirit apart from the word and sacrament; Zwingli separated it from these, and identified it with mere subjective feeling. The sacraments were with him mere memorial signs; justification solely by the merits of Christ as a joyous assurance of salvation had for him a negative rather than a positive significance,i.e.opposition to the Romish doctrine of merits; original sin was for him only hereditary moral sickness, anaturalis defectus, which is not itself sin, and virtuous heathens, like Hercules, Theseus, Socrates, and Cato were admitted as such into the society of the blessed, without apparently sharing in the redemption of Christ.His speculations, which led on one side almost to pantheism, favoured a theory of predestination, according to which the moral will has no freedom over against Providence.365§ 130.2.The Reformation in Zürich,A.D.1519-1525.—InA.D.1518 a trafficker in indulgences, the Franciscan Bernard Samson, of Milan, carried on his disreputable business in Switzerland. At Zwingli’s desire Zürich’s gates were closed against him. InA.D.1520 the council gave permission to priests and preachers in the city and canton to preach only from the O. and N.T. All this happened under the eyes of the two papal nuncios staying in Zürich; but they did not interfere, because the curia was extremely anxious to get auxiliaries for the papal army for an attack on Milan. Zwingli was promised a rich living if he would no more preach against the pope. He refused the bait, and went on his way as a reformer. The continued indulgence of the curia allowed the Reformation to take even firmer root. Zwingli published, inA.D.1522, his first work, “Of Election, and Freedom in Use of Food,” and the Zürichers ate flesh and eggs during Lent ofA.D.1522. He also claimed liberty to marry for the clergy. At this time Lambert came from Avignon to Zürich (§127, 2). He preached against the new views, disputed in July with Zwingli, and confessed himself defeated and convinced. Zwingli’s opponents had placed great hopes in Lambert’s eloquence and dialectic skill. All the greater was the effect of the unexpected result of the disputation. The council, now impressed, commanded that the word of God should be preached without human additions. But when the adherents of the Romish party protested, it arranged a public disputation on 29th Jan.,A.D.1523, on sixty-seven theses orconclusionesdrawn up by Zwingli: “All who say, The gospel is nothing without the guarantee of the Church, blaspheme God;—Christ is the one way to salvation;—Our righteousness and our works are good so far as they are Christ’s, neither right nor good so far as they are our own,” etc. A former friend of Zwingli, John Faber, but quite changed since he had made a visit to Rome, and now vicar-general of the Bishop of Constance, undertook to support the old doctrines and customs against Zwingli. Being restricted to Scripture proof he was forced to yield. The cloisters were forsaken, violent polemics were published against the canon of the mass and the worship of saints and images. The council resolved to decide the question of the mass and images by a second disputation in October,A.D.1523. Leo Judä, Lent priest at St. Peter’s in Zürich, contended against image worship, Zwingli against the mass. Scarcely any opposition was offered to either of them. At Pentecost,A.D.1524, the council had all images withdrawn from the churches, the frescoes cut down, and the walls whitewashed. Organ playing and bell ringing were forbidden as superstitious. A new simple biblical formula of baptism was introduced, and the abolition of the mass, inA.D.1525, completed the work. At Easter of this year Zwingli celebrated a lovefeast, at which bread was carried in wooden trenchers, and wine drunk from wooden cups. Thus he thought the genuine Christian apostolic rite was restored. InA.D.1522 he had married a widow of forty-three years of age, but he publicly acknowledged it only inA.D.1524. He penitently confesses that his pre-Reformation celibate life, like that of most priests of his age, had not been blameless; but the moral purity of his later life is beyond suspicion.§ 130.3.Reformation in Basel,A.D.1520-1525.—In Basel, at an early period, Capito and Hedio wrought as biblical preachers. But so soon as they had laid a good foundation they accepted a call to Mainz, inA.D.1520, which they soon again quitted for Strassburg, where they carried on the work of the Reformation along with Bucer. Their work at Basel was zealously and successfully continued by Röublin. He preached against the mass, purgatory, and saint worship, often to 4,000 hearers. On the day of Corpus Christi he produced a Bible instead of the usual relics, which he scornfully called dead bones. He was banished, and afterwards joined the Anabaptists. A new epoch began in Basel inA.D.1523.Œcolampadiusor John Hausschein, born at Weinsberg inA.D.1482, Zwingli’s Melanchthon, was preacher in Basel inA.D.1516, and was on intimate terms there with Erasmus. He accepted a call inA.D.1518 to the cathedral of Augsburg, but a year after withdrew into an Augsburg convent of St. Bridget. There he studied Luther’s writings, and, inA.D.1522, found shelter from persecution in Sickingen’s castle, where he officiated for some months as chaplain. He then returned to Basel, became preacher at St. Martin’s, and was soon made, along with Conrad Pellican (§120, 4 footnote), professor in the university. Around these two a group of younger men soon gathered, who energetically supported the evangelical movement. They dispensed baptism in the German language, administered the communion in both kinds, and were indefatigable in preaching. InA.D.1524 the council allowed monks and nuns, if they so wished, to leave their cloisters. Of special importance for the progress of the Reformation in Basel was the arrival inA.D.1524 of William Farel from Dauphiné (§138, 1). He had been obliged to fly from France, and was kindly received by Œcolampadius, with whom he stayed for some months. In February he had a public disputation with the opponents of the Reformation. University and bishop had interdicted it, but all the more decided was the council that it should come off.Its result was a great impulse to the Reformation, though Farel in this same year, probably at the suggestion of Erasmus, whom he had described as a new Balaam, was banished by the council (§138, 1).366§ 130.4.The Reformation in the other Cantons,A.D.1520-1525.—InBern, fromA.D.1518 Haller, Kolb, and Mayer carried on the work of the Reformation as political and religious reformers after the style of Zwingli. Nic. Manuel, poet, satirist, and painter, supported their preaching by his satirical writings against pope, priests, and superstition generally. Also in his Dance of Death, which he painted on the walls of a cloister at Bern, he covered the clergy with ridicule. InA.D.1523 the council allowed departures from the convents, and several monks and nuns withdrew and married. The opposition called in the Dominican John Haim, as their spokesman, inA.D.1524. Between him and the Franciscan Mayer there arose a passionate discussion, and the council exiled both. But Haller continued his work, and the Reformation took firmer root from day to day.—InMuhlhausen [Mühlhausen], where Ulr. von Hutten spent his last days, the council issued a mandate inA.D.1524 which gave free course to the Reformation. AtBiel, too, it was allowed unrestricted freedom. In East Switzerland,St. Gallwas specially prominent under its burgomaster Joachim v. Watt, who zealously advanced the interests of the Reformation by word, writing, and action. John Karsler, who had studied theology in Wittenberg inA.D.1522, and was then obliged, in order to avoid reading the mass, to learn and practise the trade of a saddler, preached the gospel here in the Trades’ Hall in his saddler’s apron inA.D.1524, and took the office of reformed pastor and Latin preceptor inA.D.1537. He died inA.D.1574 as President of St. Gall. InSchaffhausenErasmus Ritter, called upon to oppose in discussion the reformed pastor Hofmeister, owned himself defeated, and joined the reform party. In the cantonVaudThos. Platter, the original and learned sailor, afterwards rector of the high school at Burg, laid the foundations of the Reformation. InAppenzelandGlarusthe work gradually advanced. But in the Swiss midlands the nobles raised opposition in behalf of their revenues, and the people of Berg, whose whole religion lay in pilgrimages, images, and saints, constantly opposed the introduction of the new views. Lucerne and Freiburg were the main bulwarks of the papacy in Switzerland.§ 130.5.Anabaptist Outbreak,A.D.1525.—In Switzerland, though the reformers there had taken very advanced ground, a number of ultra-reformers arose, who thought they did not go far enough. Their leaders were Hätzer (§148, 1), Grebel, Manz, Röublin, Hubmeier, and Stör. They began disturbances at Zolticon near Zürich. Hubmeier held a council at Waldshut, Easter Eve,A.D.1525, and was rebaptized by Röublin. During Easter week 110 received baptism, and subsequently more than 300 besides. The Basel Canton, where Münzer had been living, broke out in open revolt against the city. St. Gall alone had 800 Anabaptists. Zürich at Zwingli’s request at once took decided measures.Many were banished, some were mercilessly drowned. Bern, Basel, and St. Gall followed this example.367§ 130.6.Disputation at Baden,A.D.1526.—The reactionary party could not decline the challenge to a disputation, but in the face of all protests it was determined to be held in the Catholic district of Baden. The champions and representatives of the cantons and bishops appeared there in May,A.D.1526, Faber and Eck leading the papists and Haller of Bern and Œcolampadius of Basel representing the party of reform. Zwingli was forbidden by the Zürich council to attend, but he was kept daily informed by Thos. Platter. Eck’s theses were combatted one after another. It lasted eight days. Eck outcried Œcolampadius’ weak voice, but the latter was immensely superior in intellectual power. At last Thomas Murner (§125, 4) appeared with forty abusive articles against Zwingli. Œcolampadius and ten of his friends persisted in rejecting Eck’s theses; all the rest accepted them. The Assembly of the States pronounced the reformers heretics, and ordered the cantons to have them banished.§ 130.7.Disputation at Bern,A.D.1528.—The result of the Bern disputation was ill received by the democrats of Bern and Basel. A final disputation was arranged for atBern, which was attended by 350 of the clergy and many noblemen. Zwingli, Œcolampadius, Haller, Capito, Bucer, and Farel were there. It continued from 7th to 27th January,A.D.1528. The Catholics were sadly wanting in able disputants, and they sustained an utter defeat. Worship and constitution were radically reformed. Cloisters were secularized; preachers gave their official oath to the civil magistrates. There were serious riots over the removal of the images. The valuable organ in the minster of St. Vincent was broken up by the ruthless iconoclasts. A political reformation was carried out along with the religious, and all stipendiaries received their warning.§ 130.8.Complete Victory of the Reformation at Basel, St. Gall, and Schaffhausen,A.D.1529.—The Burgomaster von Watt brought toSt. Gallthe news of the victorious issue of the disputation at Bern. This gave the finishing blow to the Catholic party. Thus inA.D.1528, certainly not without some iconoclastic excesses, the Reformation triumphed.—InBasel, the council was divided, and so it took but half measures. On Good Friday,A.D.1528, some citizens broke the images in St. Martin’s Church. They were apprehended. But a rising of citizens obliged the council to set them free, and several churches from which the images had been withdrawn were given over to the reformers. In December,A.D.1528, the trades presented a petition asking for the final abolition of idolatry. The Catholic party and the reformed took to arms, and a civil war seemed imminent. The council, however, succeeded in quelling the disturbance by announcing a disputation where the majority of the citizens should decide by their votes. But the Catholic minority protested so energetically that the council had again recourse to half measures. The dissatisfaction of the reformed led to an explosion of violent image breaking in Lent,A.D.1529. Huge bonfires of images and altars were set a blaze. The strict Catholic members of the council fled, the rest quelled the revolt by an unconditional surrender. Even Erasmus gave way (§120, 6). Œcolampadius had married inA.D.1528. He died inA.D.1531. InSchaffhausenup toA.D.1529 matters were undecided, but the proceedings at Basel and Bern gave victory to the reformed party. The drama here ended with a double marriage. The abbot of All Saints married a nun, and Erasmus Ritter married the abbot’s sister. Images were removed without tumult and the mass abolished.§ 130.9.The first Treaty of Cappel,A.D.1529.—In the five forest cantons the Catholics had the upper hand, and there every attempted political as well as religious reform was relentlessly put down. Zürich and Bern could stand this no longer. Unterwalden now revolted, and found considerable support in the other four cantons, and the position of the cities became serious. The forest cantons now turned to Austria, the old enemy of Swiss freedom, and concluded at Innsbrück inA.D.1529 a formal league with King Ferdinand for mutual assistance in matters touching the faith. Trusting to this league, they increased their cruel persecutions of the reformed, and burnt alive a Zürich preacher, Keyser, whom they had seized on the public highway on neutral territory. Then the Zürichers rose up in revolt. With their decided preponderance they might certainly have crushed the five cantons, and then all Switzerland would have surrounded Zwingli in the support of reform. But Bern was jealous of Zürich’s growing importance, and even many Zürichers for fear of war urged negotiations for peace with the old members of the league. Thus came about the First Treaty of Cappel inA.D.1529. The five cantons gave up the Austrian league document to be destroyed, undertook to defray the costs of the war, and agreed that the majority in each canton should determine the faith of that canton. As to freedom of belief it was only said that no party should make the faith of the other penal. This was less than Zwingli wished, yet it was a considerable gain. Thurgau, Baden, Schaffhausen, Solothurn, Neuenburg, Toggenburg, etc., on the basis of this treaty, abolished mass, images, and altars.§ 130.10.The Second Treaty of Cappel,A.D.1531.—Even after the treaty the five cantons continued to persecute the reformed, and renewed their alliance with Austria. Their undue preponderance in the assembly led Zürich to demand a revision of the federation. This led the forest cantons to increase their cruelties upon the reformed. Zürich declared for immediate hostilities, but Bern decided to refuse all commercial intercourse with the five cantons. At the diet at Lucerne, the five cantons resolved in September,A.D.1531, to avert famine by immediately declaring war. They made their arrangements so secretly that the reformed party was not the least prepared, when suddenly, on the 9th October, an army of 8,000 men, bent on revenge, rushed down on the Zürich Canton. In all haste 2,000 men were mustered, who were almost annihilated in the battle of Cappel on 11th October. There, too, Zwingli fell. His body was quartered and burnt, and the ashes scattered to the winds. Zürich and Bern soon brought a force of 20,000 men into the field, but the courage of their enemies had grown in proportion as all confidence and spirit departed from the reformed. Further successes led the forest cantons, which had hitherto acted only on the defensive, to proceed on the offensive, and the reformed were constrained to accept on humbling terms the Second Treaty of Cappel ofA.D.1531. This granted freedom of worship to the reformed in their own cantons, but secured the restoration of Catholicism in the five cantons. The defeated had also to bear the costs of the war, and to renounce their league with Strassburg, Constance, and Hesse. The hitherto oppressed Catholic minority began now to assert itself on all hands, and in many places were more or less successful in securing the ascendency. So it was in Aargau, Thurgau, Rapperschwyl, St. Gall, Rheinthal, Solothurn, Glarus, etc.
§ 130.1.Ulrich Zwingli.—Zwingli, born at Wildhaus in Toggenburg on January 1st,A.D.1484, a scholar of the famous humanist Thomas Wyttenbach at Basel, was, after ten years’ service as pastor at Glarus, made pastor of Maria-Einsiedeln inA.D.1516. The crowding of pilgrims to the famous shrine of Mary at that place led him to preach against superstitious notions of meritorious performances. But far more decisive in determining his attitude toward the Reformation was his appointment on January 1st,A.D.1519, as Lent priest at Zürich, where he first became acquainted with Luther’s works, and took sides with him against the Romish court party. Zwingli soon took up a distinctive position of his own. He would be not only a religious, but also a political reformer. For several years he had vigorously opposed the sending of Swiss youths as mercenaries into the armies of foreign princes. His political opponents, the oligarchs, whose incomes depended on this traffic, opposed also his religious reforms, so that his support was wholly from the democracy. Another important distinction between the Swiss and German movements was this, that Zwingli had grown into a reformer not through deep conviction of sin and spiritual conflicts, but through classical and biblical study. The writings of Pico of Mirandola (§120, 1), too, were not without influence upon him. To him, therefore, justification by faith was not in the same degree as to Luther the guiding star of his life and action. He began the work of the Reformation not so much with purifying the doctrine, as with improving the worship, the constitution, the ecclesiastical and moral life. His theological standpoint is set forth in these works:Comment. de vera et falsa relig.,A.D.1525;Fidei ratio ad Car. Imp.,A.D.1530;Christian. fidei brevis at clara expos., ed. Bullinger,A.D.1536;De providentia Dei; andApologeticus. Of the two principles of the anti-Romish Reformation (§121) the Wittenberg reformer placed the material, the Zürich reformer the formal, in the foreground. The former only rejected what was not reconcilable with Scripture; the latter repudiated all that was not expressly enjoined in Scripture. The former was cautious and moderate in dealing with forms of worship and mere externals; the latter was extreme, immoderate, and violent. Luther retained pictures, altars, the ornaments of churches, and the priestly character of the service, purifying it simply from unevangelical corruptions; Zwingli denounced all these things as idolatry, and burnt even organ pipes and clock bells. Luther recognised no action of the Holy Spirit apart from the word and sacrament; Zwingli separated it from these, and identified it with mere subjective feeling. The sacraments were with him mere memorial signs; justification solely by the merits of Christ as a joyous assurance of salvation had for him a negative rather than a positive significance,i.e.opposition to the Romish doctrine of merits; original sin was for him only hereditary moral sickness, anaturalis defectus, which is not itself sin, and virtuous heathens, like Hercules, Theseus, Socrates, and Cato were admitted as such into the society of the blessed, without apparently sharing in the redemption of Christ.His speculations, which led on one side almost to pantheism, favoured a theory of predestination, according to which the moral will has no freedom over against Providence.365
§ 130.2.The Reformation in Zürich,A.D.1519-1525.—InA.D.1518 a trafficker in indulgences, the Franciscan Bernard Samson, of Milan, carried on his disreputable business in Switzerland. At Zwingli’s desire Zürich’s gates were closed against him. InA.D.1520 the council gave permission to priests and preachers in the city and canton to preach only from the O. and N.T. All this happened under the eyes of the two papal nuncios staying in Zürich; but they did not interfere, because the curia was extremely anxious to get auxiliaries for the papal army for an attack on Milan. Zwingli was promised a rich living if he would no more preach against the pope. He refused the bait, and went on his way as a reformer. The continued indulgence of the curia allowed the Reformation to take even firmer root. Zwingli published, inA.D.1522, his first work, “Of Election, and Freedom in Use of Food,” and the Zürichers ate flesh and eggs during Lent ofA.D.1522. He also claimed liberty to marry for the clergy. At this time Lambert came from Avignon to Zürich (§127, 2). He preached against the new views, disputed in July with Zwingli, and confessed himself defeated and convinced. Zwingli’s opponents had placed great hopes in Lambert’s eloquence and dialectic skill. All the greater was the effect of the unexpected result of the disputation. The council, now impressed, commanded that the word of God should be preached without human additions. But when the adherents of the Romish party protested, it arranged a public disputation on 29th Jan.,A.D.1523, on sixty-seven theses orconclusionesdrawn up by Zwingli: “All who say, The gospel is nothing without the guarantee of the Church, blaspheme God;—Christ is the one way to salvation;—Our righteousness and our works are good so far as they are Christ’s, neither right nor good so far as they are our own,” etc. A former friend of Zwingli, John Faber, but quite changed since he had made a visit to Rome, and now vicar-general of the Bishop of Constance, undertook to support the old doctrines and customs against Zwingli. Being restricted to Scripture proof he was forced to yield. The cloisters were forsaken, violent polemics were published against the canon of the mass and the worship of saints and images. The council resolved to decide the question of the mass and images by a second disputation in October,A.D.1523. Leo Judä, Lent priest at St. Peter’s in Zürich, contended against image worship, Zwingli against the mass. Scarcely any opposition was offered to either of them. At Pentecost,A.D.1524, the council had all images withdrawn from the churches, the frescoes cut down, and the walls whitewashed. Organ playing and bell ringing were forbidden as superstitious. A new simple biblical formula of baptism was introduced, and the abolition of the mass, inA.D.1525, completed the work. At Easter of this year Zwingli celebrated a lovefeast, at which bread was carried in wooden trenchers, and wine drunk from wooden cups. Thus he thought the genuine Christian apostolic rite was restored. InA.D.1522 he had married a widow of forty-three years of age, but he publicly acknowledged it only inA.D.1524. He penitently confesses that his pre-Reformation celibate life, like that of most priests of his age, had not been blameless; but the moral purity of his later life is beyond suspicion.
§ 130.3.Reformation in Basel,A.D.1520-1525.—In Basel, at an early period, Capito and Hedio wrought as biblical preachers. But so soon as they had laid a good foundation they accepted a call to Mainz, inA.D.1520, which they soon again quitted for Strassburg, where they carried on the work of the Reformation along with Bucer. Their work at Basel was zealously and successfully continued by Röublin. He preached against the mass, purgatory, and saint worship, often to 4,000 hearers. On the day of Corpus Christi he produced a Bible instead of the usual relics, which he scornfully called dead bones. He was banished, and afterwards joined the Anabaptists. A new epoch began in Basel inA.D.1523.Œcolampadiusor John Hausschein, born at Weinsberg inA.D.1482, Zwingli’s Melanchthon, was preacher in Basel inA.D.1516, and was on intimate terms there with Erasmus. He accepted a call inA.D.1518 to the cathedral of Augsburg, but a year after withdrew into an Augsburg convent of St. Bridget. There he studied Luther’s writings, and, inA.D.1522, found shelter from persecution in Sickingen’s castle, where he officiated for some months as chaplain. He then returned to Basel, became preacher at St. Martin’s, and was soon made, along with Conrad Pellican (§120, 4 footnote), professor in the university. Around these two a group of younger men soon gathered, who energetically supported the evangelical movement. They dispensed baptism in the German language, administered the communion in both kinds, and were indefatigable in preaching. InA.D.1524 the council allowed monks and nuns, if they so wished, to leave their cloisters. Of special importance for the progress of the Reformation in Basel was the arrival inA.D.1524 of William Farel from Dauphiné (§138, 1). He had been obliged to fly from France, and was kindly received by Œcolampadius, with whom he stayed for some months. In February he had a public disputation with the opponents of the Reformation. University and bishop had interdicted it, but all the more decided was the council that it should come off.Its result was a great impulse to the Reformation, though Farel in this same year, probably at the suggestion of Erasmus, whom he had described as a new Balaam, was banished by the council (§138, 1).366
§ 130.4.The Reformation in the other Cantons,A.D.1520-1525.—InBern, fromA.D.1518 Haller, Kolb, and Mayer carried on the work of the Reformation as political and religious reformers after the style of Zwingli. Nic. Manuel, poet, satirist, and painter, supported their preaching by his satirical writings against pope, priests, and superstition generally. Also in his Dance of Death, which he painted on the walls of a cloister at Bern, he covered the clergy with ridicule. InA.D.1523 the council allowed departures from the convents, and several monks and nuns withdrew and married. The opposition called in the Dominican John Haim, as their spokesman, inA.D.1524. Between him and the Franciscan Mayer there arose a passionate discussion, and the council exiled both. But Haller continued his work, and the Reformation took firmer root from day to day.—InMuhlhausen [Mühlhausen], where Ulr. von Hutten spent his last days, the council issued a mandate inA.D.1524 which gave free course to the Reformation. AtBiel, too, it was allowed unrestricted freedom. In East Switzerland,St. Gallwas specially prominent under its burgomaster Joachim v. Watt, who zealously advanced the interests of the Reformation by word, writing, and action. John Karsler, who had studied theology in Wittenberg inA.D.1522, and was then obliged, in order to avoid reading the mass, to learn and practise the trade of a saddler, preached the gospel here in the Trades’ Hall in his saddler’s apron inA.D.1524, and took the office of reformed pastor and Latin preceptor inA.D.1537. He died inA.D.1574 as President of St. Gall. InSchaffhausenErasmus Ritter, called upon to oppose in discussion the reformed pastor Hofmeister, owned himself defeated, and joined the reform party. In the cantonVaudThos. Platter, the original and learned sailor, afterwards rector of the high school at Burg, laid the foundations of the Reformation. InAppenzelandGlarusthe work gradually advanced. But in the Swiss midlands the nobles raised opposition in behalf of their revenues, and the people of Berg, whose whole religion lay in pilgrimages, images, and saints, constantly opposed the introduction of the new views. Lucerne and Freiburg were the main bulwarks of the papacy in Switzerland.
§ 130.5.Anabaptist Outbreak,A.D.1525.—In Switzerland, though the reformers there had taken very advanced ground, a number of ultra-reformers arose, who thought they did not go far enough. Their leaders were Hätzer (§148, 1), Grebel, Manz, Röublin, Hubmeier, and Stör. They began disturbances at Zolticon near Zürich. Hubmeier held a council at Waldshut, Easter Eve,A.D.1525, and was rebaptized by Röublin. During Easter week 110 received baptism, and subsequently more than 300 besides. The Basel Canton, where Münzer had been living, broke out in open revolt against the city. St. Gall alone had 800 Anabaptists. Zürich at Zwingli’s request at once took decided measures.Many were banished, some were mercilessly drowned. Bern, Basel, and St. Gall followed this example.367
§ 130.6.Disputation at Baden,A.D.1526.—The reactionary party could not decline the challenge to a disputation, but in the face of all protests it was determined to be held in the Catholic district of Baden. The champions and representatives of the cantons and bishops appeared there in May,A.D.1526, Faber and Eck leading the papists and Haller of Bern and Œcolampadius of Basel representing the party of reform. Zwingli was forbidden by the Zürich council to attend, but he was kept daily informed by Thos. Platter. Eck’s theses were combatted one after another. It lasted eight days. Eck outcried Œcolampadius’ weak voice, but the latter was immensely superior in intellectual power. At last Thomas Murner (§125, 4) appeared with forty abusive articles against Zwingli. Œcolampadius and ten of his friends persisted in rejecting Eck’s theses; all the rest accepted them. The Assembly of the States pronounced the reformers heretics, and ordered the cantons to have them banished.
§ 130.7.Disputation at Bern,A.D.1528.—The result of the Bern disputation was ill received by the democrats of Bern and Basel. A final disputation was arranged for atBern, which was attended by 350 of the clergy and many noblemen. Zwingli, Œcolampadius, Haller, Capito, Bucer, and Farel were there. It continued from 7th to 27th January,A.D.1528. The Catholics were sadly wanting in able disputants, and they sustained an utter defeat. Worship and constitution were radically reformed. Cloisters were secularized; preachers gave their official oath to the civil magistrates. There were serious riots over the removal of the images. The valuable organ in the minster of St. Vincent was broken up by the ruthless iconoclasts. A political reformation was carried out along with the religious, and all stipendiaries received their warning.
§ 130.8.Complete Victory of the Reformation at Basel, St. Gall, and Schaffhausen,A.D.1529.—The Burgomaster von Watt brought toSt. Gallthe news of the victorious issue of the disputation at Bern. This gave the finishing blow to the Catholic party. Thus inA.D.1528, certainly not without some iconoclastic excesses, the Reformation triumphed.—InBasel, the council was divided, and so it took but half measures. On Good Friday,A.D.1528, some citizens broke the images in St. Martin’s Church. They were apprehended. But a rising of citizens obliged the council to set them free, and several churches from which the images had been withdrawn were given over to the reformers. In December,A.D.1528, the trades presented a petition asking for the final abolition of idolatry. The Catholic party and the reformed took to arms, and a civil war seemed imminent. The council, however, succeeded in quelling the disturbance by announcing a disputation where the majority of the citizens should decide by their votes. But the Catholic minority protested so energetically that the council had again recourse to half measures. The dissatisfaction of the reformed led to an explosion of violent image breaking in Lent,A.D.1529. Huge bonfires of images and altars were set a blaze. The strict Catholic members of the council fled, the rest quelled the revolt by an unconditional surrender. Even Erasmus gave way (§120, 6). Œcolampadius had married inA.D.1528. He died inA.D.1531. InSchaffhausenup toA.D.1529 matters were undecided, but the proceedings at Basel and Bern gave victory to the reformed party. The drama here ended with a double marriage. The abbot of All Saints married a nun, and Erasmus Ritter married the abbot’s sister. Images were removed without tumult and the mass abolished.
§ 130.9.The first Treaty of Cappel,A.D.1529.—In the five forest cantons the Catholics had the upper hand, and there every attempted political as well as religious reform was relentlessly put down. Zürich and Bern could stand this no longer. Unterwalden now revolted, and found considerable support in the other four cantons, and the position of the cities became serious. The forest cantons now turned to Austria, the old enemy of Swiss freedom, and concluded at Innsbrück inA.D.1529 a formal league with King Ferdinand for mutual assistance in matters touching the faith. Trusting to this league, they increased their cruel persecutions of the reformed, and burnt alive a Zürich preacher, Keyser, whom they had seized on the public highway on neutral territory. Then the Zürichers rose up in revolt. With their decided preponderance they might certainly have crushed the five cantons, and then all Switzerland would have surrounded Zwingli in the support of reform. But Bern was jealous of Zürich’s growing importance, and even many Zürichers for fear of war urged negotiations for peace with the old members of the league. Thus came about the First Treaty of Cappel inA.D.1529. The five cantons gave up the Austrian league document to be destroyed, undertook to defray the costs of the war, and agreed that the majority in each canton should determine the faith of that canton. As to freedom of belief it was only said that no party should make the faith of the other penal. This was less than Zwingli wished, yet it was a considerable gain. Thurgau, Baden, Schaffhausen, Solothurn, Neuenburg, Toggenburg, etc., on the basis of this treaty, abolished mass, images, and altars.
§ 130.10.The Second Treaty of Cappel,A.D.1531.—Even after the treaty the five cantons continued to persecute the reformed, and renewed their alliance with Austria. Their undue preponderance in the assembly led Zürich to demand a revision of the federation. This led the forest cantons to increase their cruelties upon the reformed. Zürich declared for immediate hostilities, but Bern decided to refuse all commercial intercourse with the five cantons. At the diet at Lucerne, the five cantons resolved in September,A.D.1531, to avert famine by immediately declaring war. They made their arrangements so secretly that the reformed party was not the least prepared, when suddenly, on the 9th October, an army of 8,000 men, bent on revenge, rushed down on the Zürich Canton. In all haste 2,000 men were mustered, who were almost annihilated in the battle of Cappel on 11th October. There, too, Zwingli fell. His body was quartered and burnt, and the ashes scattered to the winds. Zürich and Bern soon brought a force of 20,000 men into the field, but the courage of their enemies had grown in proportion as all confidence and spirit departed from the reformed. Further successes led the forest cantons, which had hitherto acted only on the defensive, to proceed on the offensive, and the reformed were constrained to accept on humbling terms the Second Treaty of Cappel ofA.D.1531. This granted freedom of worship to the reformed in their own cantons, but secured the restoration of Catholicism in the five cantons. The defeated had also to bear the costs of the war, and to renounce their league with Strassburg, Constance, and Hesse. The hitherto oppressed Catholic minority began now to assert itself on all hands, and in many places were more or less successful in securing the ascendency. So it was in Aargau, Thurgau, Rapperschwyl, St. Gall, Rheinthal, Solothurn, Glarus, etc.