Reformation in Switzerland

The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially mainly by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate and population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matters in Zürich and spread to several other cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. Seven cantons remained Catholic, though, which led to inter-cantonal wars known as the Wars of Kappel. After the victory of the Catholic cantons in 1531, they proceeded to institute counter-reformatory policies in some regions. The schism and distrust between Catholic and Protestant cantons would define their interior politics and paralyse any common foreign policy until well into the 18th century.

Development of Protestantism

As part of their struggle for independence, the Swiss cantons had already in the 15th century sought to limit the influence of the Church on their political sovereignty. Many monasteries had already come under secular supervision, and the administration of schools was in the hands of the cantons, although the teachers generally still were priests.

Related Topics:
15th century - Monasteries

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Nevertheless, many of the problems of the Church also existed in the Swiss Confederacy. Many a cleric as well as the Church as a whole afforded a luxury lifestyle in stark contrast to the conditions the large majority of the population lived in; this luxury was financed by high church taxes and abundant sale of indulgences. Many priests were badly educated, and spiritual Church doctrines were often disregarded. Many priests de facto didn't live in celibacy but in concubinage. The new reformatory ideas thus fell on fertile ground.

Related Topics:
Indulgence - Celibacy - Concubinage

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Huldrych Zwingli was the main proponent of the Reformation in Switzerland. His own studies, in the humanist tradition, had led him to preach against injustices and hierarchies in the Church already in 1516 while he was still a priest in Einsiedeln. When he was called to Zürich, he expanded his criticism also onto political topics and in particular condemned the mercenary business. His ideas were received favourably, especially by entrepreneurs, businessmen, and the guilds. The first disputation of Zürich of 1523 was the breakthrough: the city council decided to implement his reformatory plans and to convert to Protestantism.

Related Topics:
Huldrych Zwingli - Humanist - Einsiedeln - Zürich - Mercenary - Guild - 1523 - Protestantism

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In the following two years, profound changes took place in Zürich. The Church was thoroughly secularised. Priests were relieved from celibacy, the opulent decorations in the churches were thrown out. The state assumed the administration of Church properties, financing the social works (which up to then were managed entirely by the Church), and also paid the priests. The last abbess of the Fraumünster, Katharina von Zimmern, turned over the convent including all of its rights and possessions to the city authorities on November 30, 1524. She even married the next year.

Related Topics:
Fraumünster - Katharina von Zimmern - November 30 - 1524

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Over the next few years, the cities of St. Gallen, Schaffhausen, Basel, Bienne, Mulhouse, and finally Berne (in 1528) all followed the example set by Zürich. Their subject territories were converted to Protestantism by decree. In Basel, reformer Johannes Oecolampadius was active, in St. Gallen, the Reformation was adopted by mayor Joachim Vadian. In Glarus, Appenzell, and in the Grisons, which all three had a more republican structure, individual communes decided for or against the Reformation. In the French-speaking parts, reformers like William Farel had been preaching the new faith under Bernese protection since the 1520s, but only in 1536, when John Calvin arrived there, did the city of Geneva convert to Calvinism. The same year, Berne conquered the hitherto Savoyard Vaud and also instituted Protestantism there.

Related Topics:
St. Gallen - Schaffhausen - Basel - Bienne - Mulhouse - Berne - 1528 - Johannes Oecolampadius - Joachim Vadian - Glarus - Appenzell - Grisons - French - William Farel - 1536 - John Calvin - Geneva - Savoyard - Vaud

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Despite their conversion to Protestantism, the citizens of Geneva were not ready to adopt Calvin's new strict Church order, and banned him and Farel from the city in 1538. Three years later—there had been elections in the meantime, and there was a new city council—Calvin was called back. Step by step he implemented his strict programme. A counter-revolt in 1555 failed, and many established families left the city.

Related Topics:
1538 - 1555

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In search of a common theology

Zwingli, who had studied in Basel while Erasmus had been there, had arrived at a more radical renewal than Luther and his ideas differed from the latter in several points. A reconciliation attempt at the Marburg Colloquy in 1529 failed. Although the two charismatic leaders found a consensus on fourteen points, they kept differing on the last one on the Eucharist: Luther maintained that through consubstantiation the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper became truly the flesh and blood of Christ, whereas Zwingli considered bread and wine only symbols. This schism and the defeat of Zürich in the second war of Kappel in 1531, where Zwingli was killed on the battlefield, were a serious setback, ultimately limiting Zwinglianism to parts of the Swiss confederacy and preventing its adoption in areas north of the river Rhine.

Related Topics:
Erasmus - Luther - Marburg Colloquy - 1529 - Eucharist - Consubstantiation - Lord's Supper - Christ - Schism - Rhine

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After Zwingli's death, Heinrich Bullinger took over his post in Zürich. Reformers in Switzerland continued for the next decades to reform the Church and to improve its acceptance by the common people. Bullinger in particular also tried bridging the differences between Zwinglianism and Calvinism. He was instrumental in establishing the Consenus Tigurinus of 1549 with John Calvin and the Confessio Helvetica posterior of 1566, which finally included all protestant cantons and associates of the confederacy. The Confessio was also accepted in other European protestant regions in Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, and Scotland, and together with the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563, where Bullinger also played an important role, and the Canons of Dordrecht of 1619 it would become the theological foundation of Protestantism of the Calvinist strain.

Related Topics:
Heinrich Bullinger - Zwinglianism - Calvinism - 1549 - Confessio Helvetica posterior - 1566 - Bohemia - Hungary - Poland - Netherlands - Scotland - Heidelberg Catechism - 1563 - Canons of Dordrecht - 1619

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