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.

Developments in the west

The dukes of Savoy had tried already for centuries to gain sovereignty over the city of Geneva, surrounded by Savoyard territory, for the Vaud in the north of Lake Geneva belonged to the duchy. The Reformation prompted the conflicts to escalate once more. Geneva exiled its bishop, who was backed by Savoy, in 1533 to Annecy. Berne and the Valais took advantage of the duke's involvement in northern Italy and his opposition to France. When Francesco Sforza died in Milan in 1534, the duke's troops were bound by the French engagement there, and Berne promptly conquered the Vaud and, together with the Valais, also territories south of Lake Geneva in 1536.

Related Topics:
Dukes of Savoy - Geneva - Vaud - Lake Geneva - Bishop - 1533 - Annecy - Valais - Italy - France - Francesco Sforza - Milan - 1534 - 1536

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The alliance of 1560 of the Catholic cantons with Savoy encouraged duke Emmanuel Philibert to raise claims on the territories his father Charles III had lost in 1536. After the treaty of Lausanne of 1564, Berne had to return the Chablais south of Lake Geneva and the Pays de Gex (between Geneva and Nyon) to Savoy in 1567, and the Valais returned the territories west of Saint Gingolph two years later in the treaty of Thonon. Geneva was thus a Protestant enclave within the Catholic territories of Savoy again and as a result intensified its relations with the Swiss confederacy and Berne and Zürich in particular. Its plea for full acceptance into the confederation—the city was an associate state only—was rejected by the Catholic majority of cantons.

Related Topics:
Emmanuel Philibert - Charles III - Lausanne - 1564 - Chablais - Lake Geneva - Pays de Gex - Nyon - 1567 - Saint Gingolph - Thonon - Enclave

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Mercenaries of the Swiss cantons participated in the French wars of religion on all sides. Those from Protestant cantons fought on the sides of the Huguenots, supporting Henry of Navarre, while the Catholic troops fought for king Henry III of France. In 1586, the seven Catholic cantons (the five alpine cantons, plus Fribourg and Solothurn) formed an exclusively Catholic alliance called the "Golden League" (Goldener Bund, named after the golden initials on the document) and sided with the Guises, who were also supported by Spain. In 1589, Henry III was assassinated and Henry of Navarre succeeded him as Henry IV of France, and thus the Protestant mercenaries now fought for the king.

Related Topics:
French wars of religion - Huguenots - Henry of Navarre - Henry III of France - 1586 - Guises - Spain - Henry IV of France

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Since 1586, the duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel I, had placed Geneva under an embargo. With the new situation of 1589, the city now got support not only from Berne but also from the French king, and it went to war. The war between Geneva and Savoy continued even after the Peace of Vervins and the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which ended the wars in France proper. In the night from December 11 to December 12, 1602, the duke's troops unsuccessfully tried to storm the city, which definitely maintained its independence from Savoy in the peace of Saint Julien, concluded in the following summer. The rebuttal of this attack, the Escalade, is still commemorated in Geneva today.

Related Topics:
Charles Emmanuel I - Peace of Vervins - Edict of Nantes - 1598 - December 11 - December 12 - 1602 - Saint Julien - Escalade - Today

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Also in 1586, a Catholic coup d'état in Mulhouse, an associate of the confederacy, prompted the military intervention of the Protestant cantons, which quickly restored the old (protestant) order. Strasbourg, another Protestant city, wanted to join the confederacy in 1588, but like Geneva some twenty years earlier, it was rejected by the catholic cantons. In the Valais, the Reformation had had some success especially in the lower part of the Rhone valley. However, in 1603 the Catholic cantons intervened, and with their support recatholicisation succeeded and the Protestant families had to emigrate.

Related Topics:
Coup d'état - Mulhouse - Strasbourg - 1588 - Valais - Rhone - 1603

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