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.

Social developments

Historians count 13 (Geneva) or 14 (St Gallen) plague surges in Switzerland between 1500 and 1640, accounting for 31 plague years, and since 1580, smallpox outbreaks with an especially high mortality rate (80–90%) amongst children under the age of five occurred every four to five years. Nevertheless, the population in Switzerland grew in the 16th century from about 800,000 to roughly 1.1 million, i.e. by more than 35%.

Related Topics:
Geneva - St Gallen - Plague - Smallpox - % - 16th century

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Absolutism on the rise

This population growth caused significant changes in a pre-industrial society that could no longer significantly expand its territory. The dependence of the confederation on imports increased, and prices soared. In the countryside, settlements of estates increasingly lead to small and smallest properties insufficient to sustain a family, and a new class of daytallers (Tauner) grew disproportionally. In the cities, too, the number of poor rose. At the same time, rural subject territories became more and more (financially) dependent on the cities. The political power was concentrated in a few rich families, that over time came to consider their offices as hereditary and tried to limit them to their own exclusive circle. This solicited the response of both peasants and free citizens, who resented such curtailing of their democratic rights, and around 1523/25, also fuelled by the reformatory spirit, revolts broke out in many cantons, both rural and urban. The main objective of the insurgents was the restitution of common rights of old, not the institution of a new order. Although commonly called the Peasants' War, the movement also included the free citizens, who saw their rights restricted in the cities, too. Contrary to the development in the Holy Roman Empire, where the hostilities escalated and the rebellion was put down by force, there were only isolated armed conflicts in the confederation. The authorities, already involved in reformatory or counter-reformatory activities, managed to subdue these uprisings only by granting concessions. Yet the absolutist tendencies kept slowly transforming the democrat cantons into oligarchies. By 1650, the absolutist order was firmly established and would prevail for another 150 years as the Ancien Régime.

Related Topics:
1523 - 25 - Peasants' War - Holy Roman Empire - Absolutist - Oligarchies - Ancien Régime

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Persecution of heretics

The generally widespread intolerance of the time, as witnessed by the Inquisition, amplified by the conflicts between Protestants and Catholics, left no place for dissenters. Anabaptists, who took the idea of deriving new societal rules from the direct study of biblical sources even further than the Protestant reformers, not only got into conflict with the established Churches over the question of baptism, but also with the civil authorities because not having found any biblical justification, they refused to pay taxes or to accept any authority. Both Catholic and Protestant cantons persecuted them with all their might. Following the forced drowning of Felix Manz in the river Limmat in Zürich in 1527, many anabaptists emigrated to Moravia. Antitrinitarians fared no better; Miguel Servet was burned at the stake in Geneva on October 27, 1553.

Related Topics:
Inquisition - Anabaptist - Baptism - Drowning - Felix Manz - Limmat - 1527 - Moravia - Antitrinitarian - Miguel Servet - Burned at the stake - October 27 - 1553

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There was no individual freedom of religion in Switzerland—or indeed all of Europe—at that time anyway. The maxim of cuius regio, eius religio ("whose region, his religion") meant that subjects had to adopt the faith of their rulers. Dissenters who didn't want to convert typically had to (but also were allowed to) emigrate elsewhere, into a region where their faith was the state religion. The Bullinger family, for instance, had to move from Bremgarten in the Freiamt, which was recatholicised after the second war of Kappel, to the Protestant city of Zürich.

Related Topics:
Freedom of religion - Cuius regio, eius religio - Bremgarten - Freiamt

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The 16th century also saw the height of witch hunts in Europe, and Switzerland was no exception. Beginning about 1530, culminating around 1600, and then slowly diminishing, numerous witch trials were held in both Protestant and Catholic cantons. These often ended with death sentences (usually burning) for the accused, who typically were elderly women, crippled persons, or other social outcasts.

Related Topics:
Witch hunt - Europe - Witch trial

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Science and arts: the Renaissance in Switzerland

Humanism and Renaissance led to new advances in science and the arts. Paracelsus taught at the University of Basel. Hans Holbein the Younger worked until 1526 in Basel; his high renaissance style had a profound influence on Swiss painters. Conrad Gessner in Zürich did studies in systematic botany, and the geographic maps and city views produced e.g. by Matthäus Merian show the beginning of a scientific cartography. In 1601, an early version of the theodolite was invented in Zürich and promptly used to triangulate the city. Basel and Geneva became important printing centres, with an output equal to that of e.g. Strasbourg or Lyon. Their printing reformatory tracts greatly furthered the dissemination of these ideas. First newspapers appeared towards the end of the 16th century, but disappeared soon again due to the censorship of the absolutist authorities. In architecture, there was a strong Italian and especially florentine influence, visible in many a rich magistrate's town house. Famed baroque architect Francesco Borromini was born 1599 in the Ticino.

Related Topics:
Humanism - Renaissance - Paracelsus - University of Basel - Hans Holbein ''the Younger'' - Botany - Matthäus Merian - Cartography - 1601 - Theodolite - Newspaper - Censorship - Architecture - Florentine - Baroque - Francesco Borromini - 1599 - Ticino

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Many Huguenots and other Protestant refugees from all over Europe fled to Basel, Geneva, and Neuchâtel. Geneva under Calvin and his successor Theodore Beza demanded their naturalisation and strict adherence to the Calvinist doctrine, whereas Basel, where the university had re-opened in 1532, became a center of intellectual freedom. Many of these immigrants were skilled craftsmen or businessmen and contributed greatly to the development of banking and the watch industry.

Related Topics:
Huguenot - Theodore Beza - Banking - Watch

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