Ulrich Zwingli

• Born: 1 January 1484
• Birthplace: Wildhaus, Switzerland
• Died: 11 October 1531 (killed in battle)
• Best Known As: Swiss Protestant leader killed in battle for Zurich

Name at birth: Huldreich or Huldrych Zwingli

Ulrich Zwingli's insistence that the Bible, not the church, was the source of Christian truth made him a major force in the Protestant Reformation that swept Europe in the 16th century. Born to a village bailiff, Zwingli studied in Basel, Bern and Vienna before becoming a Roman Catholic priest. He was appointed in 1519 to the Great Minster church in Zurich, where his growing Protestant convictions rapidly became clear. In 1522, he proclaimed the Bible, not Catholic hierarchy and tradition, to be the sole source of Christian authority, and he persuaded civic leaders and the churches of Zurich that things not prescribed in the Bible had no place in the church's life. In 1524, pictures, statues and relics were removed from the city's churches -- reforms more radical than those of his German contemporary, Martin Luther. The two Reformers' greatest difference was over the nature of the Lord's Supper. At a 1529 debate, the Marburg Colloquy, Luther argued that Christ is literally present in the bread and wine, while Zwingli held that it is a symbolic meal. Such differences created long-lasting, uncharitable rifts between what came to be known as the Lutheran and Reformed branches of Protestantism. Meantime, even more radical reformers, called Anabaptists, asserted themselves in Zurich, and Zwingli became involved in their suppression and execution, including the 1527 drowning of Felix Manz. Tensions between Zurich and Switzerland's Catholic cantons led to war. Zwingli, severely wounded in battle, refused a Catholic confessor and was killed by sword.

Zwingli nearly died from bubonic plague in 1519... He married the widow Anna Reinhard secretly in 1522, then publicly in 1524. Their four children -- Regula (1524), Wilhelm (1526), Huldreich (1528) and Anna (1530) -- joined three from her previous marriage... Zwingli's chief theological work was The Commentary on True and False Religion (1525)... After his death, his body was quartered, burned and mixed with dung to keep his ashes from being used as relics.

(b Wildhaus, 1 Jan 1484; d Cappel, 11 Oct 1531). Swiss humanist and church reformer. He studied in Basle, Berne and Vienna and worked in Zürich. Of all the 16th-century reformers he was the most musically gifted and yet the most antagonistic towards the use of music in public worship. Under the influence of his radical vernacular liturgy of 1525, ritual and ceremony were reduced to a minimum and music was excluded. Three complete song settings by him survive and he is said to have composed a four-voice Cappel song, Herr, nun heb den Wagen selb (only the melody survives).

The Swiss Protestant reformer Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531) paved the way for the Swiss Reformation. His influence on the church-state relations of the cantons that became Protestant was profound and durable.

An exact contemporary of Martin Luther, Huldreich Zwingli experienced and contributed to the profound changes in religious and intellectual life that, arising in the early 1500s, permanently affected Western ern civilization. He was born on Jan. 1, 1484, in the village of Wildhaus, one of ten children. His experience with ecclesiastical traditions came early, through an uncle who was a priest. Huldreich was destined by his parents for the priest-hood.

Early Years and Education

Zwingli's education was markedly humanistic. In 1494 he was sent to school at Basel and in 1498 to Bern, where a famous classicist, Heinrich Wölflin, fired a love in him for ancient writers, including the pagans, that he never lost. In 1500 Zwingli entered the University of Vienna to study philosophy, and there too the ideals of humanism were nurtured and deepened in him, for at that time the university boasted the presence of Conradus Celtes, one of the leading scholars of the humanistic tradition. Zwingli also acquired a deep appreciation and understanding of music and learned to play several instruments.

At the age of 18 Zwingli was again in Basel, where he studied theology. In 1506 he received his master's degree and was ordained a priest by the bishop of Constance. After celebrating his first Mass at Wildhaus, he was elected parish priest of Glarus a few miles away. He spent ten years in Glarus, a decade that in several important respects formed the most decisive period of his life. He developed his character as a reformer, his knowledge and love of Greek, his admiration for the great humanist Erasmus, and his bitterness at the corruption in the Church. Zwingli became so enamored of Homer, Pindar, Democritus, and Julius Caesar that he refused to believe that they and other great pagans were unredeemed because they had not known Christ.

By 1516, when Zwingli moved to Einsiedeln in the canton of Schwyz, he was already arriving at doctrinal opinions divergent from those of Rome. He not only attacked such abuses as the sale of indulgences and the proliferation of false relics but also began to speak openly of a religion based only on the Bible. Independently of Luther, Zwingli concluded that the papacy was unfounded in Scriptures and that Church tradition did not have equal weight with the Bible as a source of Christian truth.

Reformation in Zurich

Zwingli's preaching was so impressive that he was asked to become the vicar, or people's priest, of the Grossmünster in Zurich. This city bristled with intellectual activity, and on Dec. 10, 1518, he eagerly accepted the offer. At Zurich, under his leadership, the Swiss Reformation began. He preached against the excessive veneration of saints, the celibacy of the priesthood, and fasting. When his parishioners were accused of eating meat during Lent, he defended them before the city council and wrote a forceful tract on the subject. His stand against the celibacy of the clergy brought down the wrath of the bishop of Constance upon him. In 1523 Zwingli admirably defended his position on this topic with 67 theses presented in a public disputation. The city council not only found itself in accord with him but also voted to sever the canton from the bishop's jurisdiction. Thus Zurich adopted the Reformation.

During the 1520s Zwingli wrote much; not all of his writings were theological. Unlike Luther and John Calvin, the Swiss reformer possessed a profound patriotic element, a quality that caused him to inveigh heavily against the pernicious practice of hiring out soldiers to fight as mercenaries in the wars of other nations. In 1521 he convinced Zurich to abolish this policy.

Zwingli's Theology

The doctrinal matter that set Zwingli apart from Luther on the one hand and Roman Catholicism on the other was that of the Eucharist. Zwingli denied the real presence of Christ in the Host and insisted that the Eucharist was not the repetition of Christ's sacrifice but only a respectful remembrance.

Since Jesus was God as well as man one performance of the act of redemption was enough. Moreover, the Scriptures contain all Christian truth and what cannot be found therein must be ruthlessly cast from the true Church. Thus the concept of purgatory, the hierarchy, the veneration of relics and images, the primacy of the pope, and canon law must all be cast aside. Zwingli expressed these views in the 67 theses of 1523 and in the tract De vera et falsa religione of 1525. In general, his theology was absorbed in and superseded by that of Calvin.

Zwingli's disagreement with Luther was fundamental, and after the two reformers met at Marburg in 1529 and had a profitless discussion, it became clear that no unification of their movements could result. Zwingli was also unsuccessful in winning over all of Switzerland to his cause. Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Lucerne, and Zug - the conservative forest cantons - remained faithful to Roman Catholicism and formed a league to fight Protestant movements.

Tensions grew, and civil war threatened in 1529 and then broke out in 1531. Zwingli counseled the war and entered the fray as chaplain at the side of the citizens of Zurich and their allies. He was slain at the battle of Kappel on Oct. 11, 1531. His body was abused by the victorious Catholics, who quartered it and burnt it on a heap of manure.

Further Reading

Studies of Zwingli are S. M. Jackson, Huldreich Zwingli (1901), and Oskar Farner, Zwingli, the Reformer: His Life and Work (trans. 1952). The clearest exposition of Zwingli's doctrines is in Philip Schaff, The Swiss Reformation (1892). Roland H. Bainton, The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century (1953), is brief but very helpful. For a charmingly written general account see Preserved Smith, The Age of the Reformation (1920).

Additional Sources

Gabler, Ulrich, Huldrych Zwingli: his life and work, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986.

Swengel, Jean, Threads of time, Shippensburg, PA: Treasure House, 1994.

(click to enlarge)
Zwingli, detail of an oil portrait by Hans Asper, 1531; in the Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switz. (credit: Courtesy of the Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switz.; photograph, Schweizerisches Institut fur Kunstwissenschaft)

(born Jan. 1, 1484, Wildhaus in the Toggenburg, Sankt Gallen, Switz. — died Oct. 11, 1531, near Kappel) Major reformer in the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland. Educated in Vienna and Basel, he was ordained a priest in 1506. An admirer of Erasmus, he began preaching reformist ideas in Zürich in 1518, shortly after Martin Luther made his break with the church in Rome, and became increasingly active in challenging the ritualism, decadence, and hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church. The main contentions of his 67 Articles (1523) were adopted by most priests in Zürich. As his movement spread, he rejected a number of the basic teachings of the church, declaring that Jesus alone is head of the church, that the mass is an affront to Christ, and that there is no biblical foundation for the intercession of the dead or for purgatory. He also rejected the notions of priestly celibacy, and his teachings on the sacrament of communion brought him into conflict with both Luther and the Catholic church. He was killed in a battle between Protestants and Catholics while serving as an army chaplain.

For more information on Huldrych Zwingli, visit Britannica.com.

Zwingli, Ulrich or (in his own spelling) Huldrych Zwingli (Wildhaus, Toggenburg, 1484-1531, Kappel), German-Swiss reformer; became parish priest of Glarus in 1506. As an army chaplain he was present at the battles of Novara (1513) and Marignano (1515), becoming on his return a priest at the pilgrimage church of Maria Einsiedeln. His first thoughts on ecclesiastical reform came after contact with Erasmus had opened his mind to the new humanism.

From 1519 on, Zwingli was Leutpriester at the Großmünster in Zurich, where he succeeded, now also under the influence of Luther, in establishing a reformed church in 1523. Zwingli, more politically minded and with fewer theological preoccupations than Luther, fell out with the latter over the doctrine of Transubstantiation, and a conference at Marburg, known as the Marburger Religionsgespräch, in 1529 failed to resolve their differences. It was at this point that the Lutheran and Reformed Churches (see REFORMIERTE KIRCHE) diverged, Zwingli preparing the way for Calvin (1509-64, see Calvinism). Zwingli consistently maintained that salvation depended on faith alone and was granted only to those souls whom God had chosen. He was killed in the battle of Kappel in 1531. His principal work is doctrinal: De vera ac falsa religione (1525). He is the subject of an epic poem by W. Schäfer. Sämtliche Werke, ed. E. Egli, G. Finsler et al., appeared 1905 ff.

Education of a Reformer

Zwingli received a thorough classical education in Basel, Bern, and Vienna, and was considerably influenced by the humanist precepts of Erasmus. His devotion to learning and his passion for individual freedom, developed through contact with the self-governing Swiss cantons, were important influences in his life. In 1506 he was ordained and appointed pastor of Glarus; he also served (1513, 1515) as chaplain to Swiss mercenaries in Italy. In 1516 he became people's vicar at Einsiedeln. While there Zwingli began to formulate the ideas that were to lead him to renounce the church of Rome.

Unlike Martin Luther, Zwingli experienced no acute religious crisis—he became a reformer through his studies. Later he was to adopt Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone, but Zwingli's independent study of Scriptures had already led him to question the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. When he became vicar at the Grossmünster of Zürich in 1518 he found the democratic institutions of the community amenable to his beliefs. In 1519 he successfully opposed the dispensing of indulgences in the city and soon was preaching against clerical celibacy, monasticism, and many other church practices.

Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation

The real beginning of the Reformation in Switzerland was Zwingli's lectures on the New Testament in 1519. Armed with Erasmus' 1516 edition of the Greek text he discarded scholastic commentaries and proclaimed the sole authority of the word of God as revealed in Scriptures. With his expression of opposition to Lenten observances in 1522 the Reformation in Zürich was well under way. In the same year, with the publication of Architeles, he made clear his belief in freedom from the control of the Roman hierarchy. A public disputation with a papal representative was held before the general council at Zürich in 1523; Zwingli presented his doctrines in 67 theses. The council approved the Zwinglian position and instructed all priests in the canton to comply.

The new practices were rapidly put into effect—organs were destroyed, images were removed from churches, priests were allowed to marry, monasticism was abolished, the liturgy was simplified, and the sacrament of communion reduced to a commemorative feast. In 1524, Zwingli publicly celebrated his marriage, which he had illegally contracted two years previously. In 1525 the Catholic Mass was replaced by a reformed service at Zwingli's church in Zürich.

Zwingli became embroiled with the Lutherans in a doctrinal dispute concerning the nature of the Eucharist (see Lord's Supper). Philip of Hesse endeavored to reconcile these differences within the Protestant ranks by calling the disputants together at the Marburg Colloquy (1529). Zwingli and Johannes Oecolampadius and Luther and Philip Melanchthon were present, but no agreement was reached.

Although Bern adopted Zwingli's reforms in 1528, and Basel and St. Gall soon after, he faced agitation by the Anabaptists, who wanted even more radical reform, and the armed resistance of the Forest Cantons that had remained loyal to Rome. When Zürich imposed a trade embargo on these cantons they retaliated with war (1531), and at the battle of Kappel, Zwingli was killed. Zwingli's work in Zürich was carried on by his colleague and son-in-law, Heinrich Bullinger, but the Reformation in Switzerland passed into the hands of John Calvin. Calvin built his comprehensive theological system partly on the groundwork laid by Zwingli, but he resisted Zwingli's more radical teaching on baptism and the Lord's Supper. The Consensus Tigurinus (1549) marks the departure of the Swiss Reformation from Zwinglian to Calvinist doctrine.

Bibliography

See his selected writings, ed. by H. W. Pipkin (2 vol., 1984); biographies by J. H. Rilliet (tr. 1964) and G. R. Potter (1984); bibliography by H. W. Pipkin (1972).

Zwingli, Huldrych (1484–1531), Swiss reformer and church leader. Born into a peasant family in Toggenburg, an Alpine valley in the eastern part of modern-day Switzerland, Zwingli studied at the universities of Vienna and Basel (1498–1506), where he was exposed to the major currents that would shape his theology: late medieval Scholasticism and humanism. Research beginning in the late twentieth century has pointed to the particular importance of Desiderius Erasmus (1466?–1536) and John Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308) to his theological formation. Zwingli was ordained to the priesthood and served first in Glarus, one of the smallest cantons of the Swiss Confederation, before going to the great Benedictine monastery of Einsiedeln (1516), whose rich library resources afforded the young priest the opportunity to deepen his knowledge of patristic and medieval writers. He preached at the yearly official pilgrimages made by the citizens of Zurich to the Black Madonna of Einsiedeln, and his sermons made him well known in the city. In 1519 he was called to the Grossmünster in Zurich as a stipendiary priest.

Zwingli's preaching, in which he denounced corruption and called on the people to purify themselves before God, created the mood for reform, but it was a small circle of like-minded priests, printers, and magistrates who pushed the movement forward. Events took shape around two disputations in 1523 for which Zwingli wrote his Sixty-seven Theses, his first major work. Zwingli sought to reform church and society, but he recognized that to do this he required the support of Zurich's magistrates, who in turn needed to be reassured that reform did not imply social revolution. His vision of Christian government was drawn from the Old Testament, with the prophet (Zwingli) advising the ruler (the Zurich town council), who was responsible for enforcing the laws of the state.

Zwingli's position in Zurich was never wholly secure. The establishment of the new Reformed order in Zurich at Easter 1525 was largely due to the influence of a couple of key magistrates who backed Zwingli. At the center of Zwingli's vision was the reform of worship, and the Reformation commenced in Zurich with a celebration of the new liturgy of the Lord's Supper. His reforms, however, revealed a mixture of late medieval and Erasmian impulses; institutional changes, as well as moral legislation, were drawn from the reform councils of the fifteenth century, and, like Erasmus, Zwingli believed that education was the key to the creation of a Christian society.

Institutional reform under Zwingli was halting, largely because from 1525 until his death he was involved in a series of heated polemical exchanges. Zwingli faced opposition from Catholics, his former mentor Erasmus, the so-called Anabaptists, and most famously, from Martin Luther. Virtually all of Zwingli's theological writings were hastily compiled responses to particular crises or attacks. Thus his work cannot be treated as systematic theology. The three major events in Zwingli's career after 1525 were the Baden disputation (1526), which he refused to attend for fear of being arrested and executed, the Bern disputation (1528), which saw the Reformation adopted in major parts of the Swiss Confederation, and the Colloquy of Marburg(1529), where he and Luther came face to face. Zwingli's desire to bring the Reformation to the rest of the Swiss Confederation led to alliance building that made war with the Catholic states probable. This led to the disastrous First and Second Kappel Wars of 1529 and 1531. Zwingli was killed in a surprise attack on the night of 11 October 1531.

On account of their acrimonious falling out with respect to the celebration of the Lord's Supper, specifically the nature of Christ's presence in the Eucharist, the question of Luther's influence on Zwingli has remained, for confessional reasons, highly contentious. Certainly Zwingli keenly followed the "Luther affair" of 1517–1521, and read all the German reformer's works, which were being printed in Basel. On key theological points, such as "faith alone" and "scripture alone," they were in agreement, but Zwingli had an entirely different agenda, which led to a theology of a different character. Zwingli's theology was shaped by two crucial aspects: first, his experience of serving in military campaigns (1513–1515) and observing with horror the effects of the mercenary trade on the Swiss; and second, the form of Christian humanism prevalent in southwestern Germany and the Swiss lands. The type of humanism that shaped Zwingli's thought concentrated on the practical Christian life and reform of the church, emphasizing the role of the Old Testament. To this we can attribute most of the major themes in Zwingli's thought: the utter sovereignty of God, the covenantal nature of God's relationship with humanity, God's demand that his people be "pure," and the centrality of ethics and the life of the regenerated Christian.

Zwingli was not a national reformer; his cause was closely linked with the particular aspirations of Zurich. Nevertheless, the clarity of his thought carried his ideas across Europe, and there can be no doubt that he was the founder of the Reformed tradition.

Bibliography

Gordon, Bruce. The Swiss Reformation. Manchester, U.K., 2002.

Potter, G. R. Zwingli. Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 1976.

Stephens, W. P. The Theology of Huldrych Zwingli. Oxford and New York, 1986.

—BRUCE GORDON

Huldrych Zwingli in an oil portrait from 1531 by Hans Asper; Kunstmuseum Winterthur.
Timeline
Zwingli's birth - 1484 Zwingli priest in Glarus - 1506 Zwingli as chaplain in Marignano- 1515 Luther's 95 theses - 1517 Charles V becomes Holy Roman emperor - 1519 Zwingli priest in the cathedral of Zürich - 1519 Pope excommunicates Luther - 1521 New Testament translated to German - 1522 Adrian VI new pope - 1522 Zwingli publishes his first reformatory tract Reformation wins in Zürich - 1523 Clement VII new pope - 1523 Zwingli marries - 1524 Peasant rebellion in Germany - 1524 Anabaptist movement in Switzerland - 1525 Luther marries Katharina von Bora - 1525 Zwingli publishes his tract "On the true & false Religion" - 1525 Charles V; military conquest of Rome Reformation wins in Berne - 1528 Zwingli and Luther meet in Marburg - 1529 Confessio Augustana - 1530 The league of Schmalkalden - 1531 Zwingli falls in combat - 1531 Calvin becomes a Protestant - 1533 Calvin in Geneva - 1536 First Helvetic Confession - 1536

Huldrych (or Ulrich which was his birth name in memory of Saint Ulrich von Augsburg) Zwingli or Ulricus Zuinglius (January 1, 1484 – October 11, 1531) was the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland, and founder of the Swiss Reformed Churches. Independently of Martin Luther, who was doctor biblicus, Zwingli arrived at similar conclusions by studying the Scriptures from the point of view of a humanist scholar.

Zwingli was born in Wildhaus, St. Gallen, Switzerland, to a prominent family of the middle classes. He was the third of eight sons. His father Ulrich was the chief magistrate in town, and his uncle Bartolomeus the vicar.

Zwingli's Reformation was supported by the magistrate and population of Zürich, and led to significant changes in civil life, and state matters in Zürich. The reformation was spread from Zürich to five other cantons of Switzerland, while the remaining five sternly held on to the Roman Catholic view of the faith.

Zwingli was killed at Kappel am Albis, in a battle against the Roman Catholic cantons.

Zwingli's contribution to Reformation

Background

While a wealth of information exists regarding the theology of Martin Luther, John Calvin and others, relatively little is available with relation to Huldrych Zwingli. Zwingli was a contemporary of Martin Luther, and his renunciation of the Roman Catholic priesthood came only a few years after Luther's; these factors may explain Zwingli's comparative obscurity relative to Luther and Calvin as one of the driving forces behind the Reformation.

Another reason for Zwingli's failure to capture the public imagination may be his radical theology. Some commentators believe that history has overlooked Zwingli simply because it was written by men unsympathetic to his doctrinal views, who went out of their way to suppress them. They hold that "history is written by the victors"; the "other side of the story" is either forgotten, or suppressed. Needless to say, this view is prevalent principally among dyed-in-the-wool Zwinglians, and should perhaps not be taken at face value, particularly in the light of the extensive academic research conducted over the last 20 years or so into the sources of the Reformation.

Theology: sacraments and covenants

Huldrych Zwingli, woodcut by Hans Asper, 1531.

One major difference in theological opinion between Zwingli and Luther is on the nature of the Christian sacraments. Many consider Luther to have been the originator of the belief that God's covenants to man are unconditional; Zwingli, on the other hand, proposed that God's covenants were just that--spiritually binding contracts between God and man that were vulnerable to man's relapse into the sinful life that could eventually lead to an annulment of God's part in the contract.^{[citation needed]}

E. Brooks Holifield says,

“

When Luther called the sacrament a covenantal seal, he meant that baptism visibly ratified and guaranteed God's promises, as a royal seal authenticated a government document on which it was inscribed. Only secondarily was baptism a pledge of obedience by men. For Zwingli, however, the sacrament was primarily 'a covenant sign which indicates that all those who receive it are willing to amend their lives to follow Christ.[1]

”

For both Luther and Zwingli, the sacrament of baptism was a sign or symbol of God's new Gospel covenant. Their theological differences arise in the relationship between baptism and mankind.

A key doctrinal difference between Zwingli and Luther was their view on the Eucharist. Whereas Luther believed that the body and blood of Christ are really present in the bread and wine of this sacrament (a view often called consubstantiation by non-Lutherans), Zwingli thought the sacrament to be purely symbolic and memorial in character. Their differences were discussed at the Marburg Colloquy in 1529. By contrast, the next generation Reformer John Calvin's view was that Christ is spiritually but not physically present in the sacrament, but some later Calvinists such as Charles Hodge tend more towards Zwingli's memorialism than Calvin's doctrine.

Zwingli was also known for his belief that the Christian sacrament was similar to a military oath or pledge in order to demonstrate an individual's willingness to listen and obey the written word of God.

Music in the Church

Zwingli was one of the first Protestants to question the use of musical instruments during worship services. In fact, he was so alarmed by the abuses to which music was subjected that some of his services did not have any music whatsoever. He regarded music as a possible distraction from single attention to the preaching of the word of God.^{[citation needed]} Much of the Reformed movement fell into agreement with the exclusion of instruments from worship, pointing out the organ in particular as being a prominent example of what they meant by the corruption allowed into worship by the Roman Catholic Church.^{[citation needed]} Zwingli recommended that a better use for an organ would be to sell it and give the money to the poor. Zwingli did not have a distaste for music in general usage; rather, he naturally loved music and could play a variety of instruments.^[2]

Part of a series on Calvinism (see also Portal)

John Calvin

Background Christianity St. Augustine The Reformation Five Solas Synod of Dort

Distinctives Five Points (TULIP) Covenant Theology Regulative principle

Documents Calvin's Institutes Confessions of faith Geneva Bible

Influences Theodore Beza John Knox Jonathan Edwards Princeton theologians

Churches Reformed Presbyterian Congregationalist Reformed Baptist

Peoples Afrikaner Calvinists Huguenots Pilgrims Puritans Scots

Scholars have demonstrated new findings regarding Zwingli and music in the church as well. Gottfried W. Locher writes, "The old assertion 'Zwingli was against church singing' holds good no longer.... Zwingli's polemic is concerned exclusively with the medieval Latin choral and priestly chanting and not with the hymns of evangelical congregations or choirs".^[3] He goes on to say that "Zwingli freely allowed vernacular psalm or choral singing. In addition, he even seems to have striven for lively, antiphonal, unison recitative"^[3]. Locher then summaries his comments on Zwingli's view of church music as follows: "The chief thought in his conception of worship was always 'conscious attendance and understanding' — 'devotion', yet with the lively participation of all concerned".^[3]

Zwingli’s life

Youth

Zwingli received his early education at Weesen under the guidance of his uncle Bartolomeus, who had moved away from Wildhaus. Before going to the University of Vienna Zwingli completed his studies in Berne. He enrolled in Vienna in 1498, and after having been expelled for a year, Zwingli continued his studies there until 1502, at which time he transferred to the University of Basel, where he took his B.A. degree in 1504, and M.Div. in 1506.

Priesthood

Just before winning his theological degree Zwingli became pastor at Glarus, and stayed there for ten years. It was during his stay in Glarus that Zwingli perfected his Greek, and also took up the study of Hebrew. Apart from studying the languages of the Scripture, he also read Erasmus, which gave his thinking a humanistic perspective.

The use of Swiss mercenaries was widespread in Europe of the 16th century and this was something that Zwingli opposed, unless commissioned by the Pope. Nevertheless Zwingli took on the job of chaplain on several occasions, as the youth of his parish went to Italy as mercenaries. Still, Zwingli's opposition to foreign military service and his growing reputation as a fine preacher and learned scholar led to his election in 1518 to priest in the Great Minster church (German: Grossmünster) in Zürich. He had then been a priest in Einsiedeln Abbey for two years.

Zwingli's willingness to leave Glarus greatly increased due to stronger pro-French sentiment there, given the fact that Zwingli at this period in his life was strongly on the side of the pope. Zwingli's literary production while still in Glarus made Swiss cardinal Mattias Schinner his friend, and rendered him an annual pension from Rome.

Alienation from the Roman Church

It was as a priest of the Great Minster church that Zwingli publicly started questioning the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. Zwingli always claimed to be ignorant of what Luther wrote, and that he took part in starting the Reformation in Switzerland independently of Luther. When a preacher of indulgences appeared in Zürich in 1519, Zwingli opposed him. This was two years after Luther had refuted the practice of indulgence with his 95 Theses.

It was in 1520 that Zwingli renounced his papal pension. He then attacked the mercenary system, and convinced Zürich, alone of all the cantons, to refuse the alliance with France on May 5, 1521. On January 11, 1522, all foreign services and pensions were forbidden in Zürich.

Owing to Zwingli's success as a political figure, which had been boosted by his social efforts during the plague of 1520, his prestige and importance increased. From 1522 on he was on track of reforming the church and Christian faith. His first reformatory work, Vom Erkiesen und Fryheit der Spysen, was published in the midst of a dispute over the ecclesiastical law of fasting. Zwingli declared the fasting provisions to be mere human commands, not in harmony with the Scriptures, and was by now convinced that the Bible alone, without any reference to the church's sacred oral tradition, was the sole source of faith; this he asserted in "Archeteles".

Marriage

Zwingli took the view that without an extraordinary dispensation of divine grace it was impossible for any priest to live in purity according to the vow of celibacy.^{[citation needed]} In the spring of 1522 Zwingli and Anna Reinhard secretly married, and lived in what was called a clerical marriage. Anna at the time was a young widow with three children, and was noted for her beauty, piety and faithfulness to the Protestant Reformation.^[4] Zwingli and Anna celebrated their marriage in a public church ceremony, on April 2, 1524, and between 1526 and 1530 the couple had four children.

The Reformation in Zürich

The Grossmünster in the center of the medieval town of Zürich, 1576

Zwingli's radical followers made the most of the situation in Zürich. They removed the images and pictures out of the churches, made changes in the liturgic language of the religious services, and stripped the mass of all its elaborateness, as far as possible bringing it back to basics. By the end of 1524 the convents for both men and women had been abolished, and music had been silenced in the churches. The mass stood more or less unaltered, since Zwingli hesitated in changing something so wrapped up with the life of the people, before the people were fully prepared to accept a substitute. Zwingli's translation of the bible, the Froschauer Bible, was printed between 1524 and 1531. At last it was decreed that on Thursday of Holy Week, April 13, 1525, in the Great Minster the Lord's Supper would be for the first time observed according to the liturgy Zwingli had composed. On that eventful day men and women sat on opposite sides of the table which extended down the middle aisle, and were served with bread on wooden platters and wine out of wooden beakers. The contrast to the former custom was shocking to many, yet the new way was accepted. With this radical break with the past the Reformation in Zürich was completed. In the same year, Zwingli was called by the honorary title Antistes.

The political phase

The new doctrines were not introduced without opposition. The first opponents of the Reformers were from the ranks of their own party. The peasants could find no reason in the Bible, the sole principle of faith, why they should contribute to their lords' taxes, tithes, and rent, and they refused to do so. Civil unrest spread everywhere, and was only quelled after long negotiations and some concessions by the Government.

The Anabaptists were not so easily silenced. From the interpretation of the Bible, which Zwingli had placed in their hands, they opposed infant baptism and refused to join the state church.

In St. Gallen, mayor Vadian (Joachim von Watt) worked successfully in Zwingli's interest — in Schaffhausen, Dr. Sebastian Hofmeister did the same; in Basle it was Johann Oecolampadius. Zwingli himself came to Berne, in January 1528. The new doctrines were then introduced as sweepingly into Berne as they had been at Zürich, and many places and counties which had previously wavered followed its example. Zwingli could also point to brilliant successes in 1528 and 1529. He ensured the predominance of his reforms through the "Christian Civic rights", agreed upon between Zürich and the towns of Constance (1527), Berne and St. Gall (1528), Biel, Mulhausen, and Schaffhausen (1529).

Reaction

Statue of Zwingli in Zürich

Reformation swept across Switzerland. The cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Lucerne, Zug, and Fribourg remained however true to the old Faith, and offered determined opposition to Zwingli. This did not mean that the Roman Catholic cantons were wholly satisfied with conditions prevailing in the Roman Catholic church. They strove to abolish abuses, and issued a Concordat of Faith in 1525 demanding important reforms, this, however, never found general recognition. From 21 May to 8 June, 1526, they held a public disputation at Baden, to which they invited Dr. Johann Eck of Ingolstadt. Zwingli did not appear.

At Baden, a famous watering-place, only twelve miles northwest of Zürich, there was a disputation between the Old Church representatives and the Zwingli party from May 21 to June 8, 1526. Though not present in person, Zwingli had close connections with those from Zürich who spoke for him, and gave them daily instructions. Both sides claimed victory.

To compel the Roman Catholic cantons to accept the new doctrines, Zwingli even urged civil war, drew up a plan of campaign, and succeeded in persuading Zürich to declare war and march against the Roman Catholic territories. The Roman Catholic districts had by then strengthened their position by forming a defensive alliance with Austria (1529), the "Christian Union." At this juncture, however, they received no assistance. Berne showed itself more moderate than Zürich, and a treaty of peace was arranged, which, however, was very unfavourable for the Roman Catholics.

Ruler of Zürich

In Zürich, Zwingli was now the commanding personality in all ecclesiastical and political questions. He was "mayor, secretary, and council" all in one.^[5]

As a statesman, Zwingli embarked in secular politics with ambitious plans. "Within three years", he wrote, "Italy, Spain and Germany will take our view".^{[citation needed]} By opposing any compromises with the Roman Catholic cantons Zwingli may have compelled them to resort to arms. On 9 October, 1531, they declared war on Zürich, and advanced to Kappel on the frontiers. That day proved to be fateful for Zwingli.

Civil war and Zwingli's death on the battlefield

Further information: Wars of Kappel and Reformation in Switzerland

The Swiss Confederation was not a centralized state, but many different states or cantons that were only united on a few issues, primarily wanting independence from the Holy Roman Empire. When the Roman Catholic cantons took steps towards an alliance with Charles V, Zwingli recommended that the Protestant cantons begin to take military initiatives before it was too late. Zwingli was preparing for war, but his beliefs were not shared by all of the other Protestant cantons. Instead, the other Protestants took economic measures towards the Roman Catholic cantons.

In October of 1531, the five Roman Catholic cantons joined together for a surprise attack on Zürich. The Protestants were nearly unable to defend themselves because of no advance warning, but when their army gathered together, Zwingli marched out with the first soldiers and was killed in battle. In Kappel, the army of Zürich was defeated, and slightly more than a month later, the Peace of Kappel was signed.

Zwingli's successor

Zwingli's successor, Heinrich Bullinger, was elected on December 9, 1531, to be the pastor of the Great Minster at Zürich, a position which he held to the end of his life (1575). He did not replace Zwingli as the political head man of the canton. The pastor of the Great Minster continued to exert political influence, but the time of theocracy was past for Zürich.

Zwingli's character

Zwingli’s popularity in Zurich was due not only to his Biblical preaching and doctrine; it was owing just as much to his affable character and respectful deportment. Historian Dr. Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne says of him, “he was at once a true Christian and a true republican. The equality of mankind was not with him a mere conventional term; it was written in his heart, and shown by his life. He had neither that pharisaical pride nor that monastic coarseness which offend equally the simple and the wise of this world; they felt attracted towards him, and were at ease in his society.” ^[2] Even his adversaries noted his courteous treatment of the lower classes; “He invited the country-people to dine with him,” says Salat, one of his most fierce enemies, “walked with them, talked to them of God, put the devil in their hearts, and his books into their pockets. He succeeded so well that the notables of Zurich used to visit the peasants, drink with them, show them about the city, and pay them every mark of attention.” ^[2] He used to go to the halls where the trades and companies met, where he would talk familiarly with the people and explain to them the fundamentals of the Gospel.

Zwingli enjoyed music greatly and could play, among other instruments, the violin, the harp, flute, dulcimer and hunting horn. He would sometimes amuse the little ones of his flock on his lute and was so keen on his instruments that his enemies took advantage of it, calling him “the evangelical lute-player and fifer.” He also set some of his poems, a number of which became popular hymns in Switzerland, to music.

Truly obeying the command not to “have respect of persons,” (James 2:1-9) Zwingli was greatly beloved by the Zurichers; as his friend Henri Bullinger wrote, “he despised no one; he was compassionate to the poor, always steadfast and cheerful in good and evil fortune. No misfortune alarmed him; his conversation was at all times full of consolation, and his heart firm.” ^[2]

Other notables of the Swiss Reformation

• Ambrosius Blarer
• Heinrich Bullinger
• John Calvin
• William Farel
• Johannes Oecolampadius

Literary production

• Rhymed fables of the ox, c. 1510
• De Gestis inter Gallos et Helvetios relatio, 1512
• The Labyrinth, c. 1516
• Vom Erkiesen und Fryheit der Spysen
• Archeteles
• Vermahnung an die zu Schwyz, dass sie sich vor fremden Herren hutend, 1522
• Petition anent the Marriage of Priests, Einsiedeln, Switzerland, July 2, 1522. (This petition was addressed to Hugo von Hohenlandenberg, Bishop of Konstanz, and was signed by Zwingli and ten other clergymen.)^[6][7]
• De vere et falsa Religione, 1525
• In Catabaptistarum strophas Elenchus, 1527
• Opera D.H. Zwingli (Title in full: ''Opera D.H. Zwingli vigilantissimi Tigurinae ecclesiae Antistitis, partim quidem ab ipso Latine conscripta, partim vero e vernaculo sermone in Latinum translata: omnia novissime recognita, et multis adiectis, quae hactenus visa non sunt, published by Zwingli's son-in-law Rudolf Gwalter)

References

Wikisource has an original article from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia about:

Ulrich Zwingli

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Huldrych Zwingli

1. ^ The Covenant Sealed: The Development of Puritan Sacramental Theology in Old and New England 1570-1720, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Jean Henri Merle d'Aubigne. History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. 5 vols., Geneva 1835-1853
3. ^ ^{a b c} Gottfried W. Locher (1981). Zwingli’s Thought: New Perspectives. Leiden: E. J. Brill. 
4. ^ Spitz, Lewis (1987). (The Rise of modern Europe) The protestant Reformation 1517-1559.. Harper Torchbooks, pp 155. ISBN 0-06-132069-2. 
5. ^ The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV. Published 1912. New York: Robert Appleton Company. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15772a.htm The Catholic Encyclopedia
6. ^ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15772a.htm
7. ^ "Ulrich Zwingli Early Writings", edited by Samuel Macauley Jackson, Wipf & Stock, 1999, ISBN 1579102972.

• Zwingli's collected works, (edited by Melchior Schuler and Johannes Schulthess, 8 vols., Zürich, 1828-1842)
• New critical edition of Zwingli's Collected Works (In progress, University of Zürich)
• Huldreich Zwingli, the Reformer of German Switzerland edited by Samuel Macauley Jackson et al, 1903. Online from Google Books
• European Reformations Sourcebook ed. by Carter Lindberg, Blackwell Publishers (December 1999). ISBN 0-631-21362-7. Excerpts from Zwingli's "Petition of Certain Preachers of Switzerland to the Most Reverend Lord Hugo, Bishop of Constance..." [1]
• Biography of Anna Reinhard in Leben magazine in PDF

Persondata
NAME	Zwingli, Huldrych
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Zuinglius, Ulricus; Zwingli, Ulrich
SHORT DESCRIPTION	leader of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland, and founder of the Swiss Reformed Churches
DATE OF BIRTH	January 1, 1484
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wildhaus, St. Gallen, Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH	October 11, 1531
PLACE OF DEATH	Kappel am Albis

be-x-old:Ульрых Цвінгліzh-yue:慈溫利

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)