Section 15

 ² Luke 1:46–55: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord’. Note that all English Bible Texts are cited from The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989).

 ³ The literature on Mary in the Middle Ages is vast, but the works of special interest for this study are Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996); Beth Kreitzer, Reforming Mary: Changing Images of the Virgin Mary in Lutheran Sermons of the Sixteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), Kreitzer’s monograph of studies on Mary in sixteenth-century Lutheran sermons furnishes a review of the general literature and state of research related to Mary in her introduction, pp. 3–25; Susan Haskins (ed.), Vittoria Colonna, Chiara Matraini, and Lucrezia Marinella – Who Is Mary?: Three Early Modern Women on the Idea of the Virgin Mary (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2008), especially the ‘Volume Editor’s Introduction’, pp. 1–46, which is particularly relevant to Mary in Zurich. Emidio Campi, Zwingli und Maria: Eine reformationsgeschichtliche Studie (Zurich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 1997); Bridget Heal, The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Early Modern Germany: Protestant and Catholic Piety, 1500–1648 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); Hilda Graef, Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2009); Hans Grass, Traktat über Mariologie (Marburg: N.G. Elwert Verlag, 1991); Walter Tappolet, Das Marienlob der Reformatoren (Tübingen: Katzmann Verlag, 1962).

 ⁴ Pelikan, Mary, pp. 55–65.

 ⁵ Gottfried Locher, Die Zwinglische Reformation in Rahmen der europäischen Kirchengeschichte (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1979), p. 102.

 ⁶ See Pelikan, Mary, pp. 201–14. Pelikan contends that the Roman Catholic doctrine of Mary’s bodily assumption was portrayed in art and was a part of folklore and faith long before the issuance of Munificentissimus Deus by Pius XII in 1950.

 ⁷ Cf. Paul A. Russell, Lay Theology in the Reformation: Popular Pamphleteers in South-West Germany 1521–1525 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp. 189–91; Diarmaid MacCulloch, ‘Mary and Sixteenth Century Protestants’, in Robert Norman Swanson (ed.), The Church and Mary (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, 2006), p. 202.

 ⁸ Heinrich Denzinger and Peter Hünermann (eds), Kompendium der Glaubensbekenntnisse und kirchlichen Lehrentscheidungen, 37th ed. (Freiburg: Herder, 1991), no. 125.

 ⁹ Denzinger/Hünermann, Kompendium, nos 422, 427.

¹⁰ Compare Pelikan, Mary, pp. 113–22; Graef, Mary, pp. 80–87; Denzinger/Hünermann, Kompendium, no. 431.

¹¹ Denzinger/Hünermann, Kompendium, nos 502–4.

¹² Graef, Mary, p. 181: ‘since the divine Blesssed Virgin is no more than a creature and is rational, she must not be paid divine worship, but veneration known as dulia; however, since she is the Mother of God, this should be of a higher form than that given other creatures. For this reason the veneration paid her is termed hyperdulia, to indicate it is more than ordinary dulia’. See Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae IIIa q. 25 a. 5 co., in: S. Thomae Aquinatis opera omnia, ed. Roberto Busa, vol. 2 (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1980), p. 808: ‘Et ideo nulli purae creaturae rationali debetur cultus latriae. Cum ergo beata Virgo sit pure creatura rationalis, non debetur ei adoratio latriae, sed solum veneratio duliae: eminentius tamen quam ceteris creaturis, inquantum ipsa est mater dei. Et ideao dicitur quod devetur ei, non qualiscumque dulia, sed hyperdulia’.

¹³ See Ignatius Brady, ‘The Development of the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in the Fourteenth Century after Aureoli’, in Franciscan Studies 15 (1955), p. 202; Donna Spivey Ellington, From Sacred Body to Angelic Soul: Understanding Mary in Late and Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 2001).

¹⁴ Pelikan, Mary, pp. 198–9.

¹⁵ The dispute between catholic and reformed historians over Zwingli’s doctrine of Mary were published in Swiss newspapers after 1950. Compare Gottfried W. Locher, ‘Inhalt und Absicht von Zwingli’s Marienlehre’, in Kirchenblatt für die reformierte Schweiz 107/3 (1951), pp. 34–7, shortly after the dogma of Mary’s assumption had been canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950, Locher defended the reformed position; also consider his opponent Karl Federer, ‘Zwingli und die Marienverehrung’, in Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Kirchengeschichte 45/4 (1951), pp. 13–26.

¹⁶ Huldreich Zwinglis sämtliche Werke, eds Emil Egli et al. (Berlin et al.: Schwetschke et al., 1905ff.) (Corpus Reformatorum 88–101) [cited as Z], vol. 1, pp. 197–209.

¹⁷ Cf. Campi, Zwingli und Maria, pp. 18–19.

¹⁸ Z, vol. 1, pp. 338–84.

¹⁹ Unlike monks, nuns at Oetenbach were forbidden to attend Zwingli’s sermons in Grossmünster because of the jurisdiction of their Dominican bothers. Zwingli gained permission from the council to deliver a sermon at the Cloister, after which many of the women left their order. See: Locher, Die Zwinglische Reformation, p. 101.

²⁰ Z, vol. 1, pp. 391–428: Von der ewig reinen Magd Maria is hereafter cited as On the Eternally Pure Maiden Mary.

²¹ Cf. MacCulloch, ‘Mary’, pp. 191–217; Heiko A. Oberman, ‘The Virgin Mary in Evangelical Perspective’, in id., The Impact of the Reformation (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994), p. 213. MacCulloch quotes Bernhard Wyss: Die Chronik des Bernhard Wyss, 1519–1530, ed. Georg Finsler (Basel: Basler Buch- und Antiquariatshandlung, 1901) (Quellen und Abhandlungen zur schweizerichen Reformationsgeschichte 1), p. 16.

²² Locher, Die Zwinglische Reformation, p. 100.

²³ Z, vol. 1, p. 426.

²⁴ Z, vol. 2, pp. 14–457.

²⁵ Ulrich Gäbler, Huldrych Zwingli: Leben und Werk (Zurich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2004), pp. 61–8.

²⁶ Johann Fabri was a German theologian, who due to his life-long friendship with Erasmus first sympathized with Melanchthon and Zwingli, but as the division in the church widened, he defended Catholic Orthodoxy. The Bishop of Constance sent Faber as well as three other counsellors and judges to the dispute. Fabri did not enter the detailed theological discussion so that Zwingli’s reply convinced the audience. See The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, 4 vols, ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), s.v. ‘Fabri, Johann’ by John Patrick Donnelly.

²⁷ Locher, Die Zwinglische Reformation, p. 113.

²⁸ Z, vol. 2, p. 166,9–12: ‘Der zwentzigst artickel. Das uns gott alle ding wil in sinem namen geben; darus entspringt, das wir usserthalb diser zyt dheins mitlers bedörffend weder sin’. Ibid., p. 222,11–14: ‘Der ein und zwentzigst artickel. Das, so wir für einandren uff erden bittend, das in der gstalt thueyind, dass wir allein durch Christum uns alle ding ggeben werden vertruwind’.

²⁹ Z, vol. 2, p. 261,14–17: ‘Der acht und zwentzigst artickel. Das alles, so got erloubt oder nit verbotten hat, recht ist; dannen har die ee allen menschen zimmen erlernt wirt’. Ibid., p. 263,6–10: ‘Der nün und zwentzigst artickel. Das alle, die man geistlich nennet, sündend, wenn sy, nachdem sy innen worden sind, das inen got reinigheit halten abgeschlagen hat, sich mit der ee nit verhuetend’.

³⁰ Z, vol. 2, p. 267,23–7: ‘Der dryssigest artickel. Das die, so reinigheit verheissend, sich kintlich oder närrisch ze vil übernemmend; darus erlernet, das die, so söliche gelübd innemmend, frävenlich an den frommen menschen farend’.

³¹ William P. Stephens, The Theology of Huldrych Zwingli (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 31.

³² Stephens, Theology, p. 32.

³³ Emidio Campi goes into great detail examining Zwingli’s sermon in his book on Zwingli and Mary; the present chapter leans on Campi’s scholarly contribution, see above n. 3.

³⁴ Z, vol. 1, pp. 391–428: Zwingli’s brothers the pious Heini, Clausen, Hansen, Wolffgangen, Bartholome Zwinglinen were farmers in the pre-Alps of Toggenburg.

³⁵ Konrad Hofmann was a cleric who spent three years collecting material evidence against Zwingli and his Schriftprinzip. His pamphlet demanding Zwingli’s resignation was filed in 1522. See Campi, Zwingli und Maria, p. 101; Locher, Die Zwinglische Reformation, p. 84.

³⁶ See Christian Moser and Hans Rudolf Fuhrer, Der lange Schatten Zwinglis: Zürich, das französische Soldbündnis und eidgenössische Bündnispolitik, 1500–1650 (Zürich: Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2009).

³⁷ Z, vol. 1, pp. 391–8. Quote: p. 392,16–20, ‘Zuo denen, so daheim ir xind verwaltend, versich ich mich aller eeren und guottes; zuo den(en), so in krieg louffen, jamers und verdamnus irer seelen. Gott wöl inen ein recht gemuet geben, damit sy sölichs nimmer me tuegend, als sy ouch verheissend’.

³⁸ Z, vol. 1, p. 397,7–10: ‘Ich halt von iro, als ein Christenman halten sol, und so vil me von iro, das ich nit eim yeden märsager gloub, was er uff sy lügt und seit, und ouch uff sy nit lügen wil, noch sagen me, denn mich die gschrifft des heiligen euangelii wyùt’.

³⁹ Z, vol. 1, p. 400,14–17: ‘Das aber alles mit vill geschrifft lichtlich aber starck bewerdt möcht werden, wo wir nit ein anders giengind, nämlich uff das lob der ewig reinen magt Marie, die unù disen heiland Christum geborn hatt’.

⁴⁰ Z, vol. 1, p. 400,20–25: ‘Darinn aber die götlich wyùheit erschint, nämlich, das mitt dem vermehlen Joseph gott nit hatt wellen den eelichen bruch zwischen inen beschehen, damit kinder geborn wurdind, sunder das die tochter Maria, nachdem sy schwanger erfunden, nit versteiniget wurde nach jüdischem gesatzt, welchs gebot versteinigen die, so on ein eeman geborn hett’.

⁴¹ Z, vol. 1, p. 401,21–3: ‘Ja frylich: Gott mit uns, das er menschliche natur von der reinen Maria hat sich genommen und unùer bruoder, auch ein bezalende opfer für uns worden ist’.

⁴² Z, vol. 1, p. 401,24–28: ‘Es wirdt ein schoù oder ruot erwachsen vonn der wurtzen oder stammen Jesse – der ist Davids vatter xin – und ein bluom oder bluost wirdt ufferston von siner wurtzen. Diùes schos ist die helig Maria, die bluost ist Christus’. See Isaiah 11:1, ‘A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots’.

⁴³ The literal translation of the German word verzehrt is not consummated, but consumed or eaten.

⁴⁴ Z, vol. 1, p. 401,29–402,2: ‘Ouch ist hieby ze mercken die eer irer lutren reinigkeit, die so groù ist xin, das der euangelist Lucas, ouch Matheus die ir zuogebet; dann sy ein reine unverserte magt vor der geburt, in und nach der geburt, ia in ewigkeit blybt’.

⁴⁵ See Hunter, Marriage, pp. 166–7, on Jerome. Jerome held that chastity and celibacy were superior to marriage and finally refuted Helvidius with his De perpetua virginitate beate Maria adversus Helvidium; see F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingstone (eds), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 753. Helvidius was a fourth-century Latin theologian who did not believe that Mary was a perpetual virgin. He contended that marriage and celibacy were equal and that Mary had given birth to children after Christ.

⁴⁶ Z, vol. 1, pp. 402–4.

⁴⁷ Z, vol. 1, p. 404,18–24: ‘Diù ort Mathei hab ich darumb mit sölchem fliù erklärt, das die, so mir allenthalb fürmündend unnd falsch und unerlich uff mich redend, ich habe gepredigt, Maria sye ein torecht wyb xin, wie ein andre trüll. Oder hab sy an irer reinigkeit geschmützt und geschentzelet, das aber unguetlich uber mich erdacht ist, dann ich tür und hoch dörffte schweren, das mir all mine tag sölche schnöde von der wirdigen muoter gottes in minen sinn nie ist kommen’.

⁴⁸ Z, vol. 1, p. 407,7–13: ‘Demnach, da wir sprechend: Gesegnet bist über alle frowen, damit nit gezwyflet werde, was das word “gesegnet” bedüte, hab ich gesprochen: Hochgelobt bistu über alle frowen, darumb, daù das griechisch wort eulogemene vil ee heisset ein hochgelobte weder ein gesegnete; doch wil ich das wort “gesegnet” darumb nit verwerffen, doch das man “gesegnet bist” verstande für “hochgelobt bistu”’.

⁴⁹ Luke 1:42, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb’.

⁵⁰ Consider Jdt 13:18–9: ‘Then Uzziah said to her, “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all other women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to cut off the head of the leader of our enemies”’. No such text is attributed to Mary in scripture.

⁵¹ Z, vol. 1, p. 408,21–6: ‘Unnd nach vil worten hat mich ein person gefragt: Sol man aber unser frowen nit das Ave Maria bäten? Gab ich antwurt: Das Ave Maria ist nit ein gebet, sunder ein grütz unnd ein lob. Doch bedenckend die wort selbs, so findend ir nit, das man darinn ütz begere, sunder nun Marian gruotz und lobe. Ein gebet heiùt nach dem tütsch: darinnen man bittet’.

⁵² Z, vol. 1, p. 413,10–20: ‘Demnach als die helig Maria den wordten gottes, durch den engel verkündt, wol gegloubt, hatt sy doch erfaren, wie die geburt zuogrüst mueùt werden, sidmall sy dheinen man erkannt, das ist, mit gheinem sölicher gestalt gemeinsame hette. Hat ir der engel geantwurt: Der helig geist wirdt vonn oben herab in dich kummen, und die krafft des höchsten gottes wirdt dich überschatten. Darumb wirdt das helig, so vonn dir geboren wirdt, genennet werden der sun gottes. Ist die meinung des engels: Maria, ich verkünden dir ein nüwe ardt der geburt, die nüt gemeins haben wirdt mitt der menschen sündtlicher geburt’.

⁵³ Luke 1:38, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord’.

⁵⁴ Z, vol. 1, p. 414,22–7: ‘Das Maria hie gar heiter anzeygt in dem, das sy nit nach dem bruch der mannenden wyben oder dochtren got anmuotet dise oder iene gab oder wie sy demnach sölte gehalten werden, sunder ergibt sy sich mit demuetigen worten und gmuot und nennet sich selbs nüt anderst denn ein dienerinn des herren und begert, das gott mit iren handle nach dem wort des engels’.

⁵⁵ An example for Mary’s perceived poise can be seen in Michelangelo’s masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture La Pietà (1498–99) in which Mary is holding Christ’s lifeless body in her lap. Her face is sad, yet composed, and introspective.

⁵⁶ Luke 1:46–55, ‘And Mary said “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the throughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever”’.

⁵⁷ Matthew 27:56; John 19:25; Mark 15:40; Luke 23:49.

⁵⁸ Luke 2:41–52.

⁵⁹ John 2:1–11.

⁶⁰ Z, vol 1, p. 421,12–15: ‘Item, das sy alle ding, so mit Christo in der jugend verhandlet wurdendt, in so ingedenckem hertzen geuebt hat, ist ein gewüù zeichen des gar vertruwten hertzzens in got, das allweg wol gewüùt hat, das alles leben, und thuon Christi uns ein byspil bieten sol’.

⁶¹ Z, vol. 1, pp. 423,27–424,1: ‘Dann ich nüt unerbers, sündtliches, schantliches noch böss uff die reinen magt Marien, die gebererin unsers heils, nie gedacht hab, ich will geschwigen: offenlich glert oder geredt’.

⁶² Z, vol. 1, p. 424,6–12: ‘Wil mich begnuegen lassen den frummen, einfaltigen Christen fürgeleg haben min lutere meinung von der muoter gottes, das ich sy vestenklich gloub nach den worten des heligen euangelii ein reine magt uns geboren haben den sun gottes un din der gburt und ouch darnach in die ewigkeit ein reine, unverserte magt bliben. Ich vertruw ouch vestenklich sy von got erhöcht sin über alle gschopten der säligen menschen oder englen in der ewigen fröid’.

⁶³ Matthew 7:21, ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven’.

⁶⁴ Z, vol. 1, p. 424,14–20: ‘Nit ein ieder, so zuo mir spricht: Her, her, wirt ingan in das rich der himelen, sunder der do thuot den willen mines vatters, der wirdt ingon in das rych der himlen; also ouch nit ien ieder, so nun mit dem mund und athem spricht ioch zuo hudert tusend malen: Gegruetzt syest, Maria, gegruetzt syest, Maria, wirt ingan in das rych der himelen, sunder der den handel also bedenckt, so er ein Ave Maria sprechen wil’.

⁶⁵ Z, vol. 1, p. 425,5–10: ‘Und sich, das ist der anhab xin alles unsers heils, das der engel, von got gesendt, Mariam. Die reinen magt, also angeredet und gruetzt: Got gruetz dich, Maria; du bist von got gnaden erfüllt; du bist hochgeruempt über all frowen, und hochgeruempt oder gesegnet ist die frucht dines lybs etc. oder derglichen’.

⁶⁶ Z, vol. 1, p. 425,20–21: ‘Und ist der andacht also gstaltet, das die wort mitlouffend, wer wolt das weren? Aber, als die irrenden leerend, ia so ein sölche zal der worten Ave Maria gebladert, habe es so vil oder so vil ablas erlanget, sag ich ein grossen, schändlichen irtumb sin; denn die einvaltigen hand daby gelernet uff ir eigen gebet, das allein mit worten beschehen ist, vertruwen, unnd das inner, war gebett, das nüt anderst ist den ein ewig uffsehen zuo gott unnd reinget den menschen von tag zuo tag, hand sy verlaùen’.

⁶⁷ Z, vol. 1, p. 426,19–28.

⁶⁸ Z, vol. 1, pp. 427,22–428,7.

⁶⁹ Grass, Traktat über Mariologie, pp. 57–8.

⁷⁰ Cf. Campi, Zwingli und Maria, p. 79, and Heal, The Cult of the Virgin Mary.

⁷¹ See n. 66 above, and Grass, Traktat über Mariologie, p. 58.

⁷² Oberman, ‘The Virgin Mary’, pp. 243–4.

⁷³ MacCulloch, ‘Mary’, p. 211: ‘It was, however, on the perpetual virginity of Mary that the Magisterial reformers showed themselves unanimously and adamantly conservative. This was despite the fact that their stance left them ideologically vulnerable both to Roman Catholics and to radicals’.

⁷⁴ Josias Simler, Narratio de ortu, vita et obitu reverendi viri d. Henrici Bullingeri (Zürich: Christoph Froschauer the Younger, 1575), fol. 31r.

⁷⁵ Tappolet, Marienlob, pp. 215–18. Tappolet’s motive for writing his book was to make the words of the reformers available in order to demonstrate that Catholic and reformed mariology were not irreparably separated. Tappolet’s compilation and translations of the Early Modern High German and Latin texts into contemporary High German has been consulted for the quotes selected in this section.

⁷⁶ MacCulloch, ‘Mary’, p. 214. Compare B. Hölscher, ‘Nachlese zur Geschichte die Widertäufer in Münster’, in Zeitschrift für vaterländische Geschichte und Altertumskunde Westfalens 20 (1859), pp. 151–94; pp. 151–2 refer to a fragment and Latin original from Hermann Hamelmann, De paedobaptismo contra anabaptistas etc., ex Westphalico idiomate, in latinam linguam translata ab H.H.L., 1572.

⁷⁷ Heinrich Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria matre Domini nostri Iesu Christi’, in Festorum dierum domini et servatoris nostri Iesu Christi sermones ecclesiastici (Zurich: Christoph Froschauer the Elder, 1558), pp. 21–39.

⁷⁸ Tappolet, Marienlob, p. 247.

⁷⁹ Ibid.

⁸⁰ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 21: ‘Petis, imo modis omnibus efflagitas, frater chariss[ime], ut diligentius copiosiusque paulo tractem in meis illis sermonibus, quos in gratiam piorum pastorum edere institui, ea quae scriptura sacra et vetustas adhuc purior, nobis tradidit de beata Maria virgine’.

⁸¹ Compare Exodus 3:14: ‘God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, I am has sent me to you”,’ and Revelations 4:8, ‘Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come’.

⁸² Homoousios is a theological term for the idea that the Father and Son share the same divine nature.

⁸³ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 21: ‘Ostendam enim quod dominus noster Iesus Christus ex substantia matris Mariae, veram carnem humanam assumpsit: quod eadem virgo concepit, virgo peperit, et a partu virgo permansit. Quibus deinceps subiiciam, non singula quidem, sed potiora et memorabilia saltem, quae de ipsa commemorat scriptura, quae sane ad laudem eius, ut excellentissimae deoque gratissimae creaturae pertinere videntur’.

⁸⁴ Bullinger refers to both Antidikomarianites and Collyridians in his Mary sermon. Epiphanius (d. 403) opposed both the Antidikomarianites (those who speak against Mary) and Collyridians. The Antidikomarianites were a sect in Arabia claiming that Mary had intercourse with Joseph after the birth of Christ. The Collyridians were a sect of women who offered bread to the Virgin Mary. This disturbed Epiphanius because the women were performing a priestly function. See Graef, Mary, pp. 55–7.

⁸⁵ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 21.

⁸⁶ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 23: ‘Quid enim ex spiritu aliud nasci potest quam spiritus, sicuti ex carne caro? Sed illud potius in virgine operatus est vel effecit divina virtute sanctissimus dei spiritus, ut ipsa citra virilem operam conciperet, id est, virgo illibata permanens ex seipsa, et ex sola quidem corporis sui purissimi et ad hoc sanctificati substantia carnem dei filio dederit’.

⁸⁷ Ibid.: ‘Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te. In te, inquit, coelitus veniet: quod frustra et sine caussa poneretur si nihil sumpsisset aut datum fuisset filio dei ex utero et substantia virginis Mariae. Ac per interpretationem subiungit angelus, Et virtus altissimi obumbrabit tibi. Spiritus sanctus est virtus altissimi: et supervenire nihil aliud est quam inumbrare. Significat autem inumbrare protegere, adde et fructificare, vel foecundum reddere. Nam nimius aestus sterilitatem arvis inducit: obumbratio fructum prolicit et fovet’.

⁸⁸ Ibid.: ‘Sed et spiritus sanctus non erat semen Abrahae, vel germen Davidis, sed Maria virgo filia est Davidis et Abrahae, Christus autem semen mulieris’. Cf. Luke 3:23–38 for Jesus’ maternal genealogy. Bullinger’s covenant theology and his interest in coherence between the Old and New Testament could be a reason for this interpretation of ‘the sprout’ in a sermon focused on Mary.

⁸⁹ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 24: ‘Proinde praeteritis illis, divina pariter et humana authoritate demonstrabimus Mariam perpetuam esse manereque virginem, afferemusque et nati purissime ex sanctissima integerrimaque virgine progeniti gloriam, puraeque generantis virginis matris dignitatem et honorem’.

⁹⁰ Genesis 3:15, ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel’.

⁹¹ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 24: ‘Virginem enim intelligit Mariam, quam utcunque hic vocet mulierem, propter sexum, virinem tamen fore significat, cum semen eos non semen viri, sed mulieris, id est virginis appellat. Nam quae semen habet, et citra viri operam habet, paritque filium, virgo certe manet’.

⁹² See n. 11 above.

⁹³ Isaiah 7:14, ‘Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel’.

⁹⁴ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 24: ‘Ac Isaias propheta significantius haec explicans, et signum vel miraculum futurum, praedicens, Ecce virgo, inquit, concipiet et pariet filium. Virginis vocabulum refertur et ad conceptionem et ad nativitatem’.

⁹⁵ Ibid.: ‘Virginis vocabulum refertur et ad conceptionem et ad nativitatem. Utruncque perficiet unica, et quidem virgo integra ac perpetua. Virginis itaque vocabulum hic a deo singulariter et cum praerogativa quadam insigni soli inter mulieres matri domini attributum legitur, ut ab omnibus et perpetua et intemerata virgo nuncupetur’.

⁹⁶ Ibid.: ‘Quo et illud S. Cypriani De nativitate Christi pertinere videtur: Erat Mariae, inquit, proprium privilegium, quod nulla mulierum nec ante, nec deinceps meruit obtinere, quod erat simul mater et virgo, singulis titulis insignita. Et caetera’. During Bullinger’s life De nativitate Christi by Ernaldus Bonaevallis was attributed to Cyprian. Cf. Patrologia Latina, ed. Jacques-Paul Migne, vol. 189, col. 1617B: ‘Eratque ei proprium privilegium, quod nulla mulierum nec ante, nec deinceps meruit obtinere, quod erat simul mater et virgo, singulis titulis insignita’. See also Girolamo Zanchi, De religione christiana fides – Confession of Christian Religion, eds Luca Baschera and Christian Moser (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2007) (Studies in the History of Christian Traditions 135), p. 309, n. 272.

⁹⁷ Ezekiel 44:1–3, ‘Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut. The Lord said to me: This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it; for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut. Only the prince, because he is a prince, may sit in it to eat food before the Lord; he shall enter by the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way’.

⁹⁸ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 26: ‘Quis vero ille princeps? Quis deus Israel? Nisi dominus nostre Iesus Christus, qui ut beatus Zacharias dixit, nos visitavit oriens ex alto? Quae vero porta illa, quae clausa manet, quae non aperietur, per quam nemo transibit, quaeve semper manebit clausa principi, nisi virgo semper benedicta ac semper virgo Maria, mater domini nostri Iesu Christi?’

⁹⁹ Heinrich Bullinger, Apodixis, quod virgo mater illesa virginitate pepererit salvatorem mundi (Zurich Zentralbibliothek, Ms. S 433), 2 February, 1529. Bullinger uses the same arguments as in ‘De beata virgine Maria’ with a lengthy explanation of why Mary and Joseph made a sacrifice at the temple for Mary’s purity after the birth of Christ, although Mary was an eternal virigin.

¹⁰⁰ An interesting facet of the struggle that both Zwingli and Bullinger faced as they deconstructed asceticism by promoting marriage in the reformed tradition, while their conceptions of women were influenced by 4th century patriarchs and church leaders. Cf. Hunter, Marriage, p. 200.

¹⁰¹ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 27: ‘Caeterum beata Maria domini mater virgo erat, non mulier talis, quae suscepto videlicet viri semine pepererit. Nam virgo e spiritu sancto, sine viri opera conceperat, et pepererat: ergo a lege prorsus exempta erat: nihilominus legi paruit, ut omnes doceret suo exemplo legi parere’.

¹⁰² Luke 2:22–4, ‘When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it was written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”) and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons”’.

¹⁰³ Bullinger’s list includes: Proclus (d. 446/7), Cyprian (200/10–258), Jerome (347–420) and Ambrose (337/40–397) as well as a number of western bishops including Bassian Bishop of Lodi (374–c 409), Eventius the 6th Bishop of Pavia (c. 381), Maximus, Theodulus, Constantius Bishop of Milan and Pope Siricius (d. 399).

¹⁰⁴ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, pp. 28–30; Tappolet, Marienlob, p. 284. Bullinger’s text refers to the conflicts that the church Fathers had with Jovinian and Helvidius. The ‘heresies’ concerned the Virgin Mary, the value of celibacy and marriage as outlined at the beginning of this chapter. Bullinger’s evidence and arguments for Mary’s perpetual virginity and the value of marriage in ‘De beata virgine Maria’ in light of his conception of women in his other writings is a subject for futher research.

¹⁰⁵ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 30: ‘Quam vero illustris fuerit virgo mater coram deo, pietate, fide, integritate, sanctimonia omnibusque virtutibus, ut certe nulli sanctorum conferenda, omnibus autem merito videatur anteferenda, manifestissime licet cernere in primis evangelicae historiae beati Matthaei et Lucae capitibus, praecipue vero in carmine illo suo. Nam ut Isaias ipsam appellaverat prophetissam cap[ite] 8., ita abundantissimum prophetiae spiritum se habuisse illo carmine percelebri demonstravit’.

¹⁰⁶ Ibid.: ‘infelices sunt pseudochristiani, qui Iudaeis nihilo meliores sua laude ipsam spoliant. Si item Maria est mater domini, ut ipsam diserte appellat spiritu sancto repleta beata Elisabeth, certe rectissime appellata est a veteribus in ecclesia θεοτόκος, id est deipara, vel dei mater’. See Lee Palmer Wandel, Voracious Idols and Violent Hands: Iconoclasm in Reformation Zurich (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 47–8: ‘The cross and images of Christ were to receive latria, because they were reverenced for what they represented and were therefore inseparable from the worship due to Christ himself. The person of Mary posed a different problem: “Since the Blessed Virgin is no more than a creature and is rational. She must not be paid divine worship, but simply veneration known as dulia; however, since she is the Mother of God, this should be of a higher form than that given other creatures. For this reason the veneration paid her is termed hyperdulia, to indicate it is more than ordinary dulia”’. Cf. Aquinas, Summa Theologiae IIIa q. 25 a. 5 co., in: Opera, ed. Busa, vol. 2, p. 808.

¹⁰⁷ See Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, ‘The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: Introduction to the Series’, in Elsie McKee, Katharina Schütz Zell (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2006), pp. xix–xx. King and Rabil refer to Boccacio who singled out women with the virtues of chastity, silence and obedience in his work. These virtues became ‘traditional’ praise worthy female attributes.

¹⁰⁸ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, pp. 30–31.

¹⁰⁹ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 31: ‘Quanquam vero omnibus mysteriis esset imbuta, et arcana salutis nostrae teneret omnia, quae et firma fide amplectebatur: quanquam item visiones haberet angelorum et colloquiis eorum frueretur familiaribus: nunquam tamen insolentius propter eximia dona elata est animo: semper in humilitate perseveravit’.

¹¹⁰ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, pp. 31–2. Luke 2:41–52.

¹¹¹ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 32: ‘Responsiones autem domini alicubi satis acres, adeo non tulit indigne, ut nunquam non putaverit sibi in omnibus filio reverenter esse parendum’.

¹¹² John 2:4, ‘And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come”’.

¹¹³ John 2:5, ‘His mother said to the servant, “Do whatever he tells you”’.

¹¹⁴ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 32: ‘Non dicit, Hoc aut illud facite: sed, Quodcunque ipse dixerit, facite. An vero audient nimii illi cultores virginis virginem, dicentem? Quodcunque ille vobis dixerit, facite. Si nolunt audire virginem, cur se iactant cultores esse eius, quam aspernantur neque audire dignantur? Si autem ipsam audiunt, cur non ad Christum festinant, et a Christo petunt salutis suae omnia? Ipse enim ad se omnes vocat, omnibusque pollicetur bona omnia, quod sit vita et plenitudo, in quo fideles habent salutis et vitae omnia. Cum ergo Maria dicat, Facite quod filius facere iusserit, et hic unice mandet, ut ipsum solum adoremus, invocemus, et colamus, omni nostra in ipsum defixa fiducia: certe nulla bona virginis gratia, neque secundum virginis consilium cantillabimus, Maria mater gratiae, mater misericordiae, tu nos ab hoste protege, in hora mortis suscipe: sed clamabimus potius ad filium, et dicemus, Fili patris coelestis ac virginis matris Mariae, qui passus es pro peccatis mundi et es unica salus omnium nostrum, miserere nostri, et suscipe spiritum nostrum’.

¹¹⁵ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 33: ‘Nec dubium est quin pro excellentissima gratia sua, quam acceperat a deo, intelligeret, hac ratione vitam repararimundo. Quo nomine etiam aequanimius tolerabat animi sui moestissimi atrocia alioqui tormenta. Utinam vero sub cruce gementibus hoc salutare virginis exemplum nunquam excidat, sed hoc ipso discant patientiam, orentque dominum ipsis fidem augeat’.

¹¹⁶ Ibid.: ‘A resurrectione ascensioneque domini in fide et humilitate modestiaque persecuerat, nihil magni aut insoliti propter eximia sua dona tentat, nihil in ecclesia magisterii sibi usurpat, neque seipsam ab ecclesia separat, multo minus pro dea quadam sese venditat. Perseverans enim cum apostolis et discipulis, et ipsa expectat adventum sancti spiritus, manensque in corpore ecclesiastico, singulare utique et praestantissimum ecclesiae membrum, non autem caput eius aut domina, accipit et ipsa cum aliis fidelibus spiritum sanctum’.

¹¹⁷ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 34: ‘Certum interim et indubitatum est, ipsam nunc vivere in coelis cum dilecto filio, in quo salutem consequuta est aeternam’.

¹¹⁸ Ibid.: ‘Sufficiat hic nobis, simpliciter et vere sentire et profiteri, dilectissimam domini nostri Iesu Christi matrem virginem Mariam sui ipsius filii gratia et sanguine plenissime sanctificatam, abundantissimo sancti spiritus munere donatam, mulieribusque praelatam omnibus, et ut benedictam vereque beatam ab ipsis angelis, denique ab omnibus praedicatam generationibus, nunc vivere cum Christo felicem in coelis, eandemque et dici et esse ac permanere perpetuam virginem, deiparam, cuius memoria per ecclesiam inter fideles iugis et celeberrima, interim tamen pia, non superstitiosa, esse debeat’.

¹¹⁹ Ibid.: ‘Ex quibus sane omnibus apparet liquido, quam nullo nostro merito (qui locus huius Sermonis ultimus est) inter Antidicomarianitas annumeremur ab adversariis nostris. Orthodoxe enim et sobrie omnia ea credimus et docemus de beata Maria virgine, quae scripturis consona universa credidit et docuit orthodoxa vetustas’.

¹²⁰ Ibid.: ‘virginem matrem plenam esse gratia, ut quae sit veluti fons et scaturigo adeoque mater gratiae et misericordiae, quae et gratiam suis abundantissime conferat cultoribus et seruare etiam possit: id quod in ea et beatus Bernardus agnoverit. Addunt eandem esse et salutandan, invocandam a nobis ut mediatricem nostram’.

¹²¹ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 35: ‘Sed et colendam esse contendunt, sacrificiis, feriis, et id genus aliis cultibus. Quod cum nos et facere nolimus, et salua incolumique nostra religione Christiana nos facere non posse contendamus, omnino nos inter Antidicomarianitas vel hostes et conviciatores divae virginis Mariae ceu Iudaeos et impios deputandos esse’.

¹²² Ibid.: ‘Principio quidem agnoscimus Bernardum abbatem Clarevallensem plus tribuere virgini, quam ullis scripturis canonicis probari aut ipsi denique virgini matri placere posit’.

¹²³ Ibid.: ‘Ad quem modum et beatus Augustinus nec suis scriptis, nec ullorum patrum doctrinis credi voluit, nisi ipsi et illi denicque sua approbaverint scripturis divinis’.

¹²⁴ Ibid.: ‘Proinde interpres, qui ad Ephesios propius accessit ad vim verbi, paulo longius recessit a vi vocis cum salutationem angeli vertit, Ave gratia, plena pro quo ad verbum vertisset, Ave gratificata, id est, Ave gratiam consequuta gratisque deo dilecta’.

¹²⁵ Ibid.: ‘Interim vero non oppugnamus, si contendas virginem gratia plenam esse, eo sensu quem iam reddidimus: ipsam videlicet esse in singulari apud deum gratia, donatamque a deo pluribus maximisque charismatibus, atque adeo deo omnium gratissimam et charissimam: et non hac sententia quod ita sit gratia plena, ut gratiam hanc vel gratiae plenitudinem etiam in alios derivet atque transfundat’.

¹²⁶ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 36: ‘Prohibet christiana religio ista quaerere apud creaturas, quantumuis gratia spirituque dei plenas: prohibet vera religio ista ab eis petere’.

¹²⁷ Ibid.: ‘Non puduit sane angelum salutare virginem, sed eius salutatio non fuit precatio vel oratio, non fuit invocatio, sed legationis a deo demandatae executio’.

¹²⁸ Ibid.: ‘Benedicta tu inter mulieres, et benedictus fructus ventris tui’.

¹²⁹ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, pp. 36–7: ‘Quod autem inter haec aperte dicunt adversarii, Mariam ut mediatricem inter deum et hominem esse invocandam, aut illam patronam et advocatam nostram esse, nullo prorsus modo, vel agnoscere ut scripturis sanctis traditum, vel ullo pacto recipere ceu a deo mandatum possumus. Nam credimus solum deum esse invocandum, qui solus omnia conferat salutaria praesentis et futuri saeculi … Iam cum constet virginem matrem fuisse et esse membrum ecclesiae catholicae, et quidem excellentissimum’.

¹³⁰ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 37: ‘Contendunt sane adversarii nostri Mariam esse colendam, et quidem sacrisiciis, feriis, et id genus cultibus aliis’.

¹³¹ Ibid.: ‘etenim honorandam omnino asserimus et honoramus ipsi, sed non cultum ei ullum praestando divinum, sed tribuendo ei honorem debitum, omniaque ea quae deus per scripturas ei tribuit, sentiendo de ipsa honorifice et magnifice, ut de vera dei genitrice, benedicta illa inter mulieres, virgine illa perpetua, quam et diligimus charitate sancta et admiramur propter ingentia dei dona, praedicamus eius virtutes, et defendimus eius gloriam contra convitiatores eius, omnes denique ad imitationem eius, quoad fiere potest, inhortamur, ac cum ipsa aliquando in conspectu dei et Christi, promissa a deo salute, et gaudiis ineffabilibus, perfrui desideramus atque exoptamus’.

¹³² Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 38: ‘Constanter ergo dicimus divam virginem non esse adorandam a nobis, non invocandam, ut mediatricem, aut gratiae matrem, non figendam in ipsam nostram fiduciam, non sacrificandum ei aut in nomine eius, non feriandum ei, non ullas ei imagines erigendas, neque colendam ullo huius generis cultu’.

¹³³ Ibid.: ‘Et mox, quis vero prophetarum praecepit hominem adorari, nedum mulierem. Eximium siquidem uas est, sed mulier, et nihil a natura immutata, verum et intellectu? sensu in honorata, velut corpora sanctorum?’

¹³⁴ Bullinger, ‘De beata virgine Maria’, p. 39: ‘Non itaque hodie video quin salva quoque et incolumi religione Christiana veraque salute nostra istis carere possimus feriis: quinimo si syncere religiosi esse voluerimus, atque adeo inservire virgini pure contenderimus, soli deo et filio eius Iesu Christo ferias religiose persolvemus’.

¹³⁵ Rosmarie Sunderland, Huldrych Zwingli’s Reformation: Changes in Religious and Social Customs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Zurich and Its Environs, doctoral dissertation (Fordham University, 2000). See also Handbuch der reformierten Schweiz, ed. Schweizerischer protestantischer Volksbund (Zurich: EVZ-Verlag, 1962), p. 87.

¹³⁶ Pelikan, Mary, p. 153.

¹³⁷ Heinrich Bullinger Briefwechsel, ed. Ulrich Gäbler et al. (Zurich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 1973ff.) [cited as HBBW], vol. 1., no. 24, pp. 126–41; no. 26, pp. 145–9; no. 27, pp. 150–76.

¹³⁸ Heinrich Bullinger, Pastoraltheologische Schriften, ed. Detlef Roth (Zurich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2009) (Heinrich Bullinger Werke III/5), pp. 1–78.

¹³⁹ Ibid., pp. 79–188.

¹⁴⁰ Bullinger, Pastoraltheologische Schriften, pp. 133–41; for Mary see, pp. 7, 115, 200. Monika Gsell, ‘Hierarchie und Gegenseitigkeit: überlegungen zur Geschlechterkonzeption in Heinrich Bullingers Eheschrift’, in Rüdiger Schnell (ed.), Geschlechterbeziehungen und Textfunktionen: Studien zu Eheschriften der Frühen Neuzeit (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1998), pp. 95–8.

¹⁴¹ HBBW, vol. 1, no. 24, pp. 138,23–139,2, Bullinger to Anna Adlischwyler.

¹⁴² See Heal, The Cult of the Virgin Mary, pp. 282–90: ‘Stripped of her divine power she became a model for all Christians, though gender asymmetries continued to shape experiences of Marian devotion as they had done in the pre-Reformation period. To both men and women Mary was presented as an example of faith, obedience, and humility, but to women in particular she was also presented as a model of chastity and virtue’.

¹⁴³ Cf. Carol Piper Heming, Protestants and the Cult of the Saints in German-Speaking Europe, 1517–1531 (Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2003).

¹⁴⁴ Campi, Zwingli und Maria, pp. 117–26.

¹⁴⁵ Merry E. Wiesner, ‘Studies of Women, the Family, and Gender’, in William S. Maltby (ed.), Reformation Europe: A Guide to Research II (St. Louis: Center for Reformation Research, 1992), p. 165.

¹⁴⁶ See McKee, Katharina Schütz Zell, p. 3; Katharina Simon-Muscheid, Die Dinge im Schnittpunkt sozialer Beziehungsnetze: Reden und Objekte im Alltag (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004) (Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geschichte 193), pp. 102–11; Josef Strzygowsti, Morgenrot und Heidnischwerk in der christlichen Kunst (Berlin: Widukind, 1937).

¹⁴⁷ Buri/Stuckey-Schürer, ‘Verena Zollers Wirkteppich’, pp. 137–52.

¹⁴⁸ Canticles 4:12, ‘A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked a fountain sealed’.

¹⁴⁹ See Rainer Nickel, Lexikon der antiken Literatur (Düsseldorf: Patmos, 2006), p. 732. The Physiologos presents wonderful motives of nature. It was originally written in Greek in 2 AD in Alexandria. In the later Latin edition the animals were types for Christ, the church, people, and the devil that were enriched with Bible texts and translated into most known languages, thus greatly influencing medieval Christianity.

¹⁵⁰ Buri/Stuckey-Schürer, ‘Verena Zollers Wirkteppich’, p. 140.

¹⁵¹ Correct spelling: humilitas, but printed in the text as cited above, see ibid.

¹⁵² Ibid.

¹⁵³ Buri/Stuckey-Schürer, ‘Verena Zollers Wirkteppich’, p. 141.

¹⁵⁴ Cant 2:2, ‘As a lilie among brambles, so is my love among maidens’.

¹⁵⁵ Buri/Stuckey-Schürer, ‘Verena Zollers Wirkteppich’, p. 141.

¹⁵⁶ Ibid.

¹⁵⁷ Cf. Buri/Stuckey-Schürer, ‘Verena Zollers Wirkteppich’, p. 143; Heinrich Bullingers Diarium (Annales vitae) der Jahre 1504–1574, ed. Emil Egli (Basel: Basler Buch- und Antiquariatshandlung, 1904), p. 43. There is a difference between the dates that Buri and Stuckey-Schürer use in their work (1 February 1536) and those in Bullinger’s Diarium (31 January 1536). I have inserted the dates according to the Diarium.

¹⁵⁸ Heinrich Bullingers Diarium, p. 43.

¹⁵⁹ Buri/Stuckey-Schürer, ‘Verena Zollers Wirkteppich’, p. 143.

¹⁶⁰ Cf. ibid.; Robert Durrer, Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Unterwalden (Zurich: Verlag des schweizerischen Landesmuseums, 1899), pp. 703–8.

¹⁶¹ See Lexikon des Mittelalters, eds Norbert Angermann et al., vol. 6 (München: Artemis, 1993), s.v. ‘Minneallegorie’. Minneallegory is a literary genre that grew from the Royal Epic of c. 1200, which employs didactic-allegorical discussions about correct behavior for lovers or concerning the symbolism of certain places or things.

¹⁶² Buri/Stuckey-Schürer, ‘Verena Zollers Wirkteppich’, p. 144.

¹⁶³ Heinrich Bullinger, ‘Verzeichnis des Geschlechts der Bullingers’, in Helvetia: Denkwürdigkeiten für die XXII Freistaaten der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft, ed. Joseph Anton Balthasar, vol. 1 (Zürich, 1823), p. 94: ‘Diese Anna Bullinger hat von ihrer Mutter, der Küfferin, heidnisch Werk wirken gelernt, und hat hübsche Arbeit gemacht, und es meine Anna Zwingli gelehrt; das sind wohl die vier oder fünf gewesen, die da wirken konnten, da je eine des Geschlechts es die andere wieder lehrte’. Bullinger is referring to his own mother Anna Bullinger here.

¹⁶⁴ Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 1,19,1, in Patrologia Graeca, ed. Jacques-Paul Migne, vol. 7/2, cols 1175–6: ‘For just as the former was led astray by the word of an angel, so that she fled from God when she had transgressed His word; so did the latter, by an angelic communication, receive the glad tidings that she should sustain (portaret) God, being obedient to His word. And if the former did disobey God, yet the latter was persuaded to be obedient to God, in order that the Virgin Mary might become the patroness (advocata) of the virgin Eve. And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience. For in the same way the sin of the first created man (protoplasti) receives amendment by the correction of the First-begotten, and the coming of the serpent is conquered by the harmlessness of the dove, those bonds being unloosed by which we had been fast bound to death’.

¹⁶⁵ Maclean, Renaissance, p. 23.

¹⁶⁶ Bruce Gordon, The Swiss Reformation (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002), p. 266: ‘Zwingli had raised the status of marriage to one of the most revered aspects of the Christian faith, but there is no doubt that the Reformation closed off to women all careers other than the household’.