Peasants, opposition, education

Peasants, opposition, education

Peasants, opposition, education One problem that arises from any study of the early Anabaptists in Switzerland is that of their connection with the Peasants' War in Germany.

Its nature and extent, if it existed at all, is exiguous, uncertain and controversial, yet it cannot be entirely dismissed, since some of Zwingli's teaching is reflected, albeit vaguely and dubiously, in the disturbances of The Swiss peasant was, like his fellows all over Europe, the true backbone of society. Upon his labours in the field everything else depended; it was the local farmer and the local harvest that kept men alive. To some extent he was idealised while also being exploited by his superiors and laughed at by literate townsmen for his supposed credulity, ignorance and obstinate conservatism. William Tell was the perfect peasant: honest, upright, God-fearing, industrious, patriotic, freedom-loving and brave.

Zwingli, who did not fail to draw attention to his own rustic upbringing, constantly paid tribute to the tillers of the soil.

They were, in fact, a depressed majority. Although serfdom in its more objectionable forms was light in Switzerland, the burdens of service and of payment in kind exacted from the peasant were considerable. There were dues for grinding his corn, for marrying his daughter, for entering on his inheritance; his best beast was the property of his master when he died, and there were customary payments at every turn. In addition, the church not only exacted a fee for all services from baptism to burial, but derived much of its income from the tithe of the peasants' crops and animals.

Peasants had always tried to evade payment of tithe, and now that the scriptural validity of this began to be called in question, the country folk were peculiarly interested.1 Zwingli was possibly sorry that he had so soon become involved with the problem of tithe, or that he had agreed that there was no scriptural justification for turning a payment which had originally been a voluntary one into an exaction enforced by customary and canon law. He now faced a difficult decision. On the one hand, he

1 R. J. Boppli, Die Zehntablosung in der Schweiz, speziellim Kanton Zurich (Zurich, 1914), 32ff.

See above, 161-4.

Peasants, opposition, education must uphold the established political and social order, which suited him very well, and this included heavy economic pressure on the country people. On the other hand, he could hardly uphold customary payments simply on the ground of immemorial tradition. In the religious sphere, where tradition had been against him and his appeal had been to the Bible, this was not helpful in the matter of tithe. Hence he was now obliged to differentiate between moral and legal obligations, and between ecclesiastical tradition and secular customary rights. With the legal requirement that tithe should be paid, he was satisfied; it was sufficient that the government ordered and enforced it upon its subjects whose duty it was to obey and pay.

As early as August 1523, there had been refusals to pay tithe of hay to the Dean of the Great Minster, but this was apparently simply a piece of local resentment which had many parallels elsewhere.1 Recalcitrance, encouraged by evangelical preaching, spread to the Grliningen district, where there were threats to the well-endowed Premonstratensian monastery of Rliti and to the house of the Order of St John of Jerusalem at Bubikon, followed by some looting.2 A little later, in the same area, the peasants were demanding the right to choose their own ministers, the end of serfdom and the discontinuance of a number of customary payments, including tithe.3 Others desired to choose their own preacher and to support him by voluntary offerings, a demand which fitted in alike with the separate church called for by the Anabaptists and with similar demands from north of the Rhine.

It is not entirely accidental that Grebel, Mantz, Blaurock and their friends were setting forth their original and disruptive doctrines at the same time as social grievances were coming to a head in several parts of central Europe. There was, indeed, almost certainly no direct connection between Anabaptism and the German Peasants' War, but they coincided too closely in time for them to be entirely separated.4 If American research may be thought to have put the early days of the independent church of the Baptists into truer perspective, the treatment of the peasants in both Germany and Switzerland has received equally stimulating and sympathetic treatment at the hands of the Marxist historians.5 For them it

1 Simon Stumpf preached at Affoltern that the small tithe need not be paid. Egli /, 93 (No. 267),

143 (nos. 391, 392).

2 H. Nabholz, Zur Frage nach den Ursachen des Bauernkrieges, 1525. Geddchtnisschrift fur Georg v. Below (Stuttgart, 1928), 244. Goeters, Vorgeschichte, 246.

3 A. Largiader, Untersuchungen zur zurcherischen Landeshoheit (Zurich, 1921), 35-7.

4 The older histories of Switzerland, e.g. K. Dandliker, Geschichte der Schweiz3 (Zurich, 1901),

529-32, connected the movements too closely. Bergsten, Hubmaier, 21 n. 45; Clasen, 152-7.

ARG 37 (1940), 105.

5 The standard account of the Bauernkrieg is Gunther Franz, Der deutsche Bauernkrieg1 Bd. 1,

Darstellung, Bd. 11, Akten (Darmstadt, 1965, 1968). F. Engels, Der deutsche Bauernkrieg

ZWINGLI is the class struggle that matters, and the Peasants' War was undoubtedly this among other things. It was also part of the economic transformation that was everywhere leading to the forming of larger units and more consolidated holdings with both owners and tenants anxious to retain such traditional rights and obligations as were advantageous to them. There was a long tradition of egalitarianism. 'When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then a gentleman ?' had been heard in England in 1381, and the dissemination of the Bible could not fail to provide further support for claims for personal freedom and improved conditions.

Agrarian discontent, long endemic in south Germany, had previously shown itself in the Bundschuch demonstrations and had been further roused by the egalitarian preaching of Karlstadt and Thomas Miintzer.1

A simple strike on the estates of Count Sigismund of Lupfen spread before the end of 1524 to a general revolt for peasant independence. Grebel,

Castelberger, Mantz and others may have been in communication with Miintzer in September 1524, but it hardly amounted to more than an enquiry about biblical and liturgical matters and a message of goodwill.2

It is less important than the obvious appeal of both peasants and Anabaptists to Luther's principle of sola scriptura. Prominent, however, among the notorious Twelve Articles was the second which, while accepting the great tithe of corn, ended ' the small tithe we will not give, be it either to spiritual or to temporal lord... for we esteem this tithe for an improper

(1850 and Berlin, 1951) and MarxjEngels Werke Bd. 7 (Berlin, i960) perhaps inspired M. M.

Smirin (Russian, trans. Hans Nichtweiss (PHanna Koditz)) Die Voiksreformation des Thomas

Mu'nzer und der grosse Bauernkrieg (Berlin, 1952), a serious if politically motivated study. E.

Belfort Bax, The peasants war in Germany 1525-1526 (London, 1899) is antiquated but convenient for a translation of the twelve demands. N. Cohn, The pursuit of the millennium (London, 1957) 251-83, with bibliography, is stimulating, as is Gordon Rupp, Patterns of Reformation (London, 1969) 157-250.

1 c. 1490-1525. He studied at Leipzig, Frankfurt (Oder) and Mainz, was ordained priest, early accepted Lutheran teaching, developed advanced views as minister at Zwickau, Prague,

Allstedt and Miihlhausen (Saxony). His mystical theology and sincere biblicism have been increasingly appreciated since the publication of his writings. He supported the German peasants and was cruelly executed when captured. A large literature has accumulated round him and shows no sign of lessening. Ranke, Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation, ed. Joachimson (Munich, 1925) 11,141-70 was the first to show his significance. O. H. Brandt,

Thomas Miintzer, sein Leben und seine Schriften (Jena, 1933) is the standard biography with T. Miintzer, Schriften und Briefe. Kritische Gesamtausgabe.. .von P. Kirn hg. v. G. Franz,

QFRG 33 (Giitersloh, 1968). H.-J. Goertz, Innere und Aussere Ordnung in der Theologie

Thomas Miintzers (Leiden, 1967), Studies in the History of Christian Thought 11; ARG 54

(1963) 145-79; Rupp, Patterns of Reformation, 157-353; MQR 43 (1969) 142-52; ME ill,

785-9; A. Meusel, Thomas Miintzer und seiner Zeit (Berlin, 1952).

2 Muralt/Schmid, 13-21 (no. 14); Bender, Grebel, 110-19, I7I~83, 282-7; G. H. Williams,

Spiritual and Anabaptist writers (London, 1957), 73-85; W. Rauschenbusch, 'The Zurich

Anabaptists and Thomas Miintzer', American Journal of Theology 9 (1905) 91-106. The letter was certainly drafted, and a copy exists, but it may never have been sent, or, perhaps, never received. Rupp, Patterns, 322, 345-6; MQR 47 (1973), 153.

Peasants, opposition, education tithe of man's devising'.1 They also demanded freedom of hunting, fishing, wood gathering, and the reduction or abolition of servile incidents, tenures and status - ' We do find in scripture that we are free and will be free.'

The revolt could easily spread south towards Zurich, and the appeal to the Bible had to be taken into account, but the Swiss peasant2 was more favourably situated than his German counterpart, and there was no love lost between Swabia and northern Switzerland. The early success of the Swabian peasants alarmed the states of the Confederation, especially when

Waldshut declared in their favour, Freiburg and some other cities were compelled to do likewise and infiltrating parties appeared in Thurgau and the Rheintal. The danger was discussed at several Diets in April and May3 at which it was agreed to hold the line of the Rhine, and Basle and Solothurn manned their walls and closed their gates. Hence, although there were stirrings of discontent in the Bernese Emmental, Aargau, Thurgau,

Appenzell, St Gall, Solothurn, Basle and Schaffhausen, these were in a sufficiently low key to be brought under control almost without bloodshed.

The obligations of servile tenure in northern Switzerland were not particularly onerous and were in process of alleviation; the superficial attraction to the social egalitarianism of the Baptists and their associates soon wore off in the light of actual experience. All the same the situation was delicate. Obviously the less the peasants had to pay in tithe, rent or mortgage-interest, the better pleased they would be. Their life interests were usually narrow and local; they could not see beyond their own valley and tended to resent government 'interference'. Like other people, they wanted protection and justice without having to pay for it. To this extent, they sympathised with the German movement; but whereas in Germany the fruits of victory went to the princes and nobles, in Switzerland these

1 For the text of the Twelve Articles, G. Franz, Quellen zur Geschichte des Bauernkrieges

(Munich, 1963), 174-9. Hubmaier was early suspected as the author of these, and Fabri, for interested reasons, openly accused him of being so. He certainly approved of the contents, but their origin must remain uncertain. Schappeler (now the favourite), Lotzer and Fuchssteiner have also been named. Bergsten 281-6; Z vm, 322 n.; Smirin (trans.), 33; A. Stern,

Die Streitfrage iiber den Ursprung des Artikelbriefs und der zwolf Artikel der Bauern. Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte 12 (Gottingen, 1872) 494-5; F. L. v. Baumann, Die zwolf

Artikel der oberschwdbischen Bauern^ 1525 (Kempten, 1896) 129-36, ARG 36 (1936) 193-213;

A. E. J. Hollaender, ' Articles ofAlmayne1: Studies presented to Sir Hilary jfenkinson (London,

1957) 164-77; ZKG 85 (1974) passim.

2 The word 'peasant', which it is impracticable to avoid using, is not entirely satisfactory in the Swiss context. The south German Bauer or farmer was usually concerned mainly with arable, tilling the soil. His Swiss counterpart was more likely to be engaged in pastoral work approximating somewhat to a cowboy or rancher. V. Lotscher, Der deutsche Bauernkrieg in der

Darstellung und im Urteil der zeitgenossischen Schweizer (Basle, 1943); O. Vasella, Bauerntum und Reformation in der Eidgenossenschaft. Historisches Jahrbuch 76 (1957) 59; F. Martini, Das

Bauerntum im deutschen Schrifftum (Halle, 1944), 294-9, 302-28 (for events in northern

Switzerland).

3 EA 4, ia, 625, 629, 648-9; Staehelin 1, 496.

ZWINGLI classes were far less influential and any revolt must be against traditional and constituted authority. Hence Zwingli's constant insistence upon the Christian duty of obedience as well as upon the sanctity of contract. Even if there was something that seemed morally wrong1 about a legal transaction it must still be performed.

In the hard spring of 1525 the peasants of the Griiningen district and those of the former county of Kiburg were calling for the abolition of serfdom, poll taxes, 'heriots' and lesser tithes.2 None the less there was no serious trouble. When four thousand peasants gathered at Toss3 they were pacified by promises of investigation4 of their grievances from Biirgermeister Walder and Rudolf Lavater, the local governor, seconded by very generous entertainment from the local nunnery. The nuns may have been stimulated to this by news that the monastery of St Blasien in the Schwarzwald had recently been looted. These eastern complainants received a fuller answer from the Zurich Council at the end of May based upon Zwingli's advice.5 It was conciliatory but also basically conservative and skilfully drafted. The government would investigate and remedy real grievances as had been done in the past; law and justice had prevailed, and improvements had been introduced. Rent, tithe, interest, resting upon known contractual obligations must be paid; there was in fact very little serfdom and this had biblical sanction - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had possessed serfs, and the institution was tolerated by St Paul. The implication, from which Zwingli would not have dissented, was that the illiterate field-worker was not competent to criticise his superiors and that it was his first duty to do what he was told.6

Obedient subjects should recognise how real and considerable were the improvements in their position that had resulted from the actions of their governors; no other administration would, or could, do as much, and mere greed from the recipients was no sign of affection for the Gospel.

There were other demonstrations, as one near Cloten in June, but the 1 'etwas wider gott ist\ Z in, 388. (X Dreske, Zwingli and das Naturrecht (Halle a.d.S., 1911)

59. See above 119-120.

2 H. Nabholz, Die Bauernbewegung in der Ostschweiz 1524-5 (Bulach, 1898) 56-7. There was even talk there of paying back to Zurich the money for which the area had been pledged

(raising the money by taking over the monasteries of Riiti and Bubikon) and then making the area independent. Stumpf 2 1; Bullinger, Ref. 1, 266; Egli /, 315-17 (Nos. 696, 699, 701).

3 E. Beurle, Der politische Kampfum die religiose Einheit der Eidgenossenschaft. Ein Beitrag zu

Zwinglis Staatspolitik (Linz, 1920) 97-100.

4 Bullinger, Ref. 1, 277-9.

5 Z iv, 338 (34.6)-6o, esp. 346-7: 'Ratschlage der Leutpriester auf die Beschwerden der

Grafschaft Kyburg und Genossen und Erstes Gutachen betreffend Zehnten'.

6 Z iv, 355: 'Dann wo ghein obergheit ist, da ist nutz denn ein uffrur. Wo nit ghorsame ist, da ist nutz anders weder ein mordery.' Cf. Egli 7, 336-7 (No. 726). This represented Zwingli's practical conclusion. The subject is clearly discussed in J. Kreutzer, Zwinglis Lehre von der

Obrigkeit (Stuttgart, 1909, reprinted Amsterdam, 1965) and H. Schmid, Zwinglis Lehre von der gottlichen und menschlichen Gerechtigkeit (Zurich, 1959).

Peasants, opposition, education potential rioters likewise returned home peacefully. How much this was the result of reason and moderation, and how much because of news of decisive defeats of German peasants at Frankenhausen and Sindelfingen and of Alsatian insurgents at Zabern in May 1525 cannot be estimated.

Men learnt, too, that Luther had urged the princes to severity in the most notorious of his pamphlets1 whereas the attitude of the Swiss authorities was wisely moderate. The complainants were in fact eminently reasonable, even humble and respectful. They had listened to the preachers of the Gospel sent from Zurich, and had accepted the principle of the Bible as the sole guide to faith and conduct. At first it seemed as if they might obtain, by agreement, some amelioration of the smaller tithes and the abolition of personal serfdom which in any case was extremely mild. There was also a suggestion, which Zwingli favoured, that part of the revenue from church property should be applied to the benefit of the poor.2 The government of Zurich, he insisted, had dealt fairly and equitably with its subjects, from whom obedience was due - agitators who urged the nonpayment of tithe or rent made for anarchy. If the farmers remained recalcitrant they would show little gratitude for the spread of the Gospel and the mildness of their masters. Contracts must be kept and customary payments continue.3

In August 1525 when it was apparent that no uprising was now likely, Zwingli reviewed the whole subject of tithes for the benefit of the council.4

He outlined the historical and the Old Testament background, and admitted that the matter was a question of economics and of politics, upon which the New Testament gave only general guidance. Both the ministers of the church and the poor needed support and maintenance; and lawful, peaceable possession should not be disturbed. It was all very sensible and suited those who were content with the status quo. After 1525, in Zurichcontrolled territory at least, the agitation for tithe-abolition died down as more urgent matters came to the fore.

In fact not very much was done to improve conditions except for some minor adjustments in tax payments and some local improvements in conditions of service. Zwingli, unlike Luther, consistently urged that peasants should be treated with humanity and moderation,5 and this was accepted; the ministers were told to care for the oppressed as well as to preach; ground rents should be reduced in years of bad harvests, and debtors might receive some assistance. Public welfare, law and order after the rough pattern of the age were secure once more (as was also the case in Berne), and to this Zwingli had contributed appreciably.

1 Ermahnung zum Frieden aufdie zwolf'Artikel der Bauernschaft in Schwaben. Wider die rduberischen und morderischen Rotten der Bauern, WA 18, 291-334; 357-61.

2 Z iv, 339-41.

3 Z iv, 344, 353-9.

4 Z iv, 530 (536)~545.

5 Nabholz, Bauer nbewegung 50-4.

ZWINGLI It was in the light of all this, and while the countryside was slowly returning to normality, that Zwingli completed a treatise on the church which was also a personal confession of faith1 for the edification of Francis I, although this monarch, held in ignominious captivity in Madrid, had some other matters to consider beside theological controversy. This treatise

On the True and the False Religion, at which Zwingli toiled night and day for over three months, sending it to the printers in March 1525, indicated to all his theological position. False religion, that of Rome, was superstition as opposed to a just and true faith derived from the Bible. The one true, eternal, almighty God, creator of the universe and beyond human comprehension, the highest good, wisdom and perfection, has revealed his nature in the Scriptures. Such imperfect knowledge as was vouchsafed to the heathen or to abstract thinkers was inadequate and imperfect.

Man, God's creation on earth in his own image, fell from grace because of his self-love, and remained inherently weak, sinful and incapable of obedience to God's will. In the constant conflict of body and soul, flesh and spirit, the unrighteousness of man always prevailed. Hence the need for the Incarnation and the assurance of salvation to the true believers henceforward no longer under the power and inevitability of sin and death. Faith, the divine gift, was the supreme necessity without which all else was in vain. By the grace of God alone, through Christ's sacrifice, there is hope of salvation for sinful man.

From this basis the treatise becomes a kind of running commentary on current Christian doctrine and practice. The divinity and the humanity of Christ were assumed, along with the perpetual virginity of Mary and complete acceptance of all the biblical miracles. Consideration of grace, mercy and prayer is followed by a discussion of repentance, absolution, and then of the primacy of St Peter, which is denied. The church, the assembly of Christian people, must not be identified with either the hierarchy or with any particular self-constituted group. Throughout, the appeal to the text of the Bible is persistent, some pages consisting almost of strings of texts with occasional discussions of particular key words like

'keys','rock'and'bind'.

The section on the sacraments,2 recognising two only - baptism and the eucharist - objecting mildly to the use of a Roman military term for an experience based on faith, is at once too short and dogmatic for a sustained argument and too involved for a simple explanation such as the nature of the treatise would seem to demand. There was but one baptism, that of both John and Christ, having no positive effect as an action but remaining a 1 Z HI, 59o(628)-9ii. De vera et falsa religione commentarius^ printed by Froschauer, 1525.

A translation into German by F. Blanke is in ZH 9 and 10 with useful additional notes.

2 Z in, 604-12, 757-824.

Peasants, opposition, education sign of an obligation to lead a new life. The writer recognised that the necessity for child baptism could not be directly proved from scripture except by analogy with circumcision or by implication. To this he was to return in other writings; in early 1525 it was sufficient to call its opponents faction-ridden, quarrelsome and cantankerous.

Similarly in the discussion of the institution words of the Last Supper he develops a little further his earlier explanation in article 18 of the Schlussreden. It is not sufficient to assert that in faith, which comes neither from human wisdom nor by human choice, we believe in the bodily and sensible presence of Christ's flesh,1 for faith and sense-perception are different. When Christ said 'is' he meant 'signifies', a symbolical explanation which is both scriptural and intelligible. This he was later to expound again and again, with much elaboration. The mass as a sacrifice was utterly unacceptable and the numerous mass priests, it followed, should be more usefully employed and not replaced when they died.

Monastic vows are neither binding nor acceptable and the monasteries themselves are superfluous. Salvation by works is rejected, and merits and free will are subordinated to providence. Predestination, a theme to be developed more fully later, is reasserted. Purgatory is denounced (with further reference to Adversus Hieronymum Emserum antibolon) as unscriptural and a money-making invention;2 the Pope is Antichrist;3 the worship of images is no matter for indifference, and their removal from Zurich had been accomplished in quietness without any trace of disorder.4

The French monarch could be reassured (and this was a prime purpose of the treatise) that to follow the Gospel was not to promote civil disobedience. In this regard the Zwinglian requirements were the precise opposite of those of the Radical reformers. The latter had explicitly declined to be involved in public affairs, whether national or local, whereas in fact, Zwingli insisted, the best Christians made the best officials. The happiest and most successful states are those in which true religion reigns.

Church and state must equally support impartial justice, the former through the law of reciprocal love, the latter by regulating in the interest of the whole the tendency of the individual to consider only his own advantage. Such a sentiment, which harmonised with the theory of the French monarchy, could appeal equally to an oligarchy, such as that which controlled Berne.

A Godless government, Zwingli continued, is almost necessarily tyrannical, whereas a God-fearing autocrat becomes ipso facto a just ruler rightly commanding the obedience of his subjects. Zwingli would have

1 Z in, 786. 'Fide credimus corpoream sensibilemque carnem Christi hie adesse. Fide creduntur res a sensu remotissimae.. .Disparata igitur sunt: credere et sentire.'

2 Z in, 855-7.

3 Z in, 894.

4 Z in, 901-6.

FZI

ZWINGLI found little to quarrel with in the Tudor concept of the Godly Prince restraining vice and encouraging the righteous - he would have been well content with an Edward VI fulfilling the promise of his youth, or with Elizabeth I had she heeded a little more the words of the preachers. Swiss governmental traditions expected the enforcement of ecclesiastical decrees by the state, and stressed the responsibility of the secular rulers of the community for the conduct and morals, as well as for the peace and quiet, of the citizens. Even an unbelieving magistrate - for any government is better than no government - is to be obeyed so long as the Christian faith is not impeded. Or, again, slavery, which still existed in pockets in Europe in Zwingli's day, was not necessarily incompatible with Christianity (an opinion shared by George Washington). Zwingli likewise rejected the medieval appeal to the 'two swords', ecclesiastical and civil. On the contrary, there should rightfully be but one, and this, being human, must be that of the civil administration. Only the children of darkness feared authority which was properly constituted and necessarily exercised even within an all-God-obeying community, since others would be included who came from without and who needed restraint. Where, as in Zurich, the governors were chosen by electors, experience and ability were to be expected from them as well as truth and uprightness. Under such leaders the ordering of the worship, as well as the conduct, of the citizens was safe.

It was from Zurich and not from France that the good example was to come. The three hundred pages of this treatise cannot be summarised in a few paragraphs: for Koehler1 it was the first and only systematic exposition of Zwingli's theology. Baur devoted over eighty pages to his estimate of it,2 and Wernle was equally enthusiastic.3 The treatise ends with a reminder that the Papacy had drawn men away from the right worship of God and that they must return to the true religion of faith, justice, innocence and mercy.

The Anabaptist problem remained with Zwingli to the end. In almost his last composition, the confession of faith to Francis I, Fidei exposition he wrote: ' This plague of Anabaptism intrudes itself above all mostly where the pure teaching of Christ has started to grow. So much the more easily, King, can you perceive that it was sent by the devil to spoil the good seed by sowing weeds. We have seen that cities and towns which had started to take the Gospel seriously, after they had become infected by this plague remained like a state that was unable to attend to divine or human business because of the disturbance'.4 Zwingli stressed what had been achieved because attacks on his state, as well as upon himself, were becoming increasingly menacing. Manifestly at the opening of 1525 Zurich could no longer be regarded as a Catholic state. The authority of Pope and 1 Z in, 593.

2 Baur I, 380-461.

3 Wernle, 143-245.

4 S iv, 66.

Peasants, opposition, education bishop had been openly flouted, the Lenten fast ignored, images and pictures broken, the clergy encouraged to marry, monasteries and nunneries emptied and their property taken over by the government.

The preacher who had brought this about, who had denounced mercenary service and Anabaptist pacifism, had also published his rejection of transubstantiation, of the hierarchy and of canon law. At the same time he insisted on maintaining and even exaggerating his independence of Luther. His followers were not Lutherans. Reluctantly perhaps, but with growing conviction, the Zurich council had accepted the consequences of this. Monks and clergy were treated as ordinary citizens, not as a caste apart. The authority of the Bishop of Constance and his courts was no longer acceptable, and this meant that the state, already administering church revenues, must assume responsibility for contracts, wills, personal relationships and other matters falling within the scope of the canon law.

Of these, matrimonial causes were of high importance. With the Scriptures as the only guide-post, there was unlikely to be any major change; but firm decisions, involving legitimacy and the descent of property, must be taken about what constituted a valid marriage, and if and when it could be dissolved.

The government must also control public worship. It had already inhibited the radicals from baptising and preaching freely: it must now come to grips with the decisive issue of the mass. Consideration had already been given to church services. After the Zurich disputations of 1523, followed by further attacks on the mass as a sacrifice, a number of priests simply omitted the Canon of the mass from the service, but kept the remainder, and that in Latin, to the disgust of some of the more advanced citizens, who absented themselves conspicuously from supposedly obligatory services. Zwingli had indeed suggested, as early as August 1523, some minor but significant liturgical alterations. It was utterly characteristic of him that he wrote these out as De canone missae epichiresis,1 using this unusual and rather fanciful Greek word, meaning project or suggestion, to put forward a number of rather small and technical modifications in the traditional form of words: The 'project' was not well received; the traditionalists condemned any alteration and perceived that he had shifted the emphasis from the act of consecration to the reception of the elements by the worshippers, while the more advanced thinkers, especially among the young priests, called for something much more drastic, some simple vernacular prayers to take the place of the daily mass.

As the conviction grew that Zwingli's eucharistic teaching was completely incompatible with any of the forms of the Roman mass, increasing

1 Z 11, 552(556)-6o8; F. Schmidt-Clausing, Zwinglis liturgische Formulare, 22-7. See above,

151 n 4 G. J. Cuming, A History of Anglican Liturgy (London, 1969) 35-6.

8-2

ZWINGLI numbers of priests neglected this altogether for sermons, Bible-readings and extemporary prayers. This, however, was manifestly unacceptable since the communion service was an indispensable part of the reformed teaching, and when, in the early spring of 1525, it was apparent that there was hardly a priest willing to say the accepted Latin mass, further action was needed, the more so since the Anabaptists had already been offering for some time a radically simplified celebration of the Last Supper. On Tuesday in Holy Week (11 April), therefore, Zwingli, Jud, Engelhard,

Megander and Myconius appeared as a deputation before the council and formally asked for the cessation of the 'idolatrous' mass and its replacement by an evangelical communion service, supporting this with the now familiar Zwinglian interpretation of the words of consecration. There was at once opposition from Joachim am Griit, and the Council referred the matter to a committee of four to report on the following morning. Their recommendation was that the mass should be abolished, and by a narrow majority this was agreed.1 It was a decisive vote, although this might not have been immediately apparent. Mass was openly said for the last time on 12 April and the break with Rome was complete.

On the following day, Maundy Thursday, a large congregation assembled in the Great Minster.2 A table was placed between the nave and the choir; on it were wooden platters with plain bread rolls, and a jug of wine. Thus the altar with its implications of a sacrifice was eliminated and the practice of communion in both kinds accepted. There was no singing: there was a prayer or collect, the reading of passages from the Bible, a short explanatory sermon and the recitation of the Gloria in Excelsis and the Nicene Creed by men and women, verse by verse alternately. After a prayer for forgiveness of sins, an invitation and admonition, all said the Lord's Prayer, which was in German, as was the whole of the service.3

The biblical words of consecration were then read and the ministers in simple dark clothes or gowns distributed the bread and wine to the congregation in silence. Some broke a piece of bread themselves, others opened their mouths to receive it, and then the wine, from the ministers. The service ended with the 113th (Vulgate 112) psalm, 'Praise the Lord, you that are his servants'4 and a blessing.

It was short, simple, comprehensible, with pauses for silent prayer, all 1 Egli /, 306 (No. 684).

2 Gerold EdlibacWs Chronik.. .hg. v. J. M. Usteri, MAGZ 4. (1847), 273.

3 Aktion oder Brauch des Nachtmah. Geddchtnis oder Danksagung Christi wie sie auf Ostern zu

Zurich begonnen wird imjfahr, ah man zdhlte, i$2$. Z iv, i(i3)-24; J. Schweizer, Reformierte

Abendmahlsgestaltung in der Schau Zwinglis (Basle, n.d. (1954)); F. Schmidt-Clausing,

Zwinglis liturgische Formulare, 28-39.

4 Wyss, 62; Staehelin 1, 444-5; F. Schmidt-Clausing, Zwingli ah Liturgiker (Gottingen, 1952),

128-43; z IV> 6-8, 17-24.

Peasants, opposition, education to indicate the working of the Spirit through the Word. Young people were present on Thursday, their parents on Friday and the elderly on Easter Sunday, divided, as was the custom, by sex. Such communion services, with later modifications, settled to four celebrations annually, at Christmas, Easter, Whitsun and the Zurich local festival on 11 September, the feast of SS. Felix and Regula. It was all a little experimental, and minor changes followed, but the decisive step had been taken. The Roman mass was proscribed, a good Catholic thereafter had to cross the border for it, unless he could find a priest willing to risk the penalties of defiance.

There was now no doubt that, for Catholics, Zurich was a 'heretical' state, and this meant a further breakaway from other states of the Confederation.

The threat of this had been continuous throughout 1524.1 Eleven states on 20 April 1524 had already agreed at Lucerne to have no association

(Gesellschaft) with heretics,2 and on 28 June representatives of Zurich, Schaffhausen and Appenzell were excluded from a meeting of the Swiss

Diet, in spite of protests from Berne, Glarus, Basle and Solothurn.3 In January, February, April, June, July,4 October and November, hostilities had been openly discussed by the Diet, although there was no precedent or legal justification for Federal proceedings against heresy or for an unprovoked attack on a member state.

If Zurich could be induced to attack another state, this could be an excuse for coercion, but its council was far too wise to do that.5 The Gospel was making its own way on its merits and, in fact, it was the opponents who had belligerent intentions, not Zurich. These opponents were, basically, the five inner states,6 who hoped to bring in others by suggesting that an attack on Rapperswil was imminent or that Zurich was in alliance with subversive elements in eastern Switzerland and north of the Rhine. Eck was to be their emissary and publicity officer, and his appeal of August

1524 to the Swiss Catholics brought a crushing rejoinder from Zwingli.7

1 Z in, 539-41.

2 EA 4, 1 a, 412.

3 W. Oechsli, Die Anfdnge des Glaubenkonfliktes zmischen Zurich und den Eidgenossen, 1521-24

(Winterthur, 1883), 17.

4 EA 4, 1 a, 360-1, 373, 375-6, 455-7. On 16 July 1524, the representatives of the V Orte with Fribourg gave notice that they would refuse to be associated with Zurich in common meetings unless 'Lutheran' teaching was abandoned. See below p. 250 notes 2, 3, 4.

5 Z in, 541.

6 See below 398-9. The five states had agreed at Beckenried on 8 April 1524 to stand by' the old, true, right, Christian faith and to root out this Lutheran, Zwinglian, Hussite erroneous and dangerous teaching from our territories and dominions \ EA 4, ia, 4io-n;H. Dommann,/)tfs

Gemeinschaftsbewusstsein der V Orte in der Alten Eidgenossenschaft. Der Geschichtsfreund 96

(1943) 152-55; Z vi ii, 337 n. 6. S. Skalweit, Reich und Reformation (Berlin, 1967) 219, following Oechsli, Geddchtnis c. 130, speaks of the gathering as a Sonderbund - 'Sie schlossen sich schon 1524 in einem Sonderbund zusammen'. L. v. Muralt in Handbuch 468 insisted:

'Die Vereinbarung zu Beckenried.. .griindete aber keinen "Sonderbund" in Stile des 19.

Jahrhunderts'. Little wonder 'Sonderbund', 'U.D.I.' is hardly translatable into English.

Fribourg sometimes acted with these ' V Orte"1 as an independent group (Geddchtnis c. 124) but its connection with Berne restrained it a good deal.

7 Z in, 305-12.

ZWINGLI There had also been a suggestion of an Austrian attack on Zurich on the basis of the agreement reached at a Diet at Frauenfeld (October 1524) for the handing over of'Lutherans' by either side for punishment as heretics.

There were secret discussions with the Habsburg officials at Waldshut, but no serious help was likely to be forthcoming from that quarter, and in any case a Habsburg alliance involving possible admission of dormant

Habsburg claims to territory was not likely to be popular. On 28 January 1525 the committed catholic states (excluding Basle, Schaffhausen,

Appenzell, Zurich, Graubiinden and St Gall, city and monastery) had agreed on what they meant by the Catholic faith and its protection.1 There is a slight flavour of the Counter-Reformation about their definition.

Clergy for example should reside in their parishes or sees, concubinage should be forbidden and benefice-hunting discouraged, all of which, if enforced earlier, might have deferred the Reformation. There were also recommendations to improve the economic position of the peasants.

The situation was, or at any rate seemed to be, tense. It was common knowledge in Zurich that messages were passing between the Catholic states and that Zurich was practically isolated. The only terms on which this might be reversed and leadership in the Confederation regained were that evangelical preaching must cease, as must the printing and circulation of Zwinglian and Lutheran writings, soldiers must be provided for papal and other armies, and policy in general brought into line with Lucerne and its neighbours. This would mean acceptance once more of the spiritual authority of the Bishop of Constance and his unpopular courts, abandonment of the successful expansionist policy in eastern Switzerland and south Germany, full restoration of the mass, and either burning heretics or else handing them over to episcopal officers. It would mean the repudiation of Zwingli, the removal of his friends, the repeal of the order for biblical teaching and the end of all that had so far been accomplished. For such capitulation council and people alike were certainly not prepared.

Out of this state of affairs there perhaps emerged one of the strangest and most controversial documents in the whole Zwinglian Odyssey. Some time, possibly towards the end of 1524, but much more likely in 1525-6,

Zwingli produced his written opinion2 about what should be done in the event of war. Zwingli was no pacifist. His experiences in the Italian wars, culminating in the slaughter of Marignano, had indeed convinced him of 1 EA 4, 1 a, 572-80, sometimes called Glaubenskonkordat. JSG 14 (1889) 26iff.

2 Z in, 539(551H583. Plan zu einem Feldzug. Zwingli's authorship is reasonably certain and the date in Z was ascribed to July 1524 to 4 January 1525, hence its treatment here. Vasella showed convincingly that the date of composition must be placed in 1526. ZSG 20 (1940),

54ff. Ulrich Zwingli und Michael Gaismair, der Tiroler Bauernfiihrer, ZSG 24 (1944), 388-413.

Farner iv, 235-6. Hauswirth, Philippe 76.

Peasants, opposition, education the wickedness of wanton aggression and of hiring men to be killed.

Erasmus had persuaded him intellectually that war was to be abhorred and that the spectacle of Christians fighting one another was deplorable.

This did not mean, however, that evil men should not be resisted or that hostile forces should not be repelled. On the contrary, a man's duty was to take up arms in defence of the independence and integrity of his country and even of his own property.1 In a perfect Christian society peace would necessarily reign, but in the imperfect world in which they lived violence was to be expected and guarded against. Like others of his age, Zwingli had been trained in the use of arms from his youth, and he expected others to be so too. If the government summoned its subjects to war they must follow, and Zwingli, as he demonstrated in 1529 and 1531, would be with them. In 1525 it was abundantly clear that if the liberties of Zurich were to be preserved and the right to preach the Gospel maintained, bloodshed might be inevitable. There were good biblical precedents, especially in the Old Testament, for taking the sword in defence of God's kingdom.

Zwingli's Plan was an overall survey of the international situation as seen from Zurich. The Catholic cause relied for military support upon the house of Habsburg. Fortunately it was apparent that the Emperor

Charles V need not be feared immediately since he was far too occupied with his detestable intrigues elsewhere, for which God would punish him in due season. The now hostile Austrian administration, however, should be reminded that Zurich had more than once been helpful in the past, especially in enabling the Archduke to occupy Wiirttemberg in 15192 and in opposing the French in Milan. If the Emperor chose to aid the opposition, he might himself be removed by joint Swiss action. Francis I of France should be made use of, if possible, to divert their opponents by demonstrating that the intrigues of the Inner Five with the Habsburgs could not but be to the disadvantage of the French; Zurich's refusal to accept French pay and the French alliance could be explained away;

Swiss civil war could not be of advantage to the French, whose king might wish to avoid further warfare. Enquiry should further be made as to the intentions of the Duke of Savoy,3 who was thought to be more than fully engaged nearer home.

The document then goes on to consider in some detail the precise situation within the Confederation, its subjects, allies and neighbours and what it all meant in terms of military and diplomatic logistics. Berne and Basle, both well disposed to the Reformation although both still tolerating the 1 W. Koehler, Ulrich Zwingli und der Krieg. Die christliche Welt, 29 (1915) 675-82. J. Rogge,

Zwingli and Erasmus (Stuttgart, 1962) 37, 43.

2 See below, 300-1. After contact with Philip of Hesse, Zwingli was to take a different view about Wiirttemberg and to work for the restoration of Duke Ulrich.

3 Charles III, 1504-53.

ZWINGLI mass and officially Catholic, could be counted on for support - if there was to be any mediation, they would be useful, and they would carry with them Glarus, Appenzell and Solothurn. Neutrality would not be good enough. Schaffhausen presented a certain difficulty. This little northern state was showing no special anxiety either to imitate or to cooperate with Zurich, but from it, although the hated 'idols' had not yet been cast forth from its churches,1 at least neutrality was expected. If this was not the case, then the bridge of boats across the Rhine should be broken in a night attack. The friendship between Zurich and the city of St Gall must be reaffirmed and intensified, the city should be encouraged to occupy the buildings and ground of the great monastery and assume jurisdiction over its tenants. The abbot might have to be evicted. Appenzell should occupy

Rorschach, and Wil should come under the joint control of the inhabitants of Toggenburg and the people of God's house from the south. These latter, parts of the Graubiinden or Grey Leagues, a little Switzerland within Switzerland, could be expected to put pressure on their immediate northern neighbours, including Sargans, and to neutralise the valleys of the Adige, the Inn, the Wall and western Tyrol. Church property would also be secularised. Valais was apparently inflexibly Catholic, but a much divided area which might well be made harmless by encouraging local conflicts.

The inhabitants of Zwingli's native Toggenburg were to be pressurised into exchanging their alliance (Landrecht) with Schwyz (while retaining that with Glarus) for co-citizenship (Burgrecht) with Zurich. If all this and some complementary schemes came to fruition, the whole of eastern

Switzerland, Thurgau in its most extended sense, could be brought under Zurich's control, while any counter-measures from south or west could be guarded against by diplomatic pressure or by threats of forcible action against Rapperswil,2 Weesen, Gaster and Einsiedeln. Baden and Aargau might be coerced by threats into inactivity. With all this secure, help would be more than likely from Strassburg, Lindau and Constance, bridgeheads against Austria. Diessenhofen and Kaiserstuhl were to be threatened with fire and annihilation if they failed to close their bridges to imperial troops. Basle was to be allowed to become master of Rheinfelden as part of the price of support.

1 Sebastian Hofmeister (Oeconomus) (1476-1533) had preached in favour of evangelical reform with some success, and the state had taken over the Benedictine monastery of All Saints much as Zurich had the Fraumiinster. But the excesses of the Anabaptists and fear of the peasants caused a reaction; Hofmeister was forced to leave in 1525 and iconoclasm was forbidden.

Z HI, 560. Schaffhausen was, in fact, much closer to Zurich than Zwingli seemed to realise.

Egli 3, I, 116-18; J. Wipf, Reformationsgeschichte der Stadt und Landschaft Schaffhausen

(Zurich, 1929), 154-5, 201-18, 286-9.

2 Rapperswil had been a free imperial city, and after 1464 was independent, protected by Uri,

Schwyz, Unterwalden and Glarus.

Peasants, opposition, education The writer was, in fact, advocating immediate aggression in defence of the Reformed faith and at the same time putting forward an ambitious political plan which could make evangelical Zurich the dominant unit in the Swiss Confederation. He also recognised that a high public morale was needed, backed up by proper military preparedness. Sixteenth-century propaganda came from the pulpit. Prayers for success should be said in the churches, and preachers should make it clear that a war against those who denied, thwarted or frustrated the word of God, was just and even necessary. Only thus could the precious inheritance of the open Bible be defended.

In addition to trusting in God, they must keep their powder dry.

Military victory required organisation, and how this was to be secured was set out in a detail that matched the analysis of the political situation. The choice of the General in command (der Hauptmann) was of first importance, and next to this his deputy {der Pannerherr), a member of the council, with a chain of command down to the appointment of company commanders of detachments of 1,500 men.1 The General must possess the confidence of his men; he must be weather wise, know the ground, be ready for night operations by moonlight, not attack unless position, wind and sun made him reasonably certain of success, and above all realise the importance of speed. Unselfish, self-reliant, silent, God-fearing, conscious that the enterprise is undertaken solely for the protection of evangelical convictions, he will welcome the support of his chaplains to console, encourage and strengthen the morale of his men.

The best and most modern weapons were to be supplied, above all the guns2 which now already provided invaluable support for the pikemen.

There were to be provisions with these latter for two or three days so that there was no need for foraging or looting before battle. There must be proper observation of weather conditions, adequate precautions against surprise by constant watch and patrol, no dispersal of forces, certainty that every man in uniform knew the horn or trumpet signals and was prepared to meet or to undertake ambushes, feints, skirmishes and surprises. It was all so utterly cool and practical that it is hard to realise that it was written in the golden age of bastard chivalry when such counsels would have been ignored at the courts of France or Burgundy.

Modern commentators, without overlooking the fact that Zwingli was drawing in part on his knowledge of Roman military treatises, have been unanimous in their praise of his keen discernment and wide knowledge of tactics and strategy, combined with acute political perceptiveness. It is

1 Z in, 553-5. Cf. Locher, 65-8.

2 He enumerates Hakenbiichsen (arquebus), Gabelbiichsen (stand-guns), Handbiichsen

(crossbows), Streitbiichsen and Halbschlangen (light field cannon).

ZWINGLI indeed remarkable that he could turn his mind so rapidly from theology to politics and from politics to military tactics. There is, however, also a decided touch of the armchair strategist about it all, the advice is all a little too good, the outcome too optimistically assessed, too little account taken of the element of chance or even that opposing commanders were likely to be equally well aware of such maxims. It was also a remarkable exercise to be undertaken by a theologian, preacher and minister of religion. Aggression was not directly commended, but the inference that attack might be the best form of defence had serious implications. It involved, indeed, cool calculation on a local civil war, Swiss killing Swiss in the name of religion. cThe pious state of Zurich prefers to lose city, possessions, land, equipment, bodies and lives rather than depart from what it knows to be the truth'.1

There was in fact no war: the elaborate combined operations envisaged were quite beyond the communication capacities of the day, nor would local rivalries and suspicions have been laid aside as easily as was imagined.

The little treatise provides an admirable basis for commentary upon prevailing conditions, but it is just as well that it remained a scheme which was not put into operation.

After Easter 1525 the Zurich community was spiritually largely isolated.

Celebration of mass had been made illegal, and there could now be no doubt that the government and people were no longer Catholic and would be treated as heretics by their neighbours. At the same time they strenuously insisted that they were neither Lutherans nor Anabaptist sectaries.

They were simply reverting to the practices of the early Christian church from which Rome had departed and which the others did not properly understand. It was this conviction that they were on the right path and their rivals were in error that inspired confidence. Political conditions enabled them to 'go it alone', and this they proceeded to do. The government had already taken over, or had accepted, full responsibility for all church property. It had been for some time de facto patron of the benefices within its territory, and it had closed the monasteries, applied their revenues to religious and educational purposes and had provided for their inmates.

There was, however, one sphere in which the authority of the church and the exclusive applicability of canon law had, so far, been accepted that of matrimony. Marriage was a sacrament and irrevocable: all matrimonial causes had been taken for decision to the court of the Bishop of Constance and beyond this, if funds allowed, on appeal to Rome. Complaints of delay, obstruction and expense at all stages were frequent. Now that the break with Rome was open and manifest, who was to decide what

1 Z in, 551.

Peasants, opposition, education constituted a lawful marriage, and whether children were the heirs to their parents' property or spurii, nobody's offspring?1 In a society in which family relationships were all-important, it was necessary to decide speedily and authoritatively what were the permitted degrees of marriage, by whom and under what conditions the marriage ceremony was to be performed. In modern times these are the affair of the state and of the ' law of the land': in the sixteenth century they had been the province of the law of the church, the Pope's law which Zwingli had repudiated.

The suggestion that he now put forward, which, after consideration by a committee, was adopted as a temporary measure on 10 May 15252 (and like many temporary measures lasted a very long while), was that a local matrimonial tribunal should be set up to hear and decide all causes brought before it. There were to be six 'Divorce Court Judges' {Eherichtern), two being beneficed clergy, two laymen from the small council and two from the great council, one of whom was to be chairman (Qbmanri), this office changing every two months. They were to appoint a clerk and have a seal for affixing to decrees.3 If necessary, they were to meet on Mondays and Thursdays, the Biirgermeister being authorised to appoint a substitute in the event of any judge or the clerk (notarius, amtliche Schreiber) being ill. They had power to call witnesses (at least 2) under oath and to collect costs.4 An appeal from the tribunal would lie to the great council, beyond which there was now no other authority and which had thus displaced the church in this important sphere.

At the same time the council laid down certain principles in a kind of matrimonial statute. The prohibited degrees were those set out in Leviticus

18. 7-18; the minimum age for marriage was 14 for a girl, 16 for a boy; the consent of the parents was necessary for either party under the age of 19;5 notice of intent to marry had to be given, and the ceremony was to take place in church in the presence of two witnesses. A register of 1 Or questions such as what was to happen if one of the parties was unable to consummate the marriage or was a manifest and hopeless imbecile ?

2 Z IV, 176-87; Egli /, 326-9 (No.'711); K. Kilchenmann, Die Organisation des ziircherischen

Ehegerichts, n f f - a useful, but mainly legal, commentary. Oechsli, 3, Geda'chtnis, c. noX

3 The first members were Heinrich Engelhard of the Fraumiinster and Leo Jud of St Peter's

(ministers), Junker Felix Schwend and Gild Master Thomann Spriingli (small council),

Hans Haab and Ulrich Funk (great council). Heinrich Utinger was named as clerk and Pelagius Kaltschmid as usher. Z iv, 183 n. 6.

4 Koehler, Zurcher Ehegericht und Genfer Konsistorium Bd. I: Das Ziircher Ehegericht und seine

Auswirkung in der dentschen Schweiz zur Zeit Zwinglis, QSRG vn (x der ganzen Sammlung)

(Leipzig, 1932) 55, 68-72. (Bd. 11 (Leipzig, 1942) is not concerned with Zurich). The Ordinance is translated in Selected works of Huldrych Zwingli (Philadelphia, 1901, reprinted 1972)

118-22. For the text, Z iv, 182-7.

5 It was assumed in the case of a girl that this would normally be required - one notice spoke of ' any one so neglectful as not to get her daughter married before 19'. Z iv, 184.

ZWINGLI marriages was to be kept.1 A bachelor could be obliged to marry a girl who was with child by him unless her parents objected.2

In case of manifest or notorious adultery, divorce3 was obligatory, the guilty party to be excluded from church services by the minister and severely punished by the state. Prostitutes were similarly dealt with. There were to be no dispensations for marriage within forbidden degrees; impotence extending over a year nullified the marriage; the tribunal was to act at its discretion in cases of lunacy, incurable disease, malicious and prolonged desertion and cruelty amounting to danger to life. The new matrimonial courts worked well enough to become a model copied by St Gall, Berne, Basle, Schaffhausen, some south German cities and by Geneva (and Scotland) as the Consistory. They were not popular, since they involved a good deal of external supervision of domestic life and left many at the mercy of suspicion and gossip. But that they were also an improvement upon what had gone before and that they tended to raise and simplify matrimonial status was undeniable.

If the Reformation meant that the Zurich government became responsible for matrimonial matters, it also needed to pay some attention to public education, in so far as this phrase can be used of a century when everywhere only a small number of selected boys received any sort of regular schooling. In the past, teaching had been mainly in the hands of ecclesiastics, the civil authorities being scarcely involved, although benefactions were often received from well-to-do laymen. Most people, especially in the country, were unable to read or write and had no formal education of any kind. However, Zurich, like other cities, had its schools.

Attached to the Great Minster and to the Fraumiinster, as to practically every other large collegiate church of the time, were grammar schools where the elements of Latin were taught to a small number of boys who would hope to become sufficiently literate to seek a career in the church, medicine or law. Chantry priests provided most of the instruction along traditional lines, and beyond this little is known of the establishment.4

1 Egli /, 466 (No. 982), 30 May 1526.

2 The obligatory marriage decree had later to be rescinded because of abuse by interested parties. In June 1526 the Court received authority to punish prostitutes and close houses of ill fame which existed in Zurich as elsewhere. Once again the civil government extended its concern with the private lives of its citizens, and Zurich was the better for it. Kilchenmann,

39-41; Koehler, Ehegericht, 142; Egli /, 451-3 (No. 944).

3 Marriage was not a sacrament in the eyes of the Reformers: it was a divinely ordained institution involving a contract which could be broken if the conditions were not fulfilled. What is remarkable about the Zurich action is the speed and efficiency with which the new (and essential) machinery was set up. It was a good example of the way in which a city-state could act.

4 U. Ernst, Geschichte des Ziircherischen Schulwesens bis gegen das Ende des sechzehnten jfahrhunderts(Winterthur, 1879) T9~37; RStaehelin, DerEinflussZwinglisaufSchuleundUnterricht

(Basle, 1889); W. Gut, Zwingli ah Erzieher, ZWA vi, 289-306.

2 l 6

Peasants, opposition, education Their future needed thought. Zwingli was one of the best known scholars in Switzerland, and an appeal would almost inevitably be made to him, as it was to Erasmus. He had himself taught Latin to schoolboys while a student at Basle, and had prepared pupils for the university at Glarus.

This task he obviously could not now add to his many other duties at Zurich, while he eagerly continued his own studies in the company of a few like-minded clerics in a literary group, a Zurich sodalitas, like the many such that his old teacher, Conrad Celtes, had set going.

In 1522 he had been joined by the red-haired Ceporinus (Jakob Wiesendanger of Dynhard near Winterthur) who had studied Greek at Vienna and Hebrew under Reuchlin himself at Ingolstadt.1 At Zwingli's suggestion he was made a canon of the Great Minster (in spite of the fact that he married a former Dominican nun) in order that he might teach Greek and Hebrew. Together they represented the new humanist learning based on a study of classical authors and attention to niceties of style and phrase.

Both, too, were keen students of the Bible, the Greek text of the New Testament made available by Erasmus, and the Hebrew of the Old

Testament as well.

Bible-inspired sermons and exclusively biblical religious teaching implied a wide diffusion of the Bible and therefore also of many able to read it, and to read it aloud to their neighbours. Hence the welcome for the new art of printing which enabled copies to be multiplied relatively cheaply and ensured that the same text, and even the same pages, were available for all.

For the first time, original texts, both of the Bible and of other standard authors, were available for all who could use them. If this great invention was to be suitably exploited, increasing numbers must be able to read. In order that they could understand what they read in the Bible, an educated clergy was necessary, able to preach the Word from the pulpit. For this, aptitude for languages, itself a sign of divine grace, was needed; and so, since ability to read Latin provided the key to all further knowledge in the sixteenth century, the sooner this was acquired the better. The breach with Rome meant a greater need for home-produced scholars.

Zwingli's own ideas on education had been set out for a wider public in the curious treatise Quo pacto ingenui adolescentes formandi sint dated

1 August 1523.2 This was presented as what was called a 'bath gift'

1 He had, at the age of twenty, produced an elementary Greek grammar Compendium Grammaticae Graecae published by Curio at Basle in 1522 and dedicated to Zwingli which continued to be used for over a century. In addition to correcting proofs for Cratander, he also edited in Greek Dionysii orbis description Arati astronomicon and Prodi sphaera, a commentary on Hesiod's Works and Days, and the Hebrew grammar of Rabbi Moses Kimchi. Egli 4, 11,

145-60; Wyss, 4 n. 1; Z 11, 536 n. 1; Z VII, 353 n. 3, 651 n. 2.

2 Z 11, 526 (536)~55i. The first translation or paraphrase into German was made by Ceporinus

(Augsburg, 1524) and another, possibly by Zwingli himself, was printed by Froschauer in 1526. 'Wie man die jugendt in guoten sitten und christenlicher zucht uferziehen und leeren

ZWINGLI to his stepson, Gerold Meyer von Knonau,1 a youth of fourteen who had just returned from a 'cure' at the notorious thermal springs at Baden.

Judged by almost any standard, this tract is a disappointing exercise.

There is the usual parade of classical allusions to Pericles, Nero, Seneca, Ennius and Scipio Africanus (which were appropriately omitted in the later German version), and a brief excursus about the nature of God, good and evil, the fall of Adam and hope in Christ through the Gospel.

There is some rather obvious paternal advice to a ' teenager' - to abstain from over-eating and excessive drinking, avoid expensive and elaborate clothes, shun the gambling table (cards and dice), play serious games like chess with opponents of at least equal ability, be helpful to neighbours, choose a good wife and be faithful to her, and uphold truth and honesty at all times. Needless to add, the youth did not follow these admonitions.2 To Polonius-like platitudes are added semi-contradictions; eloquence and verbal facility are desirable accomplishments, but at the same time silence was often golden and the words of the teacher must be heeded and not interrupted. In addition to Latin and Greek, the boy must know some mathematics,3 and with mathematics was bracketed music, a theoretical subject in the schools, but too much time must not be devoted to this. Military training must be included, since any man may be called upon to defend his Fatherland. All schoolboys, including intending ministers of religion, should in any case learn a trade or craft (Handwerck) for the benefit of the community and for the avoidance of pernicious idleness. Games were encouraged only when they were in some way instructional or served to keep the body in good health - running, jumping, fencing and throwing stones or rocks were suitable for the young Swiss, but not wrestling, and swimming only in great moderation. A study of history, meaning of course the history of classical Greek and Rome, was a solle, etliche kurze underwysung, durch Huldrychen Zwinglin beschriben. Getruckt zuo

Zurich, by Christoffel Froschouer, M.D.XXVI Jar.' Z v, 427-9. There is an edition (made for the four hundredth anniversary of Zwingli's birth) and a translation by Koehler, Auswahlaus

Zwinglis Schriften (Zurich, 1918) 367-78, and by E. G. Riisch, Huldrych Zwingli an den jungen Mann. Zwinglis Erziehungsschrift aus demjahre 1523 (Zurich, 1957). E. Egli, Mr. Ulrich

Zwingli's Lehrbuchlein, Lateinisch und Deutsch mit einer Beigab .• (Zurich, 1884). It bears comparison with Erasmus, Declamatio de pueris statim ac liberaliur instituendis, 1529 (ed. J.-C.

Margolin, Geneva, 1966) and De ratione studii, 75//. W. H. Woodward, Desiderius Erasmus concerning the aim and method of education (Cambridge, 1904).

1 Z iv, 407 n. 1. Zwingli had not yet publicly acknowledged his marriage to the boy's mother,

Anna Reinhart (See above, 79 n. 3.) Gerold, born 1509, married in 1525 to Kiingolt Dietschi, was a promising if wayward scholar and a pupil of Glarean. He died, aged 22, at the battle of Kappel.

2 O. Rtickert, Ulrich Zwinglis Ideen zur Erziehung und Bildung im Zusammenhang mit semen reformatorischen Tendenzen (Gotha, 1900), 4.

3 Z v, 441. 'Die kunst des ussmassens, rachnens und der zal (under die man ouch die musick zellet)'.

2l8

Peasants, opposition, education kind of desirable but dispensable adjunct. The art of conversation should be encouraged, but truthfulness was requisite at all times, moderation and the avoidance of violence were indispensable.

The purpose of education was preparation not for life but for the hereafter. Faith was the first pre-requisite for a Christian and this was the gift of the Holy Spirit, announced in Christ's words and expounded by the preachers. A pure heart and knowledge of the Bible must come with it, and for the latter a knowledge of languages was unavoidable. You learned letters primarily so as to be able to read the Bible in the original tongues.

Greek was therefore more valuable than Latin, but good Latin must be acquired first1 because much information was available through it alone.

Through it youth could be brought to the 'sources',2 to the Greek of the New Testament and of the eastern Fathers who expounded Christ's teaching better than did the Latins, and finally to the Hebrew of the Old

Testament, a language only to be acquired with a good deal of toil and specially valuable because the Greek of the New Testament is so saturated with Hebraisms as not to be fully intelligible without this language as well.

All this requires time - Christ, who was already learned in the scriptures at the age of twelve, was thirty before he started to preach.

Neither in this treatise nor anywhere else is there any suggestion that girls, as well as boys, should be taught languages. All that the Renaissance offered for female education was ignored; silence becomes a woman most.

There were indeed 'learned daughters' in the primitive church who praised God in psalms and hymns, but this was enough - from the notion of a female preacher Zwingli, like nearly all his contemporaries, recoiled.3

Zwingli was clearly not interested in education in the modern, or even in the Renaissance, sense of the word. There is no suggestion anywhere that the almost total lack of public facilities for general education should be remedied or that public money should be made available for it. It is significant that Zwinglian Zurich never developed a university or even a notably cultivated civic society. That most of the population, young and old, would be illiterate was taken for granted. What mattered was belief; there must be enough adults who were able to read the Bible to others, and there must be an adequate supply of preachers who would and could continuously expound the Christian message from Holy Writ. Education, in fact, was needed to secure an ample supply of parsons.4 Religion, theology

1 Avoiding however the Latin texts, unspecified, which encouraged impudence (petulantia), aggressiveness, domineering, deceit and vanity. Z n, 543.

2 Z v, 437. 'Desshalb sol man den jiingling zu den brunnen wysen (Ad fontes igitur hie noster mittendus est).'

3 Z 11, 543; Riickert, Erziehung, 88-91.

4 K. Spillmann, in ZWA 11 (1962) 427-48, shows that Zwingli's sole purpose was to train preachers: he had no direct interest in education.

ZWINGLI and politics dominated Zwingli's life and thought, and his educational influence in Zurich led to what can only be described as over-specialisation in theology.

A civic mandate of 29 September 15231 had ordered a reform of the abuses of the Great Minster, a reduction of its staff,2 redistribution of duties and revenues, and with it an overhaul of the system of instruction connected with the foundation. All this, particularly the reorganisation of the finances, took some time; some of the money was diverted to local defence measures in the light of the threatening attitude of the southern states, and there was the usual reluctance to devote much 'public' money to education. There was, apparently, also a personal reason for the delay.

The canon responsible for the Grossmiinster Grammar school {scholasticus) was Dr John Niessli, who continued the traditional course3 until his death on 3 April 1525. The council then at once named Zwingli Principal

(Schulherr) and with his customary energy he promptly set about giving institutional form to the mandate of September 1523, a matter further facilitated by the death of Canon Conrad Hofmann, whose distrust of popular education and conservative opposition to Zwingli had been another delaying force.

Zwingli now put his educational ideas into operation, with long-lasting effects. The chief purpose of a school being religious instruction meant that the schools at the Great Minster (schola Carolina), the Fraumtinster

(schola abbatissana) and St Peter's were designed primarily as seminaries of the preachers and divines that a Christian community must have. He therefore divided the former minster school into two parts - a grammar school for boys and a theological college for the training of ministers. For both institutions he formed a kind of board of governors of four,4 with himself as chairman.

Additional accommodation for the school was taken from the Great Minster buildings, two new classrooms were provided, and a staff of four,5 which was generous for the age, was authorised. There was to be a Headmaster {ludimagister) and his assistant (usher, or provisor). There were also two subordinates (collaboratores, attendentes, curatores), who were respon1 'ein christenlich ansehen und ordnung'. Egli /, 168-71 (No. 426); Bullinger, Ref. 1,115-19;

Z 11, 528, 609; Z iv, 398 n. 5.

2 There were 24 canons and 32 chaplains. Dismissal was not suggested, but as one of the latter died he was not replaced. J. Figi, Die inner e Reorganisation des Grossmiinster stifles in Zurich von is 19 bis 1531 (Zurich: Affoltern, 1951).

3 Johann Heinrich Hottinger, Schola Tigurinorum Carolina (Tiguri [Zurich], 1664) 191-218 gives some interesting details about the earlier school.

4 The others were Canon Heinrich Schwarzmurer, Rudolf Thumysen and Ulrich Trinkler.

Z iv, 368; Wyss, 57 n. 2, 107 n. 6.

5 The number of canons serving the Great Minster was further reduced from 24 to 18 to make this provision possible. Schmid-Clausing, Zwingli, 59.

Peasants, opposition, education sible for the provision of the necessary equipment, which in the sixteenth century was minimal, and for discipline. This tantalising glimpse is almost all we have; it was a grammar school like others, primarily for the purpose of teaching elementary Latin from the usual text books of grammar Donatus, Alexander of Villa Dei and the rest - together with a little

Greek. There was also instruction in simple 'numeracy', music, and in the rules of logic and composition - the traditional trivium and quadrivium.

The stipends of the teachers, derived from the endowments of suppressed prebends at the Minster, were low.I Collin was also a rope-maker, Musculus a weaver, Kessler a saddler, while Leo Jud's wife supplemented the family income by spinning. The ages of the pupils, who were expected to pay some fees, were between seven and fourteen or fifteen. Books were few, learning was largely by verbal repetition and lessons may have been for four or five hours daily. The example of Zurich was copied on a smaller scale at Kappel, Riiti, Winterthur and Stein, but the provision was never extensive.2

The theological college was far more original. It was known, from the exercises in public speaking or preaching which were its central themes, as the Prophezei.3 Part of each day except Friday and Sunday was to be devoted to detailed Bible study. On these occasions the young men, a dozen or so boys of sixteen joined by at least an equal number of ministers, mostly former priests from the city, were to be exposed to ' public lectures' to be given in successive periods4 in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. In the case of the two latter languages this can only have meant in practice grammar and translation, using the New and Old Testaments as text books, followed by some simple exposition in German. Practically everybody present, for example, would know the Latin Psalms by heart and hence could be brought into direct contact with the Hebrew version, and equally they had been made well acquainted with long passages of the Vulgate New Testament which could be compared with Erasmus' translation and then with the original Greek. The polymath who was to be responsible for the day-today working of this ambitious programme was Ceporinus, who was a competent Hebraist. He was paid from the proceeds of the prebend vacated by Hofmann, and gave his inaugural lecture on 19 June 1525.5

Both he and his hearers soon found the strain of all this too great; no 1 ZWA xi (1962), 432-3, 443-7.

2 Ernst, Geschichte des ziircherischen Schulwesens, 64-5, 74-81.

3 Z iv, 398 n. 5; Z XIII, 289-90; Bullinger, Ref. 1, 289-91; Sabbata 1, 203-4; Wyss, 66-7;

Farner ill, 551-60.

4 There were to be two lectures, one in the morning, 7 a.m.-8 a.m. in the Minster during the summer; 8 a.m.~9 a.m. in the Canons' Common Room (Chorherrenstube) during the winter; and one in the afternoon, 3 p.m.~4 p.m. in the Fraumiinster. Z iv, 660, 666.

5 Z iv; 362-3, 365, 367; Ernst, Schulwesens, 56; Bullinger, Ref. 1, 290.

ZWINGLI ordinary person even then could hope to follow three such lectures consecutively, and to move straight from one to the other was beyond even

Ceporinus' powers.1 Hence it was soon agreed that Ceporinus should instruct in Greek one day and in Hebrew on the following day, while

Zwingli was to undertake the Latin lecture himself. The Septuagint, which Zwingli esteemed highly, was constantly available for comparison and comment: in practice the lectures or classes in the Great Minster were almost exclusively concerned with the Old Testament.2

When instructed themselves, the 'prophets' were to be regarded as in some way superior to the ordinary minister {Pfarrer), who looked to them for instruction and advice - a good deal of deference was expected to be paid to them because of their linguistic abilities, even if, ultimately, the community must judge whether their inspiration came from God. No one denied that there were learned doctors among the papists and, too, like

Hubmaier, Mantz and Grebel, among the Anabaptists. Zwingli recognised the problem presented by the agreed teaching that truths might be revealed to simple people that were hidden from men of learning, but that did not mean that ignorance of itself conveyed assurance of divine guidance - the evangelists themselves, after all, were learned men.

The significance of the 'Prophezei', an arrangement suited to Zurich in the 1530s but comprehensible only with difficulty to a secularised world, has tended to be overlooked. From it came preachers, teachers and missionaries, saturated with knowledge of the Bible. From it, too, came the Zwinglian commentaries on many of the books of the Old Testament which have now been carefully edited. What is most apparent is the great attention paid to words; it was not only that the exact meaning must be discovered, but also derivations and implications from derivations. It was all rather primitive; the sixteenth century did not have the linguistic equipment of the seventeenth, let alone of later centuries, and many of the discussions could seem barren or misguided. If it was entirely biblical, it was also genuinely critical. Day after day and for a full two hours on end, a small group of earnest men was bestowing concentrated attention upon some of the difficult passages of the Law and the Prophets. It was an admirable training in that it involved the closest attention to the meaning of the words of the original text and constant comparison of one passage with another. It could however easily degenerate into rather speculative philology or insoluble questions of metaphorical interpretation.

1 He died about 20 December 1525 and was replaced by Pellican for Hebrew and Collin for Greek. Egli 4 11, 5-32, 145-55; Wyss, 4 n. 1. Jud, Grossmann, Ammann and (later) Bibliander were also brought in.

2 Bullinger in a small way had presided over a similar arrangement for theological lectures at Kappel in 1523-5.

Peasants, opposition, education From it all emerged the Zurich Bible.1 Zwingli was directly responsible for the versions of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Lamentations, but he was the driving force behind the whole undertaking. He personally paid special attention to the Septuagint, partly, perhaps, because his largely selftaught Hebrew was never quite first class.2 Hebrew, however, was indispensable, and its poetical imagery appealed to him as much as the derivations of the words and the allegory of much of the text. For him translation and exposition were inseparable; there was mysticism as well as accurate rendering about the Bible lessons of the theological school to whose aims and purpose he contributed so powerfully.

The 'Prophezei' went from strength to strength.3 It was copied in Strassburg and Basle and has its parallels in Puritan England and Scotland. Some of the recruits for the school lived in Zwingli's own large house and provided both income and domestic worries for his wife; like Luther,

Zwingli was seldom alone for a meal, and it was at meal times that he was available to help them with their studies or inspire them with his personality. The growing activity of the Zurich press indicated increasing literacy; again and again refugee ministers from Catholic territory were provided with teaching employment and with congregations. The lectures in the Great Minster continued uninterrupted, even while Zwingli was away at Marburg, until 1531. They ensured the adequate supply of talent, which the Zwinglian ministry needed.

As the institution developed, a distinction was very properly made between theological lectures (Prophezei) and sermons, although the one might provide ammunition for the other. In some cases, quite clearly, the discussions which had gone on among the language-instructed clergy and students were relayed to the people in German, no doubt with explanation and amplification. The lectures were held in the choir, the sermons were preached from the pulpit in the nave of the Great Minster. The sixteenth century had a passion for sermons not easily comprehended by a later age daily sermons, at which attendance was almost obligatory, were heard by large numbers in the Great Minster, Fraumiinster (three days a week) and St Peter's. The sermon in this way replaced the mass, and the preacher displaced the priest. As an institution the Prophezei produced the ' prophet' who had a higher status and greater responsibilities within the Christian community than the simple evangelist or preacher. He could, because of his specialised knowledge, expound and interpret the scriptures authoritatively; it was to him that the village parson should turn for advice

1 L. Weisz, Leo Jud, Ulrich Zwinglis Kampfgenosse 1482-1542 (Zurich, 1942) 46-7, 56-7.

See above, 128 n 4. v 2 ZWA 1, 153-8; Z in, 138-9 n. 6; Z xiv, 878-81. Zwingli indignantly repudiated the suggestion that he had learnt Hebrew from a learned Jew in Winterthur.

3 Sabbata 380; Wyss, 66, 67.

ZWINGLI and guidance. Luther himself constantly insisted that the 'doctor' had an important place in the church, and this notion was given even greater emphasis by the office of the Zurich 'prophet'.1

It was, moreover, the duty of the prophet to warn as well as to instruct.2

He must watch over those for whom he was responsible, call sinners to repentance and publicly denounce the wicked, the hard-hearted and the Godless or impious.

This required fearlessness and firmness; if the government overlooked evil, the prophet must point it out and that in no uncertain terms and without regard to persons. The times were evil, but the existence of the 'prophets' was a sign of divine approval. It was the duty of the prophet, if need be, to intervene in politics, for only thus might a truly Christian community be formed. Zwingli spoke with the authority of a Jeremiah, but with hope and assurance. Christianismus renascens.3 Unlike his opponents,

Lutherans and Anabaptists, he never spoke as if he anticipated an early Second Advent. On the contrary, a new world was being formed. The future might be bright, the prophet might be heeded, Zurich might become the instrument to win the Swiss people to Christ and thence outward to the bounds of Christendom. The Prophezei was the power-house for all this, and those early morning Bible classes were calls to action as well as to reflection.

These measures were, in a sense, Zurich's substitute for a university,4 as was also in some degree true of Strassburg and Geneva. In general the sixteenth century universities had come to be regarded as clerical, conservative, scholastic and obscurantist institutions, opponents of the Reformation, with Wittenberg as an obvious exception. The drop in student numbers after the 1520s was, in some places, quite remarkable.

Conventionally the foundation of a university required an imperial or papal decree, and Zurich was not likely to apply to either Emperor or Pope.

The University of Basle, after an interval of internal reconstruction, continued to provide for Swiss needs. In Zurich higher education remained restricted. Zwingli's conviction that biblical studies were supremely important meant that his educational legacy was, in effect, almost illiberal.

High-quality Sunday schools and a kind of extended theological college with special facilities for the study of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, were all that was needed.

1 F. Biisser, 'De prophetae officio\ in Festgabe Leonhard von Muralt (Ziirich, 1970), 245-57.

2 S. Rother, Die religiosen und geistigen Grundlagen der Politik Huldrych Zwinglis (Erlangen,

1956) 63-72.

3 Z VIII, 200 lClarum ergo est, quod omnino mundum instaurari, et per verbum, inquam, instaurari oportet? Z XIII, 299; Z xiv, 269.

4 H. Nabholz, Die Universitdt Zurich, 1833-1933 (Zurich, 1935), 4-8; E. Gagliardi, H. Nabholz u. J. Strohl, Die Univcrsitdt Zurich, 1833-^33, und ihre Vorldufer (Zurich, 1938).

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