The Life and Times of Ulric Zwingli

by Johann Jakob Hottinger

After this victory, the government of Bern addressed itself to the establishment of the Reformation in the entire canton as well as to its more rapid diffusion in all parts of the Confederacy. St. Gall, where the mass and images had already been laid aside, now joined the Christian Buergerrecht. In Basel, the middle class took a still bolder stand against the more aristocratic party belonging to the old faith. The Council was divided and cramped; one burgomaster stood opposed to the other. Now the deputies of the cantons and now those of the cities appeared with attempts at mediation. The churches re-echoed with the mutual recriminations of the mass priests and the preachers. Œcolampadius wisely continued to speak in favor of peace, but he could not bring it about; for the time for anything like compromise had gone by. Crowds of armed men broke into the churches by force, altars were overthrown, pictures and images dashed to pieces, dragged into the streets and burned: the Small Council was compelled to exile twelve of its members, and the Great Council to increase its number by the admission of four associates from each guild. A committee, appointed by them and armed with full authority, succeeded in restoring quiet. The introduction of the Reformation into the whole canton followed these events. In Glarus also, Schaffhausen, Appenzel and Graubuenden the new party gained strength every day. Even Solothurn no longer stood firm in the old faith, especially since Berchthold Haller had been called thither as a preacher.

In all directions, with unremitting zeal, by his counsel, by his writings, by his correspondence, Zwingli wrought upon the government of Zurich, which committed to him the drawing up of its opinions, and, as appears from the protocols, usually gave him a voice, during the latter years of his life, in the most important deliberations of a political nature. When the thorough measures, which he wished and demanded, met with resistance from those, who were yet averse to church-reforms, he procured, by means of a fiery sermon, about the close of the year 1528, the passage of a law compelling the members of Small and Great Councils, man for man, to declare and avow their faith, and accept preaching and the Lord's Supper in the Evangelical mode. Some were excluded from the Small Council, who would not make this promise. Equally clear, from his correspondence, is the great attention bestowed by him on events occurring outside of the fatherland; the proceedings of the Imperial Diet, the mandates of the Emperor, and the measures of Austria. Even before the treaty of the Buergerrecht was ratified with Constance, he received hints from different quarters in regard to secret negotiations carried on between the authorities of the Austrian government and the Five Cantons. The apprehensions might perhaps be exaggerated. But they struck him as important. Hence he did not strive to conceal the possibility of war; and a historical work, which would give a full portrait of so great a character, durst not suppress the fact, that previous to the Conference in Bern he had prepared for such an emergency a very elaborate plan of defence, which is still extant in his own hand-writing.^[1] He, who would censure him for this, should not, on the other side, forget the courageous spirit which, at a time, when Zurich stood almost alone in the Confederacy, still, relying only upon the truth and justice of the cause to be defended, thought it possible to maintain the battle against such overwhelming odds as then existed. In this feeling the pamphlet was thrown off, from the beginning of which we make the following extract: "The author has pondered over this counsel for the honor of God and the good of Christ's Gospel, so that wickedness and injustice may not get the upper hand and put down the fear of God and innocence. In the first place, it should be proclaimed in all parishes in the city and canton, that all men earnestly beseech God never to let us counsel or act contrary to His divine will; and also, if it be consistent with that divine will, to remove all victory from our enemies and bring forth the honor of His Word, as well as grant us grace to live in accordance with his will. Of course this work should begin at home; for there is need to let all the people in the city and canton know with what violence and treachery some of the Confederates have acted toward us, all which has been borne with a patient. Christian spirit, in hope of a change for the better; that now no choice is left but to defend ourselves in a knightly fashion, or else to renounce God and His Word; and that it is the determination of the good city of Zurich to lose everything: state, goods, town, country, body and life, rather than abandon the truth she has professed. Each and every district ought to be commanded, in case any one is not willing thus seriously and honestly to stand by the Word of God, the city and the canton, to notify him in the beginning, that he must go off in three days under suitable conditions. But whoever has courage enough to pledge soul, honor, life and property to God's Word and the city of Zurich, to him shall be said that you have received such and such counsels, and that you yourselves act wholly for God, and will protect yourselves and Him from all harm." These counsels now follow. They furnish proofs of his knowledge of foreign and domestic relations as well as the arts of political life and stratagems of war. He afterward shows how they ought to conduct themselves toward the Emperor, France, other neighbors, every canton of the Confederacy, their allies and the common territories. He unfolds the advantages of striking the first blow, of surprises in war; he enters even into the nature and use of various kinds of weapons. But then, he concludes: "These crude and smoke-stained plans I have hastily brought together for the sake of certain violent and dishonest persons, who, beyond all propriety and in the teeth of the Federal Compact, threaten the good city of Zurich with war. Still, I have an undoubting hope that Almighty God will not let the pious people of the Confederacy suffer for the treachery of a few, nor permit us thus to sit in judgment on each other. I have prayed from the bottom of my heart, that he will defend his city in some other way than the one here pointed out, and cause the pious, common people to dwell peacefully together in one Confederacy." How deeply concerned he was in guiding the ship of state is clear from the fact, that in this same sketch he even designates the individuals, who might be safely entrusted with the command of the different batalions as well as with seats in the council of war, adding, it is true: "But a muster can hurt nobody." From such labors he hurried off to write letters to theologians, to study the Holy Scriptures, to mount the pulpit, to draw up ecclesiastical regulations and formulas of worship. Only such a man was able to carry out the Reformation in a free state. Instead of condemning him, we must keep this steadily in view, and be careful not to form our judgment according to the ideas of the nineteenth, but of the sixteenth century.

Over against this activity of the Reformed, that of the Catholic party now developed itself in silence, but with no less energy. This became manifest at the close of the year 1529. At the same time the adherents of the Reformation had already gained so great a preponderance in Glarus, that there, as in Bern, the sealed promise, given to the Five Cantons, of fidelity to the old faith could no longer be upheld as a law of the land. A number of parishes in the Thurgau and the valley of the Rhine had applied to Zurich for Evangelical preachers. In spite of the landvogt of the Five Cantons, who had gone to prevent them, they made their appearance there, and the church-regulations of Zurich were introduced under the very eyes of the Catholic envoys. The Toggenburgers also, through the undeniable influence of Zwingli, rose up against the ecclesiastical supremacy of their liege-lord, the Abbot of St. Gall. He sick and deserted by a portion of the members of his convent had been carried to Rorschach, whilst the burghers of the city began more freely to exercise a control and gradually to assume the command in the monastery, and even in the cathedral. In Graubuenden, the Abbot of St. Lucien, one of the most powerful supports of the Bishops and the Catholic party, had been executed for bribery and criminal intrigues, and in Schænnis, in the very presence of a threatening embassy from Schwyz, the wooden images of the Saints were brought out into the street. "See," cried the excited youth to them, "here is the road to Schwyz; here to Glarus; here Zurich. Choose which you will take; you have a safe-conduct. If you cannot travel you must burn." When the Catholic rulers wished to avenge this outrage, the burghers of Wesen sought aid from Zurich, which, because she had no jurisdiction in that region, was denied them.

If the Reformation should continue to spread in this way, what was left for the Five Cantons, except to throw open at last their own territory for its entrance, or, surrounded by opponents, to see themselves overwhelmed in case of war, and reduced, perhaps, to the most fearful want by the obstruction of commerce? Under these circumstances many, whose ideas of affairs were just, gradually yielded, and what had for a long time been secretly hoped for by a few, an alliance with their powerful neighbor, Austria, who likewise remained loyal to the faith, found increasing favor among the rulers of the people. On the 14th of February, 1529, deputies of the Five Cantons met the Austrian authorities at Feldkirch. Whether they had invited them thither, as a historian of Luzern informs us, or whether, as said by several reporters of the opposite party, one of whom was himself present as a spy, the suit of the Austrian counsellors at first foiled through the great coldness with which it was received by the Confederates, can scarcely be ascertained now. The records afford no proof for either view. In the meantime, a draught of a mutual treaty was made, which, if approved by the Archduke Ferdinand, King of Hungary and Bohemia, as well as by the Councils and parishes of the Five Cantons, was to be published and ratified as a definitive alliance in Waldshut. This took place in April, and in the same month King Ferdinand himself handed over a copy of the document to the Diet of the collective states assembled in Baden, with the explanation that the alliance was intended neither to aggrieve, nor attack or injure, but simply to protect the old, true faith, to uphold peace and order, and was open to every Christian government, which desired to enter it. At the same time, the Zurichers and Bernese must have clearly seen, that it was a counter-part, and a suspicious one, of the Christian Buergerrecht. On the side of the Reformed only one imperial city came forward, whilst on that of the Catholics stood the mightiest of the neighboring states, and that with articles capable of a far wider application than any in the Christian Buergerrecht. They commenced by declaring, that every reform in matters of faith, yea even the representation of the necessity of such a thing was interdicted in the territories of the allies, and that whosoever "would undertake to raise up and form new lawless sects among the people," he should be taken by the magistracy, supported of course by the allies, and punished "in honor, body and life, or according to the form laid down for that crime." What was now to be done in the territories held by Zurich and Bern in common with the Five Cantons? Could the former permit the inhabitants, who wished for reform and sought aid for its introduction, to be punished by the vogts (bailiffs) perhaps with fire and sword, merely because their religious convictions were not those of a part of their rulers? Then the possibility of a war, even within the limits of the Confederacy, was expressly provided for, and in that event the Austrian quota was to be 6,000 foot-soldiers, 400 horsemen and a supply of artillery. Other associates beyond the Confederacy had likewise permission to join the alliance and "march against the enemy and rebels within, in full force and at their charges." Finally, what was afterward regarded as an act of special injustice to the cities of Zurich and Bern and the chief cause of the unhappy turn of the religious war, the prohibition of the necessaries of life was made also a principle of this alliance, a lawful mode of fighting, and preferred and recommended in case strife should break out.

As soon as the two cities had received certain information that the alliance was concluded, before the documents were yet delivered to the Diet by King Ferdinand, they instituted a convention of the collective cantons, not embraced in the alliance. All, with the exception of Freiburg, were present at it. A resolution was now passed to send an embassy to Luzern and into the Five Cantons, praying for the abandonment of a connection, which would necessarily shake the Confederacy to its very foundations. This embassy of the seven states was joined by delegates from the allied cities of St. Gall, Chur, Muehlhausen and Biel.

But the animosity of the parties had already grown to such a height that little was to be hoped for from conciliatory measures. Still many were found on both sides, who continued to favor peaceful counsels and desire a dispassionate, and, above all, a national discussion of the questions at issue. Some months previous to this, the Council at Zug had written to that of Zurich: They were not willing to believe in the rumor of hostile intentions against the Zurichers and designs of pillage among the peasantry on the further side of Lake Zurich: then the letter proceeds--"for we have observed with great pleasure, what friendly intercourse exists between our people and yours, who lie together on the borders. So would we also act toward you, and spare neither day nor night to bring about peace, reconciliation and unity." Bern discovered a similar kind disposition among her Catholic neighbors in Entlebuch "Every day"--it was written to the bailiff and commons of that place--"the people of the Emmenthal speak of the friendly manner in which you have behaved toward them, and how you lately cast into prison one who defamed us. For this, accept our hearty thanks. And although much may have been said to you, how we perhaps intended to compel you or others to embrace the new faith, as it is called, we freely declare that we never thought of such a thing, and would do it on no account, for faith is the gift of God alone; but if any one would force us from our resolution, we must defend it, as those who are bound always to give an answer for our faith according to the Holy Scripture." In Luzern itself, even among individual members of the government, a friendly feeling was still found by the envoys of Zurich, who in the beginning of the year were sent thither to lay complaints against Thomas Murner. They wrote from this city to the Council at Zurich: "It is the common talk at Luzern that the peasantry, who border on us and the Bernese, are so well content with their neighbors, that there is nothing like it, and they say together that they will have no war with each other, but mutually agree to pledge their persons and their services and not trouble themselves about religion." This was also confirmed by Von Knonau, the Zurichan landvogt.

Relying on this spirit, which still survived, at least among a portion of the people even in the other Catholic cantons, a full statement was drawn up, to be laid by envoys before the Councils, and if permitted, before the general assemblies (landgemeinen) of the Five Cantons. "No doubt," so it ran, "there is still, dear Confederates, many a good honest man among you, who may justly consider what injury, reproach and danger to us all and our common fatherland must spring from such an alliance, and into whose hands and power we will fall--those namely, who have never favored, but always hated us, and even taught their children to hate us from the cradle. Indeed, many a dwelling will become desolate, if they, who began this, persevere in their undertaking. But how can they do it, when we, on our part, yet desire to remain your true and faithful Confederates; to adhere to our treaties and oaths with you, and to prove to you our friendship, love and duty without stint of life or property? And since many and various slanders, about our two cities Zurich and Bern, have circulated among you, as though they had made a special agreement to arm themselves against you with artillery, guns, ships, marchings and other warlike devices, placed the bell over you and used foul words to your disparagement; O do not lend a ready ear to such fables! for indeed such a thing has never entered our heart or mind, much less have we ever attempted to do it."

The reception of the embassy was of a more friendly character in Schwyz, and that before a full meeting of the general assembly. They heard the message calmly. A written answer was promised and given not without cordiality. This, however, may have been partly due to the secretary.

The event in Zug was not quite so peaceful. Open discord reigned among the counselors, a majority of whom were zealous advocates of the alliance. Admission to the general assembly (landsgemeine) was not granted to the deputies. We are told in their report: "They pretended they had an excitable population, and were concerned lest our presence would create great confusion; for they were much more passionate and intolerant in the assemblies than the councils." In Altorf a difference was made between Zurich and Bern; between the decided cantons and those that were more accommodating.--The former were thanked; the latter, and Zurich especially, were charged with interfering in matters of faith, where they had no business so to do. Of the new faith, they said: "Would to God it were buried!" Then an attempt was made, as had been done before by Schwyz, to maintain it as a principle in the government of the Common Territories, that even in ecclesiastical affairs the majority of votes among the ruling cantons should decide. Of all the points at issue this was the most difficult. Over it the strife continually broke out anew.--Proudly and piously spoke the Luzerners: They would follow their forefathers in everything, in adherence to the Federal Compact, and in love, but only when it did not deviate from the faith. Seditious persons now try to undermine this, as once the serpent sneaked around our first parents in Paradise. From such poison they would preserve their children and children's children. They had been prompted to do what they now did, in the face of censure, by the intrigues, embassies and negotiations of other cantons among themselves, in the territories as well as with foreigners, the defiance with which their just complaints had been met and the arming of the Zurichers. In Obwalden a very hostile disposition at last revealed itself. Here a bitterness of spirit had been left behind by the unsuccessful inroad into the Haslithal, which was essentially increased by the claims of Bern for indemnification, the sojourn of fugitive Oberlanders and the execution of Hans im Sand, who had enjoyed special favor in Obwalden. With all their efforts the mediating cantons had not yet been able to restore peace, but only to prevent the outbreak of a second war. The deputies of Obwalden and those of the Reformed cities still gave each other short words and exchanged sullen looks, when they met at the Federal Diet. But in Sarnen the most unfriendly reception awaited the embassy of the Confederates. Only the envoys of those cantons, which had not yet spoken out decidedly for the Reformation, were treated with a certain moderation, and notified that the sharp language, which must be used, had but a partial reference to them. Then the Federal Compact was revoked with all apostates from the true faith, and pity expressed that it had not been done before. They and the other Forest Cantons were the true, old Confederates, they had won the prize of liberty, they had admitted the rest of the cantons into the Confederacy. Why should these now wish to be their masters? But the Emperor, Austria, France, Savoy and Wallis (Valais) will indeed help them to prevent it. A written answer was refused. On the other hand they got a sight of the escutcheons of Zurich, Bern and Basel painted on a gallows in the house of the secretary of state (landschreiber) and when they complained of it, the excuse was, it meant nothing,--a foolish fellow had daubed it there.

Great was the exasperation at this news, particularly in Zurich. Now openly and earnestly they set about arming themselves, refused peace beforehand without the humiliation of Obwalden, and called upon Bern by letters and an embassy not to make the least abatement in its unsettled grievances against that district, but rather to insist with redoubled zeal on satisfaction and the fullest indemnity. Indeed, Zwingli wished to go yet further. He had expressly desired, in the Privy Council, by which all the more important business of state was again disposed of, that no peace would be concluded with Obwalden, if she would not renounce all pensions, abandon the alliance with Austria and give up all the bailiwicks for a term of office. But Bern was by no means so ready for war. In the Council, jealousy or mere political shyness of the often hasty interference of Zurich, appears to have given new animation to the party opposed to her. "We are," wrote Haller to Zwingli, "as unsound as ever in our government; and though we now at Easter possess the Small and Great Councils, yet we are fearful that nothing good will be done here, because all those, who have hitherto shown themselves hostile to the word of God, are returning to power, and if that happen, then you may expect nothing else from us, than that nothing good will be undertaken." Under seal of the strictest silence he communicated to him the fact, that in eight days at furthest no more than a crown would be found remaining in the public treasury. "If the Oberlanders knew this," he added, "do you suppose they would leave us unmolested?" It appears also, when Zurich became still more urgent, and earnestly declared she would not suffer it, but prevent it by force of arms, if necessary, that the new landvogt of Baden, an Unterwaldner, entered the city on horseback about the time of the election of public officers, and an embassy from Bern with prayers for more peaceful deliberation and more moderate councils, uttered the assurance that she was less inclined than ever to such a course. "In the opinion of my Lords," said its spokesman, "it would be better yet to prevent by friendliness an unpleasant issue. They are not willing to begin war before they know more certainly the disposition of their people, who are ready for an outbreak, now when the sun shines, but when it rains, their courage falls. A part of our peasantry have concluded a formal treaty with their neighbors of Luzern not to injure one another. We would not compel them to do so. You know very well that the Word of God enjoins nothing else but peace and quiet. True, dear Confederates and Christian townsmen of Zurich, you yourselves at first desired to accomplish everything by kindness. Indeed, faith cannot be administered at the point of the spear and halberd. And then remember, the Emperor has not so much to do, that if we attempt anything, he cannot march out against us. Then we have the Wallisers (people of the canton of Valais) with us, who are waiting, and if we would undertake anything with the Confederates, they would march homo again in an hour, even if they had to leave their beds; and who could hinder them? Lastly, there is the negotiation with the Duke of Savoy not yet settled, and we know not where we are. Therefore, we pray you, for the sake of Christ's passion, not to be so violent."