Introduction
Around the same time that Martin Luther was born in a miner’s cabin in Germany, Ulrich Zwingli was born in Switzerland in a herdsman’s cottage high up in the Alps. His father desired for him an education. Thus he went for education at the age of 13, but when he was there, a turning point in his life had happened. Because of his intellect, his sharp mind and his leadership qualities, the monks desired to recruit him for Priestly education, while Luther had gone down that path, Zwingly had no desire to go down to that path. Neither did his father, and so his father called for him to return home. This paper tries to sketch the historical, political context of Zwingli’s time and also tries to label his influence and Education which played an vital role in Reformation.
Historical and Political context
The Swiss Confederation in Huldrych Zwingli's time consisted of thirteen states (cantons) as well as affiliated areas and common lordships. Unlike the modern state of Switzerland, which operates under a federal government, each of the thirteen cantons was nearly independent, conducting its own domestic and foreign affairs. Each canton formed its own alliances within and without the Confederation. This relative independence served as the basis for conflict during the time of the Reformation when the various cantons divided between different confessional camps. Military ambitions gained an additional impetus with the competition to acquire new territory and resources, as seen for example in the Old Zürich War of 1440–1446.
The wider political environment in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries was also volatile. For centuries the relationship with the Confederation's powerful neighbour, France, determined the foreign policies of the Swiss. Nominally, the Confederation formed a part of the Holy Roman Empire. However, through a succession of wars culminating in the Swabian War in 1499, the Confederation had become de facto independent. As the two continental powers and minor regional states such as the Duchy of Milan, the Duchy of Savoy, and the Papal States competed and fought against each other, there were far-reaching political, economic, and social consequences for the Confederation. During this time the mercenary pension system became a subject of disagreement. The religious factions of Zwingli's time debated the merits of sending young Swiss men to fight in foreign wars mainly for the enrichment of the cantonal authorities.
Timeline
1453 Constantinople falls; end of Eastern Roman Empire
1456 Gutenberg produces first printed Bible
1479 Establishment of Spanish Inquisition
1484 Ulrich Zwingli born
1531 Ulrich Zwingli dies
1536 John Calvin publishes first edition of Institutes
Zwingli was the son of a free peasant who was a village magistrate. His mother, Margaret Meili, was the sister of the abbot of Fischingen in Thurgau, and his uncle Bartholomäus Zwingli was priest of Wildhaus and later dean of Wesen. Huldrych went to school at Wesen, then Basel (1494), and Bern (1496), where his master, Heinrich Wölflin, inspired in him an enthusiasm for the classics and a love of music. The Dominicans were interested in his musical gifts and almost enticed him to enter a convent. But his father and uncle dissuaded him, and, instead, he moved on to university studies at Vienna (1498) and then Basel (1502), where he was graduated in 1504.
Zwingli and Thomas Wyttenbach
Supported by teaching, Zwingly read theology and was deeply influenced by the lectures of the teacher and Reformer Thomas Wyttenbach . Ordained to the priesthood, he went, in 1506, to Glarus, where he proved a good pastor, encouraged education, commenced studying Greek and even Hebrew, and read widely in the Church Fathers. Service as chaplain with the Swiss Army led him to oppose the mercenary system. His stand provoked hostility at Glarus, and in 1516 he moved to a new charge at Einsiedeln, where he enjoyed both wide opportunities for preaching to the many pilgrims and fine facilities for study at the convent. Zwingli afterwards dated his evangelical understanding of the Scriptures from the period of transition to Einsiedeln. The difficulties at Glarus gave to this development a more than academic significance.
Zwingli and Erasmus
Ulrich Zwingli had a great career, from about 1519 to 1529. He was trained as a Catholic priest and studied at the City of Basel. Basel was quite a university city in Switzerland. The fascinating thing about Basel is that the scholar Erasmus went to print his Greek text there, and at the same time he was printing the Greek text, Zwingli was a student in Basel. In 1516, when Zwingli left Basel, he had with him the Greek New Testament, and for the next few years he studied it. In fact, Zwingli handwrote a copy of Paul’s epistles—so he had the printed copy and his own handwritten copy.
Zwingli and Philip of Hesse
Zwingli was a humanist and a scholar with many devoted friends and disciples. He communicated as easily with the ordinary people of his congregation as with rulers such as Philip of Hesse . His reputation as a stern, stolid reformer is counterbalanced by the fact that he had an excellent sense of humour and used satiric fables, spoofing, and puns in his writings. He was more conscious of social obligations than Luther and he genuinely believed that the masses would accept a government guided by God's word. He tirelessly promoted assistance to the poor, who he believed should be cared for by a truly Christian community.
Zwingli and His higher Education
Zwingli's time as the pastor of Glarus and Einsiedeln was characterized by inner growth and development. He perfected his Greek and he took up the study of Hebrew. His library contained over three hundred volumes from which he was able to draw upon classical, patristic, and scholastic works. He exchanged scholarly letters with a circle of Swiss humanists and began to study the writings of Erasmus. Zwingli took the opportunity to meet him while Erasmus was in Basel between August 1514 and May 1516. Zwingli's turn to relative pacifism and his focus on preaching can be traced to the influence of Erasmus.
Zwingli and a deadly plague
Zwingli began to read more books of church fathers like John Wycliffe , john huss. In 1506 he was invited to preach the Gospel in Zurich. He accepted it by placing an conditions that he would be free to preach the pure Gospel of Christ.Great crowds came to hear his sermons and from all sides People were fascinated by his preaching especially on the way he preached on salvation. One day, suddenly plague came on that city and 2500 people died out of a population of 17,000 but Zwingli would not go away he visited the stricken families and he comforted the dying, by doing so he himself fell victim to the plague and suffered for months.
Zwingli and Music
Zwingli enjoyed music and could play several instruments, including the violin, harp, flute, dulcimer and hunting horn. He would sometimes amuse the children of his congregation on his lute and was so well known for his playing that his enemies mocked him as "the evangelical lute-player and fifer". Three of Zwingli's Lieder or hymns have been preserved: the Pestlied mentioned above, an adaptation of Psalm 65 (c. 1525), and the Kappeler Lied, which is believed to have been composed during the campaign of the first war of Kappel (1529). These songs were not meant to be sung during worship services and are not identified as hymns of the Reformation, though they were published in some 16th-century hymnals. Zwingli criticised the practice of priestly chanting and monastic choirs.
Zwingli’s Death
Zurich was divided between catholics and protestants. Many ware favoured by zwinglis preaching and teaching and his influence became widespread he was having a debated with Martin Luther, they had different theologies but they were friends.Switzerland remained the same, catholics and protestants. And troubles began persecution broke out civil war in effect and army of 8000 invaded Zurich and Zwingli was part of a small army of 2,700 members. Thus Zwingli himself was killed in the battle. He was 47 years of age, his death was a cause of intense grief to his followers. After Zwingli’s death, the Reformation made no further headway in Switzerland; the country is still half Catholic and half Protestant.
Around the same time that Martin Luther was born in a miner’s cabin in Germany, Ulrich Zwingli was born in Switzerland in a herdsman’s cottage high up in the Alps. His father desired for him an education. Thus he went for education at the age of 13, but when he was there, a turning point in his life had happened. Because of his intellect, his sharp mind and his leadership qualities, the monks desired to recruit him for Priestly education, while Luther had gone down that path, Zwingly had no desire to go down to that path. Neither did his father, and so his father called for him to return home. This paper tries to sketch the historical, political context of Zwingli’s time and also tries to label his influence and Education which played an vital role in Reformation.
Historical and Political context
The Swiss Confederation in Huldrych Zwingli's time consisted of thirteen states (cantons) as well as affiliated areas and common lordships. Unlike the modern state of Switzerland, which operates under a federal government, each of the thirteen cantons was nearly independent, conducting its own domestic and foreign affairs. Each canton formed its own alliances within and without the Confederation. This relative independence served as the basis for conflict during the time of the Reformation when the various cantons divided between different confessional camps. Military ambitions gained an additional impetus with the competition to acquire new territory and resources, as seen for example in the Old Zürich War of 1440–1446.
The wider political environment in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries was also volatile. For centuries the relationship with the Confederation's powerful neighbour, France, determined the foreign policies of the Swiss. Nominally, the Confederation formed a part of the Holy Roman Empire. However, through a succession of wars culminating in the Swabian War in 1499, the Confederation had become de facto independent. As the two continental powers and minor regional states such as the Duchy of Milan, the Duchy of Savoy, and the Papal States competed and fought against each other, there were far-reaching political, economic, and social consequences for the Confederation. During this time the mercenary pension system became a subject of disagreement. The religious factions of Zwingli's time debated the merits of sending young Swiss men to fight in foreign wars mainly for the enrichment of the cantonal authorities.
Timeline
1453 Constantinople falls; end of Eastern Roman Empire
1456 Gutenberg produces first printed Bible
1479 Establishment of Spanish Inquisition
1484 Ulrich Zwingli born
1531 Ulrich Zwingli dies
1536 John Calvin publishes first edition of Institutes
Zwingli was the son of a free peasant who was a village magistrate. His mother, Margaret Meili, was the sister of the abbot of Fischingen in Thurgau, and his uncle Bartholomäus Zwingli was priest of Wildhaus and later dean of Wesen. Huldrych went to school at Wesen, then Basel (1494), and Bern (1496), where his master, Heinrich Wölflin, inspired in him an enthusiasm for the classics and a love of music. The Dominicans were interested in his musical gifts and almost enticed him to enter a convent. But his father and uncle dissuaded him, and, instead, he moved on to university studies at Vienna (1498) and then Basel (1502), where he was graduated in 1504.
Zwingli and Thomas Wyttenbach
Supported by teaching, Zwingly read theology and was deeply influenced by the lectures of the teacher and Reformer Thomas Wyttenbach . Ordained to the priesthood, he went, in 1506, to Glarus, where he proved a good pastor, encouraged education, commenced studying Greek and even Hebrew, and read widely in the Church Fathers. Service as chaplain with the Swiss Army led him to oppose the mercenary system. His stand provoked hostility at Glarus, and in 1516 he moved to a new charge at Einsiedeln, where he enjoyed both wide opportunities for preaching to the many pilgrims and fine facilities for study at the convent. Zwingli afterwards dated his evangelical understanding of the Scriptures from the period of transition to Einsiedeln. The difficulties at Glarus gave to this development a more than academic significance.
Zwingli and Erasmus
Ulrich Zwingli had a great career, from about 1519 to 1529. He was trained as a Catholic priest and studied at the City of Basel. Basel was quite a university city in Switzerland. The fascinating thing about Basel is that the scholar Erasmus went to print his Greek text there, and at the same time he was printing the Greek text, Zwingli was a student in Basel. In 1516, when Zwingli left Basel, he had with him the Greek New Testament, and for the next few years he studied it. In fact, Zwingli handwrote a copy of Paul’s epistles—so he had the printed copy and his own handwritten copy.
Zwingli and Philip of Hesse
Zwingli was a humanist and a scholar with many devoted friends and disciples. He communicated as easily with the ordinary people of his congregation as with rulers such as Philip of Hesse . His reputation as a stern, stolid reformer is counterbalanced by the fact that he had an excellent sense of humour and used satiric fables, spoofing, and puns in his writings. He was more conscious of social obligations than Luther and he genuinely believed that the masses would accept a government guided by God's word. He tirelessly promoted assistance to the poor, who he believed should be cared for by a truly Christian community.
Zwingli and His higher Education
Zwingli's time as the pastor of Glarus and Einsiedeln was characterized by inner growth and development. He perfected his Greek and he took up the study of Hebrew. His library contained over three hundred volumes from which he was able to draw upon classical, patristic, and scholastic works. He exchanged scholarly letters with a circle of Swiss humanists and began to study the writings of Erasmus. Zwingli took the opportunity to meet him while Erasmus was in Basel between August 1514 and May 1516. Zwingli's turn to relative pacifism and his focus on preaching can be traced to the influence of Erasmus.
Zwingli and a deadly plague
Zwingli began to read more books of church fathers like John Wycliffe , john huss. In 1506 he was invited to preach the Gospel in Zurich. He accepted it by placing an conditions that he would be free to preach the pure Gospel of Christ.Great crowds came to hear his sermons and from all sides People were fascinated by his preaching especially on the way he preached on salvation. One day, suddenly plague came on that city and 2500 people died out of a population of 17,000 but Zwingli would not go away he visited the stricken families and he comforted the dying, by doing so he himself fell victim to the plague and suffered for months.
Zwingli and Music
Zwingli enjoyed music and could play several instruments, including the violin, harp, flute, dulcimer and hunting horn. He would sometimes amuse the children of his congregation on his lute and was so well known for his playing that his enemies mocked him as "the evangelical lute-player and fifer". Three of Zwingli's Lieder or hymns have been preserved: the Pestlied mentioned above, an adaptation of Psalm 65 (c. 1525), and the Kappeler Lied, which is believed to have been composed during the campaign of the first war of Kappel (1529). These songs were not meant to be sung during worship services and are not identified as hymns of the Reformation, though they were published in some 16th-century hymnals. Zwingli criticised the practice of priestly chanting and monastic choirs.
Zwingli’s Death
Zurich was divided between catholics and protestants. Many ware favoured by zwinglis preaching and teaching and his influence became widespread he was having a debated with Martin Luther, they had different theologies but they were friends.Switzerland remained the same, catholics and protestants. And troubles began persecution broke out civil war in effect and army of 8000 invaded Zurich and Zwingli was part of a small army of 2,700 members. Thus Zwingli himself was killed in the battle. He was 47 years of age, his death was a cause of intense grief to his followers. After Zwingli’s death, the Reformation made no further headway in Switzerland; the country is still half Catholic and half Protestant.
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