# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Zwingli, Ulrich

Edition of 1920. See also Huldrych Zwingli on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
ZWINGLI, zwĭng'lē, Ger. tsvĭng'lē, or ZUINGLIUS ULRICH, a celebrated Swiss reformer, was a contemporary of Luther (q v.). and was born at Wildhaus, canton of Saint Gall, on 1 Jan. 1484; d. Kappel, 11 Oct. 1531. Ulrich was the third of eight sons of the bailiff of that place. He studied at an early age in Basel and Bern, and continued his studies in Vienna, where he occupied himself with philosophy, and again in Basel, where he devoted his attention to theology, under the direction of Wyttenbach. In 1506 Zwingli became parish priest at Glarus, and here employed his time, as Luther had done in the Augustine monastery at Erfurt, in the diligent reading of the Holy Scriptures. He copied the epistles of Saint Paul in the original Greek, and even learned them by heart — an acquisition which afterward proved of great service to him in his public discussions. He accompanied the forces of Glarus during the campaigns of 1512, 1513 and 1515, in Lombardy, in the cause of the Pope against the French, in the capacity of chaplain, and was rewarded for this service by the grant of a pension from the Pope. In 1516 he became preacher in the convent of Einsiedeln, then a celebrated place of pilgrimage. Here he began to make known publicly his ideas of reform, preaching against the pilgrimage of Einsiedeln, which he termed an abuse and a corruption of the doctrine of the Christian Church, and calling upon the bishops of Sion and Constance to promote a reformation of religious doctrines, upon those points in which Zwingli considered that the Church had departed from the primitive teaching. Up to this time, however, his ideas of innovation excited no rebuke upon the part of the authorities, and he was, not long after, invited to Zürich, and entered on his office of preacher in the cathedral 1 Jan. 1519, with a discourse in which he declared himself for the use of the simple Scriptures without regard to the prescribed texts and lessons. At Zürich Zwingli delivered a series of sermons on the Holy Scriptures; and these discourses in which he inveighed against what he declared to be the errors and superstition of the times, laid the foundation for his future work of reformation. The occasion which launched him on his career was similar to that which had aroused Luther. In 1518 Bernadin Samson, a Franciscan monk of Milan, appeared in Switzerland to preach the indulgence proclaimed by Leo X to all who should subscribe alms to the building of Saint Peter's Church at Rome. Zwingli, who was then preaching at Einsiedeln, opposed him there, and afterward in Zürich, with all the power of his eloquence, and brought the indulgences into so much odium that Samson was not even permitted to enter Zürich; and the Council of Zürich finally obtained from the Papal Nuncio the recall of Samson to render an accoont of his mission at Rome. From this time Zwingli gradually went further in his plans, supported by the Zürichers. In Zürich his innovations were so far promoted by the government that in 1520 a decree was issued ordering that the Holy Scriptures should be taught “without human additions.” In 1522 the reformation was extended to external ceremonies. In this year Zwingli was forbidden to preach by the bishop of Constance. In it also he wrote his first work against the fasts of the Church and began the
study of Hebrew. In 1523 the government in Zürich invited all theologians to a public conference in Zürich, to convict, if possible, Zwingli of an error in doctrine. About 600 persons, clergy and laymen, were present at this disputation. Zwingli exhibited his opinions in the form of 67 propositions, which were to form the subject of discussion. The celebrated John Faber, the vicar-general of the bishop of Constance, refused to discuss any of Zwingli's propositions save the last one, which denied the supreme authority of the Church, whereupon the Council of Zürich decreed that Zwingli had not been convicted of error or heresy, and “might continue to freely announce the holy gospel and the Word of God according to the new order.” In a second dispute Zwingli urged his objections to images and the mass and the former were soon afterward removed from the churches by order of the council and the latter abolished. In 1524 Zwingli married Anna Reinhard, a widow, and the next year published his commentary on “True and False Religion.” The Reformation in Switzerland was now fixed upon a firm base; and Zwingli continued the work with undiminished zeal, warmly supported by the cantons which espoused the Protestant cause. The religious orders were suppressed and all questions of marriage were placed under the jurisdiction of the civil tribunals, as well as the administration of the Church revenues. In general, Zwingli agreed in his opinions with the German reformers; like them he assumed the Bible as the only rule of faith, rejected the Papacy, attacked the authority of the priesthood and declared that his object was to restore the Church to the simplicity of primitive times. His views differed on some points from those of Luther, particularly in regard to the real presence, and on some less important matters relative to the liturgy. In order to remove this wall of partition from between the two parties which adopted the new doctrines, a meeting between the Saxon and Swiss reformers was held at Marburg (1-3 Oct. 1529) at the suggestion of Philip, the Landgrave of Hesse. The former were represented by Luther and Melanchthon, the latter by Zwingli and Œcolampadius. Although a complete union was not effected, yet a convention was agreed upon, the first 13 arti- cles of which, containing the most important matters of religious faith, were recognized by both parties; and the 14th declared that though they could not agree as to the real presence of Christ in the eucharist, they would behave reciprocally in the spirit of Christian charity. In 1531 an open war broke out between Zürich on the one side and the Catholic cantons of Lucerne, Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden and Zug on the other; and 2wingli was commanded to take the field, bearing the banner of the canton, which it had been usual for an ecclesiastic to support. A battle ensued at Kappel, on 11th October. But the enemy were more than twice as strong as the Zürichers and under better officers; the latter were, therefore, defeated and Zwingli was among the slain. The spot where he fell is marked by a monument. The Reformed Church in Switzerland afterward received from the hands of Calvin (q.v.) its present organization. The collected
works of Zwingli were published at Zürich in 1545. A complete collection of Zwingli's writings was also published at Zürich in eight volumes in 1828. E. Zeller has attempted to deduce Zwingli's doctrines from his writings, ‘Das theologische System Zwinglis dargestellt’ (Tübingen 1853). There are numerous biographies of this reformer, for example, ‘Huldreich Zwingli, sein Leben und Wirken’ (1895-97) by Stähelin. Consult also Jannsen, ‘History of the German People’ (1903).