Major Figures in the Letters
Note: our translations of the letters refer back to these biographies by means of an asterisk placed before the name of the person in question (e.g. *Bucer).
Blarer, Ambrosius (1492–1562) was a member of an influential family in Konstanz, and a friend of Zwingli, Oecolampadius, Melanchthon, Bullinger and Calvin. He was active as an evangelical preacher in his home city from 1525, and, along with Johannes Zwick, became its leading reformer. He was later (from around 1534) to be a seminal reforming influence in several parts of Württemberg, and developed a reputation as a hymnologist. On him see Moeller, Blarer; CoE I, 151 f.; OER I, 174 f.; TRE VI, 711–714; BBKL I, 612–614; VL 16 I, 285–291.
Brenz, Johannes (1499–1570) was a Swabian Lutheran who had been taught Greek by Oecolampadius at Heidelberg, and seems to have remained on good personal terms with him in spite of radical differences over eucharistic theology. He was based at Schwäbisch Hall from 1522 to 1548, gradually introducing Lutheran reforms, and was an influential adviser to both Duke Ulrich of Württemberg and Margrave Georg of Brandenburg-Ansbach. On him see BWK 100 (2000), a special number devoted to him; James Martin Estes, Christian Magistrate and State Church: The Reforming Career of Johannes Brenz (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982); CoE I, 193 f.; OER I, 214 f.; BBKL I, 743 f.
Bucer, Martin (1491–1551), from Sélestat, was a Dominican who left the order under the influence of the writings first of Erasmus and then of Luther. He met Oecolampadius at Ebernburg in 1522 and settled in Strasbourg in 1523. A major force for many years in attempts to unite the Swiss and Lutheran reformers (not least over the Eucharist), he ended his career—from 1549 onwards—in England. In the letters below, we witness him being recommended by Oecolampadius to Zwingli soon after his arrival in Strasbourg, and, especially from 1527 onwards, gradually becoming a more important and influential figure within the Northern Swiss/Upper Rhenish circle of reformers, and beyond. See Greschat, Bucer; Krieger/Lienhard, Bucer; Simon, Bucer; CoE I, 209–212; OER I, 221–224; TRE VII, 258–270; BBKL I, 782–785; Locher, ZR, 456–459.
Bugenhagen, Johannes (1485–1558), originally from Wolin in Pomerania, studied at Greifswald and, having converted to Lutheranism in around 1520, moved to Wittenberg in 1521. He was to become a distinguished reformer, theologian and pastor, initially in Wittenberg and, from the late 1520s onwards, in various parts of North Germany and Scandinavia; to Zwingli and Oecolampadius, however, he was primarily a troublesome opponent in the eucharistic debate of the later 1520s. On him see Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, “Johannes Bugenhagen (1485–1558) und seine Bedeutung für die Reformation in Deutschland”, Lutherjahrbuch 77 (2010): 129–154; CoE I, 217–219; OER I, 226 f.; BBKL I, 805–807.
Capito, Wolfgang Fabritius (1487–1541) was originally from Hagenau, and was educated at Pforzheim, Ingolstadt and Freiburg. Identified from an early stage as an outstanding humanist, he moved to Basel as cathedral preacher in 1515, where he became an initimate associate of Erasmus, Pellikan and, not least, Oecolampadius (see also p. 26). Following a sojourn at Mainz, he settled in Strasbourg in 1523 as provost of the Chapter of St Thomas. For the next few years he was the city’s leading reformer, until misfortunes and errors of judgement (recorded in some cases in the Zwingli-Oecolampadius correspondence) led to his career waning as Bucer’s waxed. On him see Kittelson, Capito; Milton Kooistra, “Bucer’s Relationship with Wolfgang Capito”, in Simon, Bucer, 187–204; CoE I, 261–264; OER I, 259 f.; TRE VII, 636–640; BBKL I, 921–923; VL 16 I, 470–478.
Cratander, Andreas (c. 1490–1540). Born in Strasbourg, he was active as a printer, publisher and bookseller in Basel from 1518 to 1536. He was a committed evangelical, but retained wide humanist interests—a combination of sympathies that significantly influenced his choice of books to publish. Personally and professionally close to Oecolampadius, Cratander was also a frequent bearer of letters and messages between Basel, Zürich and Strasbourg. On him see Eugen Meier et al., Andreas Cratander—ein Basler Drucker und Verleger der Reformationszeit (Basel: Helbling & Lichterhahn, 1966); CoE I, 357 f.; OER I, 451.
Eck, Johannes (1486–1543) was a theologian and controversialist based at the conservative University of Ingolstadt. Already well known following his confrontations with Luther at Leipzig in 1519, Eck remained one of Luther’s and the Swiss reformers’ most prominent critics. Indeed, “during the years 1524–1526, Eck emerged as Zwingli’s most capable enemy” (Gordon, Zwingli, 123). On him see Jürgen Bärsch, ed., Johannes Eck (1486–1543): Scholastiker, Humanist, Kontroverstheologe (Regensburg: Pustet, 2014); Erwin Iserloh, ed., Johannes Eck (1486–1543) im Streit der Jahrhunderte (Münster: Aschendorff, 1988); CoE I, 416–419; OER II, 17–19; TRE IX, 249–258; BBKL XLI, 282–302; VL DH I, 576–589; KTR I, 64–71; Schindler, BD, 653–674.
Erasmus of Rotterdam, Desiderius (c. 1466–1536) was a humanist scholar of towering significance, who had a profound influence on both Zwingli and Oecolampadius. Although Erasmus’s brand of Christian humanism suffused their thought throughout their careers, the Swiss reformers’ references to him in their correspondence are almost always disparaging. This reflects not only a growing intellectual gulf on such questions as ecclesiology and free will, but also the acrimonious way in which Erasmus broke off personal contact with both men in the 1520s. Recent work on Erasmus includes William Barker, Erasmus: The Spirit of a Scholar (London: Reaktion, 2021), and Michael Massing, Fatal Discord: Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind (New York: Harper, 2018). See also OER II, 55–59; TRE X, 1–18; BBKL I, 1524–1532; VL DH I, 658–804; Füssel, DD, 235–257; Bernstein, GH, 105–116.
Faber (or Fabri), Johann (1478–1541). Like Zwingli and Oecolampadius’s other most feared and vilified opponent, Johannes Eck, Faber was once on friendly terms with them. He remained a committed Catholic, however, and had a prominent career as a theologian and polemicist, and latterly as Bishop of Vienna. He was also a prominent adviser to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and other Catholic princes—causing the Swiss reformers to fear, and almost certainly to exaggerate, his level of potentially baleful political influence. On him see Leo Helbling, Dr. Johann Fabri und die schweizerische Reformation (Einsiedeln: Benziger, 1933); idem, Dr. Johann Fabri, Generalvikar von Konstanz und Bischof von Wien, 1478–1541. Beiträge zu seiner Lebensgeschichte (Münster: Aschendorff, 1941); CoE II, 5–8; OER II, 87 f.; TRE X, 784–788; BBKL I, 1588 f.; KTR I, 90–97; Schindler, BD, 675–689.
Ferdinand of Habsburg (1503–1564) was Archduke of Austria from 1521, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia from 1526, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1556. For many years before becoming Emperor, however, he was his brother Charles V’s principal representative in the German-speaking lands. The Swiss reformers feared him in his capacity as a Catholic figurehead and would-be counter-reformer, but also as overlord of the various Habsburg possessions of Vorderösterreich (‘Outer Austria’), parts of which were close to both Zürich and Basel. See Fichtner, Ferdinand; Alfred Kohler, Ferdinand I.: Fürst, König, Kaiser (Munich: Beck, 2003); CoE II, 17–20; OER II, 103; TRE XI, 83–87; BBKL XVIII, 404–414.
Froschauer, Christoph, the Elder (c. 1490–1564) was an invaluable associate of both Zwingli and Oecolampadius—as printer, publisher, bookseller and, not least, messenger between them and further afield. Originally from Bavaria, he acquired a printer’s workshop in Zürich in 1517. He became one of Zwingli’s earliest supporters and, through his extensive network of contacts—developed especially at the biannual Frankfurt Book Fair—was to be “crucial in making the work of Zwingli known in Germany” (Gordon, Swiss, 240). On his career see Urs B. Leu, “Reformation als Auftrag: Der Zürcher Drucker Christoph Froschauer d. Ä. (ca. 1490–1564)”, Zwingliana 45 (2018): 1–80; OER II, 150; Locher, ZR, 582 f.
Hätzer, Ludwig (c. 1500–1529) was an early supporter of Zwingli, who grew disillusioned with the latter’s relative caution and became attracted to anabaptist ideas. He was exiled from both Zürich and Augsburg in 1525, whereupon he travelled to Basel. There he took refuge with Oecolampadius, in whose house he stayed and with whom he worked closely from October 1525 until December 1526—when he was forced to flee the city in the wake of a sexual scandal involving Oecolampadius’s serving maid. Thereafter Hätzer again frequented anabaptist circles and, together with Hans Denck, translated the Old Testament into German in 1528—a version which Zwingli criticised for excessive literalism. He was executed, nominally at least for adultery, in Konstanz on 4th February 1529. See Goeters, Hätzer; OER II, 213 f.; BBKL II, 453–456.
Haller, Berchthold (c. 1494–1536) was from Württemberg, and an early friend of Melanchthon. He studied at Cologne, and became People’s Priest at St Vincent’s Cathedral in Bern in 1520. From around 1523 he was a leading reformer there. He was a loyal disciple particularly of Zwingli, but also provided important support to Oecolampadius at the Disputation of Baden in 1526. Later his warm relations with both Bullinger and Farel made him an effective mediator between Zürich and Geneva. On his career see OER II, 208 f.; TRE XIV, 393–395; BBKL II, 485–493; Schindler, BD, 94–96, 694–697.
Karlstadt, Andreas Bodenstein von (1480–1541) had a much-travelled and often controversial career. He was one of the earliest evangelical reformers, and a close colleague of Luther until their split in 1524—whereafter he espoused views that were generally closer to those of Zwingli and Oecolampadius. In their correspondence he is presented consistently positively: in 1524 as a controversialist on the sacraments with whom Oecolampadius essentially agrees, and in 1530 as an exile deserving and receiving assistance as he moves regularly between Strasbourg, Zürich and Basel—in which city he was to reside, and exert considerable influence, for much of the 1530s. See Barge, Bodenstein; Burnett, Karlstadt; CoE II, 253–256; OER I, 178–180; TRE XVII, 649–657; BBKL I, 62–65 and III, 1147–1171; VL 16 VII, 124–134.
Leo Jud (or ‘Keller’, c. 1482–1542) was probably Zwingli’s closest associate and widely expected to be his successor in Zürich as he had been in Einsiedeln. Jud was appointed People’s Priest at St Peter’s Church in Zürich in February 1523. A considerable theologian in his own right, he is also important for his German translations of works by Zwingli and many others. On him see Karl-Heinz Wyss, Leo Jud: Seine Entwicklung zum Reformator, 1519–1523 (Bern: Lang, 1976); Wilfried Kettler, Trewlich in Teütsch gebracht: Lateinisch-deutsches Übersetzungsschrifttum im Umkreis des Schweizer Humanismus (Bern: Lang, 2002), 117–212; CoE II, 248–250; OER II, 356; BBKL XIV, 1118–1122; VL 16 III, 488–496; Locher, ZR, 568–575; Gordon, Zwingli, 75–77.
Luther, Martin (1483–1548), the first evangelical reformer, at one stage enjoyed the unequivocal and passionate support of both Zwingli and Oecolampadius. By the time of his first mention in their correspondence, in 1525, it is nevertheless clear that the Swiss reformers regarded him with a mistrust and a certain personal hostility. This was no doubt inevitable given Luther’s very different views on the Eucharist and, not least, his consistent refusal to recognize the Swiss reformers as his Christian brothers—an attitude which culminated in his notorious refusal to shake Zwingli’s hand at the conclusion of the Colloquy of Marburg in 1529. Recent work on Luther includes Lyndal Roper, Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet (London: Bodley Head, 2016); Alberto Melloni, ed., Martin Luther: A Christian between Reforms and Modernity (1517–2017), 3 vols (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017). See also CoE II, 360–363; OER, II, 461–467; TRE XXI, 514–567; BBKL V, 447–482; Füssel, DD, 324–344.
Marius, Augustinus (1485–1543), originally from Ulm, was an Austin Canon and Suffragan Bishop of Freising (1522–1526), Basel (1526–1529) and Würzburg (1529–1543). Throughout his time in Basel, during which he also served as Cathedral Preacher, he was something of a bête noire for Oecolampadius: an energetic and able Catholic apologist, he seems also to have possessed a rather flamboyant and irascible temperament that Oecolampadius found distasteful on a personal level. On him see Birkner, Marius; CoE II, 391 f.
Melanchthon, Philipp (1497–1560). Influenced by the humanists Johannes Reuchlin (his uncle) and Jakob Wimpfeling, he became a prodigious Greek scholar at an early age. Soon after his appointment to the chair of Greek at Wittenberg in 1518, he came under the influence of Luther, whose closest and most trusted colleague he soon became. His appearances in the Zwingli-Oecolampadius correspondence occur mainly in letters from 1529 onwards: here it becomes clear above all how adversely his once close relationship with his fellow-Swabian Oecolampadius was affected by the eucharistic disputes of the age. On this see Jeff Fisher, “The Breakdown of a Reformation Friendship: John Oecolampadius and Philip Melanchthon”, Westminster Theological Journal 77 (2015): 265–291. More generally see Günter Frank, ed., Philipp Melanchthon: Der Reformator zwischen Glauben und Wissen. Ein Handbuch (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017); Timothy J. Wengert, Philip Melanchthon: Speaker of the Reformation (Farnham: Ashgate, 2010); CoE II, 424–429; OER, III, 141–145; TRE XXII, 371–410; BBKL V, 1184–1188; Füssel, DD, 428–463; Bernstein, GH, 133–138.
Myconius, Oswald (1488–1552) studied in Rottweil and Basel, and came to Zürich as a schoolmaster in 1516. Having enthusiastically supported Zwingli’s appointment to the Grossmünster, he became one of the latter’s closest colleagues (and first biographer). He was later to be Oecolampadius’s—arguably less gifted and successful—successor in Basel. On his career see Ulrich Gäbler and Martin Wallraff, “Ulrich Myconius im Lichte seines Briefwechsels”, in Oswald Myconius, Briefwechsel 1515–1552: Regesten, ed. Rainer Henrich, 2 vols (Zürich: Theologischer Verlag, 2017), I, 1–71; CoE II, 475; OER III, 118; Locher, ZR, 580 f.
Pellikan, Konrad (1478–1556) was active in Basel from 1519 as Guardian of the Franciscan monastery and a member of Erasmus’s circle: he collaborated with the latter on various editions of patristic authors. Pellikan’s views became increasingly aligned with those of Zwingli and Oecolampadius, however, and in early 1526 he succeeded Ceporinus at the Grossmünster School in Zürich, teaching Greek, Hebrew and Old Testament. He is nowadays best known for his remarkable seven-volume commentary on the entire Bible (Zürich: Froschauer, 1532–1539). In the correspondence, however, he is mentioned most often in the protracted lead-up to his move to Zürich. On him see Zürcher, Pellikan; CoE III, 65 f.; OER III, 241 f.; BBKL VII, 180–183; VL DH II, 421–434; Locher, ZR, 605 f.
Philipp I, Landgrave of Hesse (1504–1563) was a leading Protestant prince who became particularly concerned to reconcile Lutheran and Swiss positions on the Eucharist, and to defend reformed cities and states against imperial power. He became a regular correspondent of Zwingli from the late 1520s on, and was instrumental in organizing the Colloquy of Marburg in 1529. Philipp’s somewhat idiosyncratic marital arrangements are moreover alluded to by Oecolampadius in his very last letter to Zwingli. See Cahill, Philipp; Gerhard Müller, “Huldrych Zwingli und Philipp von Hessen”, in Schindler, ZR, 177–187; CoE II, 187–189; TRE XXVI, 492–497; BBKL VII, 476–479.
Pirckheimer, Willibald (1470–1530) was an illustrious humanist and lawyer based in Nürnberg. He was a close friend of Dürer, Erasmus and, at one time, Oecolampadius—whom he nevertheless vehemently opposed in the eucharistic debates of 1526–1527. His fundamental theological convictions were seldom entirely clear: “Neither a good Protestant nor a good Catholic, he was too much his own man, too complicated, too scholarly, and too skeptical to accept blindly either the old faith or the new Protestant creed” (Bernstein, GH, 105). On his career see Willehad Paul Eckert and Christoph von Imhoff, Willibald Pirckheimer: Dürers Freund, 2nd edn (Cologne: Wienand, 1982); CoE III, 90–94; OER III, 276 f.; BBKL VII, 628–633; VL DH II, 465–487; Füssel, DD, 258–269; Bernstein, GH, 95–105.
Reinhart, Anna (c. 1485–1538), the daughter of a Zürich innkeeper, was first married to the minor aristocrat and mercenary Hans Meier von Knonau, who died in 1517. She nursed Zwingli through his serious dose of the plague in 1519, and was generally regarded as a model of piety. Zwingli married her in secret in 1522, before having their union blessed in church on 2nd April 1524. After his death she was accommodated and looked after in his successor Bullinger’s household. On her life see Raymond Potgieter, “Anna Reinhard Zwingli—‘Apostolic Dorcas’, ‘dearest housewife’, ‘angel-wife’, ‘ziel van mijn ziel’ and ‘mater dolorosa of the Reformation’: From Woman to Valued Citizen”, In die Skriflig 50/3 (2016): 1–8; Oskar Farner, “Anna Reinhart: Die Gattin Ulrich Zwinglis”, Zwingliana 3 (1916): 197–211, 229–245; Edward J. Furcha, “Women in Zwingli’s World”, Zwingliana 19/1 (1992): 131–142; Gordon, Zwingli, 68–70.
Rosenblatt, Wibrandis (1504–1564), born at Säckingen in Outer Austria to an official of Emperor Maximilian I, was married successively to the humanist Ludwig Keller (d. 1526), Oecolampadius, Capito and Bucer. Following the latter’s death in Cambridge in 1551, she lived the rest of her life in Basel. She sought to play no role in public life, but was plainly regarded as a morally ideal and pragmatically able consort for busy evangelical divines. On her see Roland H. Bainton, Women of the Reformation in Germany and Italy (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1971), 79–95; Susanna Burghartz, “Wibrandis Rosenblatt—Die Frau der Reformatoren”, Theologische Zeitschrift 60 (2004): 337–349; Ernst Staehelin, Frau Wibrandis: Eine Gestalt aus den Kämpfen der Reformationszeit (Bern: Gotthelf, 1934); CoE III, 172.
Strauß, Jakob (c. 1480–c. 1527), a Basler by birth, was a Dominican who became a convinced Lutheran and had a much-travelled career as an evangelical reformer. He is probably best known for his social radicalism (which brought him legal difficulties in the light of the Peasants’ War), and for his protracted conflict with Oecolampadius over the Eucharist in 1526. On him see Barge, Strauß; Jennifer Smyth, “Running at the Devil with God’s Word. The Pamphlets of the Early-Reformation Preacher, Jacob Strauss” (PhD diss., Trinity College Dublin, 2010); OER IV, 118 f.; TRE XXXII, 246–249; BBKL XI, 34–37.
Ulrich VI, Duke of Württemberg (1487–1550) ruled his Duchy from 1498 to 1519, and again from 1534 to 1550. After his deposition as Duke (following military defeat by the Swabian League in 1519), Ulrich spent a good deal of time in Basel. Around 1523–1524 he may well have converted to the evangelical cause under the influence of Oecolampadius. The correspondence suggests that Zwingli was initially hostile to Ulrich, but that the latter came increasingly to be trusted as an ally, due above all to his personal and political closeness to Philipp of Hesse and his implacable opposition to the Habsburgs. On his career see Frasch, Ulrich; CoE III, 464 f.; BBKL XII, 900–902.
Vadian (Joachim von Watt, 1484–1551) was a humanist polymath: poet, philologist, medical doctor, geographer and historian. Following several years in Vienna, he returned to his native St. Gallen in 1517: he was its city physician, several times its mayor, and, from 1522, its most prominent proponent of evangelical reform. He was a long-term and trusted associate of both Zwingli and Oecolampadius. On him see Rudolf Gamper, Joachim Vadian, 1483/84–1551: Humanist, Arzt, Reformator, Politiker (Zürich: Chronos, 2017); CoE III, 364 f.; OER IV, 211 f.; TRE XXXIV, 489–492; BBKL XII, 1003–1013; Füssel, DD, 345–358; Locher, ZR, 48–51.