Ulrich Zwingli was a first generation
protestant reformer along with the likes of
Martin Luther. He has been accused of copying
Luther’s ideas as his 67 these were released only a six years after
Luther’s 95 theses. However this is now generally taken as untrue.
Zwingli’s reform focussed on the Swiss canton of Zurich and the town of Zurich itself. His attempts to export his reformation to other parts of Switzerland were at first successful but many Catholic cantons would not budge and Zwingli turned to force to convert them. He died in the battle of Kappel in 1531.
Zwingli’s Life
Zwingli was born in 1485 in Wildhaus in Switzerland. He was the son of a wealthy farmer and studied in Vienna and then in Basel. He was ordained as a priest in 1506 and was parish priest at Glarus for 10 years.
At that time the wealth of the Swiss Cantons was based upon large mercenary armies. Zwingli spent some time as a Chaplain for one of these armies during the Italian Wars. He hated it so much that he became a pacifist and this is what led to him leaving his post at Glarus.
He moved to Zurich in 1518 and was appointed as priest of the Great Minster in Zurich. He began to preach the gospel in biblical order. This is what led him to reject basic fundamentals of Catholicism: