Sex: Male.
Birth: ABT 1480 in Stachelfcheid, Ober-Rege, Watpl, Press
Death: in Wald, Zurich, Switzerland
Family: Wife: Eva Hess 1484 - 1579.
Children: Johannes or Hans Hesse 1512 - .
Parents: Husband: Johannes Hesse 1458 - .
Wife: Unknown 1452 - .
Kaspar moved his family to Wald, Zurich, Switzerland, where it would remain for almost 200 years before the move to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It seems likely that Kaspar's move to Zurich was related to the religious conflicts of the period. The background is as follows:
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Excerpts from Chapter 13 of the The Reformation in Switzerland and Southern Germany:
Zurich, where the Swiss Reformation began, was in touch with currents from the outside world. Besides being a center of trade and manufacture, it was much frequented by travelers and was the home of many foreign ambassadors....It was in a spot not far from Zurich that Ulrich Zwingli was born on January 1, 1484, only a few months after the birth of Luther. He was destined early for the priesthood, and was exposed to the influence of humanism, becoming a follower of Erasmus's ideas...
At the beginning of the year 1519, [Zwingli] began to preach in the cathedral of Zurich, to which he had been called. He immediately created a sensation by announcing a departure from the usual method....
The Reformation in Zurich actually began in 1522. During Lent some members of Zwingli's congregation publicly ate meat and defended their behavior by appealing to his assertion that only the commands of the Bible were binding on the conscience. Zwingli had not personally taken part in the meat-eating, but he took the responsibility for it and defended it in writing. The bishop of Constance, whose diocese included Zurich, objected; but the city council supported Zwingli. In August the clergy of the city decided unanimously to preach nothing not found in the Bible.
In 1523 the city government arranged for two public disputations on controversial points of religion. The civil authorities were to hold the disputations, make the rules, and decide which side had won. It was thus the state that took the lead in the introduction of the Reformation in Zurich. In decreeing that all points must be proved from the Bible, the council already revealed a certain bias in favor of Zwingli and his party.
Zwingli's views, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, were to prove too radical for Luther. He was perhaps the most politically minded of thereat reformers, and worked closely with the civic authorities in carrying out his program.
During the next few years, the remaining Catholic elements in the religious life of Zurich were gradually removed, until, with the abolition of the Mass in 1525, the revolution was complete. The church service was drastically simplified, and even music was done away with completely, though Zwingli loved music and was himself an accomplished musician. All gold and silver ornamentation was removed from the churches. Public worship came to consist of prayers, public confession of sins, the recitation of the Lords Prayer and the Apostles Creed, and preaching. Services were held every day. From 1523, priests and nuns had been marrying; Zwingli himself married in 1524.
Zwingli was conscious of social problems, and devoted attention to efforts to deal with them. Through his work, serfdom was abolished, and poor relief was put under the supervision of the civil power. By laws of1525, matrimonial cases came under the jurisdiction of the council, with divorce permitted in some instances.
Zwingli was not satisfied to see the Gospel triumph in Zurich alone, but worked actively to promote its spread throughout the Confederation. His policy in this respect may fairly be called a kind of religious imperialism, because he favored the use of force to impose his religious ideas and came more and more to embrace the rightness of conquest for the sake of the faith.
The work of Zwingli and his colleagues split the Confederation, because the rural or forest cantons (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, and Lucerne)remained Catholic. These Catholic cantons formed a League, which in 1529made an alliance with Austria. Zurich, Bern, and some of the other Reformed cantons formed a League of their own; but, as a result of the Marburg Colloquy, were less successful in obtaining help. By this time, Zwingli, as the religious leader of much of Switzerland and southern Germany, was at the height of his influence.
In 1529, Zurich, at the head of the Reformed League, declared war on the Catholic cantons. The Protestant forces far outnumbered their opponents, who failed to secure help from their Austrian allies. Actually this war hardly deserves the name, because it was over virtually before it started; the Catholics were in no position to put up a fight, and not a shot was fired. The terms of the treaty, signed at Kappel on June 26,1529, were very favorable to Protestants. The Catholics gave up the Austrian alliance, the majority in each canton would decide its religion, and there was to be no persecution. Zwingli was not pleased at the outcome, because he recognized that the treaty was only a truce and that a resumption of fighting was inevitable.
His foresight was not shared by the Zurich authorities, who neglected to prepare for war. They were, therefore, taken by surprise when the forest cantons attacked in 1531. Zurich hastily assembled its troops, but its preparations were inadequate. Zwingli, who had accompanied the Protestant army in the earlier war, was present this time also as chief pastor or chaplain.
The battle of Kappel was fought on October 11, 1531. The forces of Zurich were badly defeated; but, even more disastrous for their cause, Zwingli was killed. The Second Peace of Kappel (November 24, 1531) provided that each canton would manage its own religious affairs. The Protestant dream of conquering all of Switzerland was shattered.
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Change: 21 Sep 2006 Time: 01:00:00.