League. Zürich was greatly moved by this, and, as Zwingli held that for the honour of God war was as necessary as iconoclasm, hostilities seemed imminent; but Bern held back; and the first peace of Kappel was concluded (June 1529), by which the Hungarian alliance was annulled and the principle of “religious parity” (or freedom) was admitted in the case of each member of the League, while in the “common bailiwicks” the majority in each parish was to decide the religion of that parish. This was at once a victory and a check for Zwingli. He tried to make an alliance with the Protestants in Germany, but failed at the meeting at Marburg (October 1529) to come to an agreement with Luther on the subject of the Eucharist, and the division between the Swiss and the German Reformations was stereotyped. Zwingli now developed his views as to the greater weight which Zürich and Bern ought to have in the League. Quarrels, too, went on in the “common bailiwicks,” for the members of the League who clung to the old faith had a majority of votes in matters relating to these districts. Zürich tried to cut off supplies of food from reaching the Romanist members (contrary to the wishes of Zwingli), and, on the death of the abbot of St Gall, disregarding the rights of Lucerne, Schwyz and Glarus, who shared with her since 1451 the office of protectors of the abbey, suppressed the monastery, giving the rule of the land and the people to her own officers. Bern in vain tried to moderate this aggressive policy, and the Romanist members of the League indignantly advanced from Zug towards Zürich. Near Kappel, on the 11th of October 1531, the Zürich vanguard under Guldli was (perhaps owing to his treachery) surprised, and despite reinforcements the men of Zürich were beaten, among the slain being Zwingli himself. Another defeat completed the discomfiture of Zürich, and by the second peace of Kappel (November 1531) the principle of “parity” was recognized, not merely in the case of each member of the League and of the “common bailiwicks,” but in the latter Romanist minorities in every parish were to have a right to celebrate their own worship. Thus everywhere the rights of a minority were protected from the encroachments of the majority. The “Christliches Burgrecht” was abolished, and Zürich was condemned to pay heavy damages. Bullinger succeeded Zwingli, but this treaty meant that neither side could now try to convert the other wholesale. The League was permanently split into two religious camps: the Romanists, who met at Lucerne, numbered, besides the five already mentioned, Fribourg, Soleure, Appenzell (Inner Rhoden) and the abbot of St Gall (with the Valais and the bishop of Basel), thus commanding sixteen votes (out of twenty-nine) in the Diet; the Evangelicals were Zürich, Bern, Schaffhausen, Appenzell (Ausser Rhoden), Glarus and the towns of St Gall, Basel and Bienne (with Graubunden), who met at Aarau.
Bern had her eyes always fixed upon the Savoyard lands to
the south-west, in which she had got a footing in 1475, and now
made zeal for religious reforms the excuse for resuming
her advance policy. In 1526 Guillaume Farel,
a preacher from Dauphiné, had been sent to reform
Consquest of
Vaud by Bern.
Aigle, Morat and Neuchatel. In 1532 he came to Geneva, an
ancient city of which the rule had long been disputed by the
prince-bishop, the burgesses and the house of Savoy, the latter
holding the neighbouring districts. She had become in 1519 the
ally of Fribourg, in 1526 that of Bern also; and in 1530, by their
influence, a peace was made between the contending parties.
The religious changes introduced by Farel greatly displeased
Fribourg, which abandoned the alliance (1534), and in 1535 the
Reformation was firmly planted in the city. The duke of
Savoy, however, took up arms against Bern (1536), who overran
Gex, Vaud and the independent bishopric of Lausanne, as well
as the Chablais to the south of the lake. Geneva was only
saved by the unwillingness of the citizens. Bern thus ruled
north and south of the lake, and carried matters with a high
hand. Shortly after this John Calvin, a refugee from Picardy,
was, when passing through Geneva, detained by Farel to aid him,
and, after an exile from 1538–1541, owing to opposition of the
papal party and of the burghers, who objected to Bernese rule,
he was recalled (1541) and set up his wonderful theocratic
government in the city, in 1553 burning Servetus, the Unitarian
(see Calvin and Servetus), and in 1555 expelling many who
upheld municipal liberty, replacing them by»French, English,
Italians and Spaniards as new burghers, whose names are still
frequent in Geneva (e.g. Candolle, Mallet, Diodati). His theological
views led to disputes with the Zürich Reformers, which
were partly settled by the Consensus Tigurinus of 1549, and
more completely by the Helvetic Confession of 1562–1566, which
formed the basis of union between the two parties.
By the time of Calvin’s death (1564) the old faith had begun to take the offensive; the reforms made by the Council of Trent urged on the Romanists to make an attempt to recover lost ground. Emmanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, the hero of St Quentin (1557), and one of the greatest generals of the day, with the support of the Romanist members of the League, demanded the restoration of the districts seized by Bern in 1536, and on the 30th of October 1564 the Treaty of Lausanne confirmed the decision of the other Confederates sitting as arbitrators (according to the old constitutional custom). By this treaty Gex, the Genevois and the Chablais were to be given back, while Lausanne, Vevey, Chillon, Villeneuve, Nyon, Avenches and Yverdon were to be kept by Bern, who engaged to maintain the old rights and liberties of Vaud. Thus Bern lost the lands south of the lake, in which St Francis of Sales, the exiled prince-bishop of Geneva (1602–1622), at once proceeded to carry out the restoration of the old faith. In 1555 Bern and Fribourg, as creditors of the debt-laden count, divided the county of Gruyére, thus getting French-speaking subjects. In 1558 Geneva renewed her alliance with Bern, and in 1584 she made one with Zürich. The duke of Savoy made several vain attempts to get hold of Geneva, the last (in 1602) being known as the “escalade.”
The decrees of the Council of Trent had been accepted fully by the Romanist members of the League, so far as relates to dogma, but not as regards discipline or the relations of church and state, the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of each state being always carefully reserved. The Counter-Reformation. The counter-Reformation, however, or reaction in favour of the old faith, was making rapid progress in the Confederation, mainly through the indefatigable exertions of Charles Borromeo, from 1560 to 1584 archbishop of Milan (in which diocese the Italian bailiwicks were included), and nephew of Pius IV., supported at Lucerne by Ludwig Pfyffer, who, having been (1562–1570) the chief of the Swiss mercenaries in the French wars of religion, did so much till his death (1594) to further the religious reaction at home that he was popularly known as the “Swiss king.” In 1574 the Jesuits, the great order of the reaction, were established at Lucerne; in 1579 a papal nuncio came to Lucerne; Charles Borromeo founded the “Collegium Helveticum” at Milan for the education of fortytwo young Swiss, and the Catholic members of the League made an alliance with the bishop of Basel; in 1581 the Capuchins were introduced to influence the more ignorant classes. Most important of all was the Golden or Borromean League, concluded (Oct. 5, 1586) between the seven Romanist members of the Confederation (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Lucerne, Zug, Fribourg and Soleure) for the maintenance of the true faith in their territories, each engaging to punish backsliding members and to help each other if attacked by external enemies, notwithstanding any other leagues, old or new. This league marks the final breaking up of the Confederation into two great parties, which greatly hindered its progress. The Romanist members had a majority in the Diet, and were therefore able to refuse admittance to Geneva, Strassburg and Mühlhausen. Another result of these religious differences was the breaking up of Appenzell into two parts (1597), each sending one representative to the Diet-“Inner Rhoden” remaining Romanist, “Ausser Rhoden” adopting the new views. We may compare with this the action of Zürich in 1555, when she received the Protestant exiles (bringing with them the silk-weaving industry) from Locarno and the Italian bailiwicks into her burgher ship, and Italian names are found there to this day (e.g. Orelli, Muralt).
In the Thirty Years’ War the Confederation remained neutral, being bound both to Austria (1474) and to France (1516), and
