A Sisters and Brothers Production
Ulrich Zwingli (January 1, 1484 – October 11, 1531) was born
in Wildhaus, Switzerland. Although not as well-known as some
other Reformers of his day, like Calvin and Luther, he
nonetheless began a large Reformation movement that resulted
in the demise of Catholicism in Switzerland.
Zwingli’s beliefs were simple and straightforward: the Bible is
truth; anything not in the Bible is not truth. It was the
simplicity of this message that garnered him great public
support from his people in Switzerland; and eventually outrage
and war from Roman officials.
Christopher Neame
In 1506 he was ordained into the priesthood in Glarus, where he
began studying Erasmus. Erasmus’ writings were part of what is
to be credited with Zwingli’s attention beginning to turn toward
the reformation.
In 1515, he moved to Einsiedeln, where he saw the evil inherent
in certain practices from Rome. Zwingli began preaching against
and condemning them, several years before Luther did so. He
also strongly opposed the mercenary service, a practice that
seemed to make the Roman church rich. Zwingli’s reform
teachings became quite popular and in January 1519, he was appointed priest at Grossmünster in Zürich.
Zwingli was educated at the University of Vienna, Berne and the
University of Basel. He studied under some of the greatest
Humanists of Switzerland. He was highly educated in the
classical studies of poetry, philosophy, music, astronomy,
physics and the ancient classics, acquiring his B.A. in 1504 and
M.A. in 1506 at the University of Basel. It was during his total
immersion in humanism at university that Zwingli met men who
would plant seeds of reformation in his mind.
Christopher Neame
Christopher Neame
was born in
London and
graduated from the
Central School of
Speech and Drama
in 1970. He began
his credited work in film that same
year.
He has worked with such notable
actors as Christopher Lee and Peter
Cushing in Dracula A.D. 1972, and also
Robert Wagner and David McCallum
when he played Lt. Dick Player in
Colditz, a WWII drama.
With over 90 credits to his name,
Christopher Neame has had many
interesting roles as historical figures
such as Mark Antony and Kaiser
Wilhelm II. He has appeared in several
episodics and films, such as Dallas,
McGyver, Hunter, Dynasty, Mancuso
FBI, Star Trek: Enterprise, and many
more too numerous to mention.
The producer of The Radicals, Robert
A. Nowotny, told me once that Chris is,
“... one Hell of an actor!”
Shortly after the second Zürich disputation, many became convinced that Zwingli was making too
many concessions to the Zürich council. They rejected the role of civil government and demanded the
immediate establishment of a congregation of the faithful. In August 1524, the council insisted on the
obligation to baptise all newborn infants. In January 1525, a public debate was held and the council
decided in favour of Zwingli. Anyone refusing to have their children baptised was required to leave
Zürich. The radicals ignored these measures and on they met at the house of the mother of another
radical leader. Grebel and a third leader, George Blaurock, performed the first recorded Anabaptist
adult baptism.
In February, the council repeated the requirement on the baptism of all babies and some who failed to
comply were arrested and fined. Later, Grebel, Manz, and Blaurock again defended their cause before
Zwingli and other reformers. There was no serious exchange of views as each side would not move
from their positions and the debates degenerated into an uproar. The Zürich council decided that no
compromise was possible. In 1526 it released the notorious mandate that no one shall rebaptise
another under the penalty of death. Although Zwingli, technically, had nothing to do with the
mandate, there is no indication that he disapproved. Felix Manz, who had sworn to leave Zürich and
not to baptise any more, had deliberately returned and continued the practice. After he was arrested
and tried, he was executed by being drowned. He was the first Anabaptist martyr; three more were to
follow, after which all others either fled or were expelled from Zürich.
Although hugely popular with the Swiss, the officials in Rome had great animosity toward Zwingli and
the Protestant movement in Switzerland. In 1529, they began a wide campaign to end Protestantism in
Switzerland. Their efforts began with an attempt to bring forth a false sense of security by suing the
Swiss for “peace.” What in fact the Roman Catholic Church did was to buy themselves time to
strengthen their troops for battle against the Swiss, as Zwingli suspected and warned against all along.
In 1531, the Roman Catholic Church declared war against the Protestant Swiss in a sudden surprise
attack. Zwingli joined the Swiss troops as chaplain. The Swiss lost decisively and Zwingli was killed at
the battle of Kappel, on October 11, 1531.
Site Concept and Design:
© JT eDesigns.com, 2013
