Arther trade
Confessional tensions that took place in the Schwyz community of Arth in 1655 and triggered the First Villmerger War in 1656 are referred to as Arther Handel or Arther Wirren .
prehistory
Efforts to join the Reformation have been made in Arth since 1519 . In that year Balthasar Trachsel (1493–1562) , who was born in Arth, became pastor of the village community. Balthasar Trachsel preached in favor of priestly marriage and was the first pastor to marry in the Old Confederation . He also preached against the cult of Mary , indulgence and the veneration of saints . In 1527 he resigned from his post. The victory of the Catholic towns in the Second Kappel War in 1531 changed the situation in Arth. Officially the community was Catholic, unofficially reformed ( nicodemism ). At the beginning of the 17th century, Baschi Meyer, known as the "table maker", founded an Anabaptist community. The Schwyz 1629 state stepped up against this . There were trials and prison sentences against prominent Anabaptists and some Reformed citizens. After that it was quiet again and the Reformed parish continued to act in secret, tolerating the state. This changed in 1653 when the pastor Melchior Meyenberg took office in Arth. He went on a course of confrontation against the Nicodemites, who then turned to the Reformed State of Zurich for help . In 1653 there was a peasant uprising in Switzerland . The authorities feared a new uprising in Arth against the new pastor and the Catholic authorities. The Catholic authorities met on September 21, 1655 in the Capuchin building in Schwyz with the state government and demanded tough action against the Nicodemites in Arth.
Intervention by the Schwyz stand and reaction from Zurich
The government of Schwyz decided to arrest the leaders of the Reformed in Arth. But these fled the same day using the reformed Hauser pastor Johann Erhard Kesselring (1617-1696) of Kappel , and later to Zurich. The members of the committed von Hospental family in particular had to leave their home. The property of the victims was confiscated by the authorities. In total, around 40 people fled to reformed Zurich, where they arrived on September 25, 1565. After their arrival, the mayor and council of the city of Zurich wrote a letter to the government in Schwyz, calling on them to accept freedom of belief and threatening consequences. But the government of Schwyz was not impressed and ruled harshly and took 22 Arther Reformed prisoners on September 28 to try them. Three other Arther citizens were handed over to the Inquisition in Milan . On November 17, Melchior von Hospental , Sebastian Kernel and Georg Karner were sentenced to death and executed in Weinbub near Schwyz. On November 12th, Barabara von Hospental suffered the same fate after Anna Balz escaped from prison in Schwyz on October 17th . In December 1655, with the help of the Schwyz government, the Capuchins built a monastery in Arth to bring the rebellious community under control. The executions and the tough crackdown on the Schwyz authorities led to the Small Council of the City of Zurich declaring war on the Schwyz and other Catholic estates on January 4, 1656, after the people of Zurich had repeatedly asked the Schwyz government for leniency and had proposed taking over the remaining "heretics". Zurich and the allied canton of Bern wanted to prevent the executions in any case. On January 5th, the people of Zurich attacked the Rheinau monastery . On January 6th they attacked the common rule of Thurgau and on January 7th they started the siege of Rapperswil . The Villmerger War had begun.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Urs Heiniger, Oberarth From pastors, Anabaptists and Nicodemites - Arth during the Reformation
- ^ Hans Peter Niederhäuser: Denominational war and literary dialogue. Historical Association of the Canton of Thurgau, page 231
- ↑ Oliver Landolt: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland, Balthasar Trachsel
- ^ Hans Peter Niederhäuser: Denominational war and literary dialogue. Historical Association of the Canton of Thurgau, page 242