This week in Christian history: Jacob Arminius born, Jimmy Swaggart scandal

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, October 08, 2023

Ulrich Zwingli dies in battle – Oct. 11, 1531

A 19th century depiction of the death of Protestant Reformation leader Ulrich Zwingli at the battle of Kappel in 1531, painted by August Weckesser. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when Ulrich Zwingli, a notable Protestant Reformation leader, was killed after a battle during what was known as the Second War of Kappel.

Formerly a pacifist who had peacefully spread his theological ideas, Zwingli had joined a Protestant army that was attempting to make the Swiss nation exclusively Protestant by force.

The Catholics won the battle, however, with Zwingli being killed after being discovered following the fight among a pile of dead and wounded soldiers. Captain Fockinger of Unterwalden was credited with delivering the fatal blow.

“Zwingli, true minister and servant of the churches of Zurich, was found wounded on the battlefield along with his flock (with whom he remained until his death),” wrote Heinrich Bullinger, a Protestant leader and contemporary of Zwingli.

“There, because of his confession of the true faith in Christ, our only savior, the mediator and advocate of all believers, he was killed by a captain who was a pensioner, one of those against whom he had always preached so eloquently.”