History of the Swiss Reformation

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Order of Contents

General History  3

Early & Medieval  1
Eve of Reformation  1
Reformation  8

Specific Periods  6
Special Topics  2

Geneva  4
Zwingli  4
Calvin  12
Servetus  2
Beza  1

Guide  1


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General History

1800’s

Books

Planta, Joseph – The History of the Helvetic Confederacy, vols. 1, 2, 3  2nd ed. (London, 1807)

Naylor, Francis Hare – The History of the Helvetic Republics, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4  (London, 1809)

Vieusseux, A. – The History of Switzerland from the First Irruption of the Northern Tribes to the Present Time…  Compiled from the Best Authorities Including Muller, Meyer, Franscini & Kasthofer  (London, 1846)  185 pp.  ToC


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Early & Medieval Church History

Article

1900’s

Kruger, Gustav – ‘Literature on Church History in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and the Scandinavian Countries, 1914-1920, I. Early Church History’ & ‘The Medieval Church’  in Harvard Theological Review, vol. 14, no. 4 (Oct. 1921), pp. 283-374 & vol. 15 (Oct. 1922), pp. 323-405


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The Eve of the Reformation

Book

Jackson, Samuel – Huldreich Zwingli, the Reformer of German Switzerland, 1484-1531, with an Historical Survey of Switzerland before the Reformation, & a Chapter on Zwingli’s Theology  (1903)  630 pp.  ToC


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Reformation Histories

1800’s

Scott, John – Calvin & the Swiss Reformation  (London, 1833)  420 pp.  ToC

D’Istria, Dora – Switzerland the Pioneer of the Reformation; or La Suisse Allemande, vol. 1, 2  (London, 1858)

D’Istria (1828–1888) was a Romanian and Albanian Romantic writer, most notable for having emblematized the Albanian national cause of the 19th century.

Spalding, M.J. – The History of the Protestant Reformation in Germany & Switzerland, & in England, Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands, France & Northern Europe, as a Series of Essays, Reviewing D’Aubigne, Menzel, Hallam, Bishop Short, Prescott, Ranke, Fryxell & Others, vol. 1 (Germany & Switzerland), 2 (England, Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, France, Northern Europe)  6th rev. ed.  (Baltimore, 1870)

Spalding was an American bishop.

Hagenback, K.R. – History of the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland Chiefly, vol. 1, 2  (1878)

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1900’s

Plummer, Alfred – The Continental Reformation in Germany, France & Switzerland, from the Birth of Luther [1483] to the Death of Calvin [1564]  (1912)  230 pp.  See especially chs. 7 & 8.

Good, James I. – History of the Swiss Reformed Church since the Reformation [to the early-1800’s]  (Philadelphia: Publication & Sunday School Board of the Reformed Church in the U.S., 1913)  530 pp.  ToC

Johnston, Pamela & Bob Scribner – The Reformation in Germany & Switzerland  (1993)  155 pp.  ToC

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2000’s

Gordon, Bruce – The Swiss Reformation  (2002)  390 pp.


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Specific Periods

On the 1500’s

Early 1500’s

Backus, Irena – The Disputations of Baden, 1526, & Berne, 1528: Neutralizing the Early Church  (1993)  135 pp.  ToC

eds. Brewer, Brian C. & David M. Whitford – Calvin & the Early Reformation  in Studies in Medieval & Reformation Traditions, vol. 219  Pre  (Brill, 2019)  ToC

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Mid to Late 1500’s

Original Letters & the Zurich Letters Relative to the English Reformation, vol. 1 (1549-53), 2 (1548-58), 3 & 4  (1558-1602)  (Parker Society)

On the accession of queen Mary, more than a thousand of the Reformers sought refuge on the Continent, and many of them settled in Zurich.  On the return of the Zurich exiles to England, at the accession of Elizabeth, in 1558, they maintained a correspondence with the minister and magistrates of Zurich.

The letters show the opinion of that time on subjects which afterwards produced such agitation and include letters to and from Sandys, Jewel, Gwalter, Foxe, Parkhurst, Calvin, Peter Martyr, Grindal, Zanchi, Bullinger, Coverdale, Beza, George Withers, Pilkington, Flacius, Farell, John Rainolds, George Buchanan, Queen Elizabeth, Swiss Cantons and others.

Here is the original Latin for the ‘Original Letters’ (1537-1558): Epistolae Tigurinaede Rebus Potissimum Ad Ecclesiae Anglicanae Reformationem Pertinentibus… 

Kingdon, Robert M. – Geneva & the Coming of the Wars of Religion in France (1555-1563)  Pre  Buy  (1956)  170 pp.

“Valuable monograph.” – Owen Chadwick

ed. Barker, S.K. – Revisiting Geneva: Robert Kingdon & the Coming of the French Wars of Religion  (2012)  107 pp.

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On the 1800’s

Alexander, William Lindsay – Switzerland & the Swiss Churches: being Notes of a Short Tour, & Notices of the Principal Religious Bodies in that Country [about 1846]  (Glasgow, 1846)

Alexander (1808–1884) was a Scottish, Independent minister.


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Special Topics

Monter, E. William – Witchcraft in France & Switzerland: the Borderlands During the Reformation  (Cornell Univ. Press, 1976)  Another copy is here.

Aretius, Benedictus – A Short History of Valentinus Gentilis: the Tritheist, tried, condemned and put to death by the Protestant reformed city and church of Bern in Switzerland, for Asserting the Three Divine Persons of the Trinity to be Three Distinct, Eternal Spirits, etc.  (London, 1696)

Aretius (d. 1574)


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Geneva

General History

Keate, George – A Short Account of the Ancient History, Present Government & Laws of the Republic of Geneva  (London, 1761)  240 pp.

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Reformation History

Kingdon, Robert M. – Geneva & the Coming of the Wars of Religion in France (1555-1563)  Buy  (1956)  170 pp.

“Valuable monograph.” – Owen Chadwick

ed. Barker, S.K. – Revisiting Geneva: Robert Kingdon & the Coming of the French Wars of Religion  in St. Andrews Studies in French History & Culture  (Centre for French History and Culture, 2012)  107 pp.

Kingdon, Robert – Geneva & the Consolidation of the French Protestant Movement, 1564-1572; a Contribution to the History of Congregationalism, Presbyterianism & Calvinist Resistance Theory  (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1967)

Balserak, John – A Companion to the Reformation in Geneva  Pre  (Brill, 2021)  470 pp.  ToC


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Zwingli

1800’s

Christoffel, R. – Zwingli; or the Rise of the Reformation in Switzerland, a Life of the Reformer, with Some notices of his Time & Contemporaries  (Edinburgh, 1858)  ToC

Christoffel was the pastor of a reformed church in Switzerland.

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1900’s

Jackson, Samuel – Huldreich Zwingli, the Reformer of German Switzerland, 1484-1531, with an Historical Survey of Switzerland before the Reformation, & a Chapter on Zwingli’s Theology  (1903)  630 pp.  ToC

Farner, Oscar – Zwingli the Reformer: his Life & Work  Buy  (1952)  130 pp.  ToC

McNeill, J.T. – pt. 1, ‘Huldreich Zwingli & the Reformation in German Switzerland’  ToC  in The History & Character of Calvinism  (1954), pp. 3-92


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On John Calvin

1800’s

Scott, John – Calvin & the Swiss Reformation  (London, 1833)

M’Crie, Thomas – The Early Years of John Calvin: a Fragment, 1509-1536  (1880)  218 pp.

Barrage, Henry – True to the End: a Story of the Swiss Reformation  (1895)  200 pp.

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1900’s

Walker, Williston – John Calvin: the Organizer of Reformed Protestantism, 1509-1564  (1906)

Carew Hunt, R.N. – Calvin  Buy  (1933)  335 pp.

“Probably the best biography in English.” – Owen Chadwick

Lane, Anthony – Calvin & Bernard of Clairvaux  (1993)  155 pp.

Hall, Basil – John Calvin: Humanist & Theologian  (Historical Association, 1956)  44 pp.  no ToC  with a helpful bibliography

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2000’s

Steinmetz, David – Calvin in Context  2nd ed.  (2010)  320 pp.  ToC

eds. Brewer, Brian C. & David M. Whitford – Calvin & the Early Reformation  in Studies in Medieval & Reformation Traditions, vol. 219  Pre  (Brill, 2019)  ToC

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Calvin’s Thought

Wendel, Francois – Calvin: Origins & Development of his Religious Thought  (1950)  382 pp.

“The best book so far on Calvin’s Thought.” – Owen Chadwick

Niesel, Wilhelm – The Theology of Calvin  (1956)  260 pp.

Butin, Philip W. – Reformed Ecclesiology: Trinitarian Grace According to Calvin  (1994)  50 pp.


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Servetus

An Impartial History of Michael Servetus, Burnt Alive at Geneva for Heresy  (London, 1724)  220 pp.  no ToC

Willis, R. – Servetus & Calvin, a Study of an Important Epoch in the Early History of the Reformation  (London: Henry S. King, 1877)  560 pp.  ToC


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Theodore Beza

Baird, Henry M. – Theodore Beza, the Counselor of the French Reformation, 1519-1605  (1899)  440 pp.

Summers, Kirk M. – Morality After Calvin: Theodore Beza’s Christian Censor & Reformed Ethics  Pre  (Oxford Univ. Press, 2017)  405 pp.  ToC


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A Guide to Research

Gordon, Bruce – pt. 2, ch. 13, ‘The Swiss’  in Reformation & Early Modern Europe: a Guide to Research  in Sixteenth Century Essays & Studies 79  (Truman State Univ. Press, 2008), pp. 309-30

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Related Pages

Reformation & Puritan History

History of the French Reformation & the Huguenots

Church History

Historical Theology