The Swiss Reformation (part 1)

 

Is ChatGPT crypto-Catholic? More likely, it assumes *I* might be. Which is interesting in itself. The context is a long discussion I had with the AI about the social/class base of the Reformation, the difference between late medieval and early modern republicanism, and what have you. Here is ChatGPT´s take on the Reformation in Switzerland.

Can you tell me something about the social base of the Reformation and Catholicism respectively in the Swiss Confederation?

Yes. The Swiss case is unusually clear because confession tracked social structure more closely than ideology. In the Old Swiss Confederation, the Reformation split along urban vs rural, commercial vs agrarian, and elite-governed vs communal lines—more than along “theological conviction” in the abstract.

I’ll lay this out in a structured way.

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1. The Swiss Confederation before the Reformation (baseline)

Before c. 1520, the Confederation was already deeply plural:

• Urban cantons (Zurich, Bern, Basel)

  • Wealthy

  • Commercial

  • Oligarchic councils

  • Literate elites

• Rural cantons (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, Glarus)

  • Agrarian, pastoral

  • Communal assemblies (Landsgemeinde)

  • Strong customary religion

  • Close ties to monasteries and pilgrimage networks

There was no centralized state, and no prince to impose uniformity.

This matters enormously.

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2. Social base of the Swiss Reformation (Zwinglian / Reformed)

A. Urban elites as the backbone

The Reformation succeeded first and most decisively in:

• Zurich (Zwingli)

• Bern

• Basel

• Schaffhausen

Its social base was:

• City councils

• Merchant elites

• Guild leadership

• Educated clergy and humanists

Why these groups?

• They resented ecclesiastical rents flowing out of the city

• They wanted moral discipline over the urban poor

• They benefited from church property secularization

• They already governed oligarchically

The Reformation was adopted by councils, then imposed downward.

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B. Reformation as civic reform

In Swiss cities, Reformation meant:

• Moral regulation (discipline, poor relief)

• Centralization of charity

• Elimination of monasteries as parallel power centers

• Clergy subordinated to magistrates

This fit perfectly with urban republican oligarchy.

The Reformation strengthened the city-state.

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3. Social base of Swiss Catholicism

A. Rural communities and the Forest Cantons

Catholicism remained dominant in:

• Uri

• Schwyz

• Unterwalden

• Zug

• Parts of Glarus

These were:

• Smallholder farming and alpine pastoral societies

• Politically egalitarian at the local level

• Deeply embedded in ritual religion

• Economically dependent on:

  • Monasteries

  • Pilgrimage

  • Mercenary service blessed by the Church

Catholicism here was communal, embodied, and customary, not clerical in a narrow sense.

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B. Suspicion of urban domination

Rural cantons saw the Reformation as:

• An urban imposition

• A threat to local autonomy

• A destruction of traditional religious life

They associated Protestantism with:

• City arrogance

• Social discipline imposed from above

• Economic exploitation

So Catholicism became a marker of communal resistance.

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4. Mercenary service: an overlooked factor

One major fault line:

• Rural Catholic cantons relied heavily on mercenary pensions

• France and the papacy paid Catholic cantons

• Reformers condemned mercenary service as immoral

Thus:

• Reformation threatened rural livelihoods

• Catholicism protected an existing economic model

This is a huge reason the Forest Cantons stayed Catholic.

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5. Why this produced armed conflict (Kappel Wars)

The split was not abstract theology:

• Protestant cities tried to pressure Catholic cantons economically

• Catholic cantons defended traditional alliances

• Both sides saw the other as threatening confederal balance

The Kappel Wars (1529, 1531) were:

• Urban Reformed vs rural Catholic

• Centralizing moral reform vs customary autonomy

Zwingli himself died on the battlefield.

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6. Important complication: Catholicism ≠ reactionary monarchy

This often gets misunderstood.

Swiss Catholic cantons were:

• Not absolutist

• Not clerically dominated

• Fiercely republican and anti-Habsburg

Their Catholicism was:

• Anti-papal in politics

• But pro-ritual in religion

• Pro-local autonomy

This mirrors late medieval communal Catholicism, not Counter-Reformation authoritarianism.

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7. Long-term result: confessional federalism

Switzerland eventually stabilized as:

• A confederation of confessions

• With local religious autonomy

• No centralized enforcement

This preserved:

• Catholic communalism in the countryside

• Reformed civic discipline in cities

It’s one of the earliest durable examples of confessional pluralism.

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8. Big picture comparison (compressed)

Dimension	Reformed Cantons	Catholic Cantons
Social base	Urban elites	Rural communities
Economy	Trade, crafts	Pastoralism, mercenary service
Politics	Oligarchic councils	Communal assemblies
Religion	Disciplined, word-centered	Ritual, customary
View of reform	Civic improvement	External threat

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Bottom line

• The Swiss Reformation followed social structure more than ideas

• Protestantism aligned with urban republican oligarchy

• Catholicism aligned with rural communal autonomy

• Both were republican, but in very different registers

• Confession became a proxy for who gets to rule whom

If you want, we can next:

• Compare this to Germany or the Netherlands

• Look at Anabaptists as a third social base

• Or tie this directly into our earlier discussion of medieval vs modern republicanism