Basel
Basically, the Reformation in Switzerland began in Basel. When Luther’s theses became known in 1517, Christian humanism was already very lively in the bishop’s town, which had the only University on Swiss soil – thanks to Erasmus of Rotterdam and his friends from Basel. Even in the same year, this group of people together with the then Bishop of Basel printed Luther’s theses and they were also printed by Adam Petri in 1517. The still young book printing process played as equally important a role in the spread of the Reformation (in Basel and in Zurich) as did humanistic thinking.
Huldreych Zwingli, who was to later to become a reformer in Zurich, had studied in Basel. John Calvin, the reformer of Geneva, had also studied in Basel. And Calvin’s Unterweisung in christlicher Religion (Instruction in the Christian Religion) was also printed for the first time in Basel.
Basel did not become protestant in the true sense overnight. The “Basel reformer” Johannes Oekolampad played an important role in this development from 1523 onwards. It was only in 1529 that the City Council under pressure from the population banned Catholic religious services – after both confessions had been tolerated at first.
Worth a visit:
Basler Münster