168 THE SWISS REFORMATION.
Ziirich was first ready for the conflict and sent four thousand well-equipped soldiers to Cappel, a village with a Cistercian convent, in the territory of Ziirich on the frontier of the Canton Zug.^ Smaller detachments were located at Bremgarten, and on the frontier of Schwyz, Basel, St. Gall. Miihlhausen furnished auxiliary troops. Bern sent five thousand men, but with orders to act only in self-defence.
Zwingli accompanied the main force to Cappel. "When my brethren expose their lives," he said to the burgomaster, who wished to keep him back, " I will not remain quiet at home. The army requires a watchful eye." He put the halberd which he had worn as chaplain at Mari'gnano, over his shoulder, and mounted his horse, ready to conquer or to die for God and the fatherland.^
He prepared excellent instructions for the soldiers, and a plan of a campaign that should be short, sharp, decisive, and, if possible, unbloody.
Ziirich declared war June 9, 1529. But before the forces crossed the frontier of the Forest Cantons, Landammann Aebli of Glarus, where the Catholics and Protestants wor-
cujusquam sanguinem, neque etiam per tumultum hauriemus, sed in hoc sumus, ut oligarchic^ nervi succidantiir. Id nisi fiat, neque Evangelii Veritas, neque illius ministri apud nos in tuto erunt. Nihil crudele cogitamus : sed quicquid agimus, amicum et paternum est." Opera, VIII. 294.
1 Cappel has become famous by the battle of 1531 and the death of Zwingli. It lies six miles from the town of Zug. The battle-field and the monument of Zwingli are about ten minutes' walk from Cappel. The old church is well preserved, and has recently been repaired. See Annales Ccenobii Capelloni per H. Bullingerum et P. Simlerum, in Simler's (printed) Sammlung alter und neuer Urkunden (Ziirich, 1760), II. 397; and Pestalozzi's BuUinger, p. 20.
2 It is stated by Bullinger, and usually supposed, that he only went in the capacity of chaplain, like Konrad Schmid and Franz Zingg, who likewise preached in the army. The armor seems to indicate the warrior, as Hagenbach thinks (p. 405), but not necessarily. There is no evidence that Zwingli actually fought in any battle. A. Baur (Zwingli's Theologie, II. 759) says that he went to war simply as patriot and chaplain, not as politician and captain. It is difficult, however, to separate these characters in him. The weapons of Zwingli — a harness, a helmet, and a sword — were kept in the arsenal at Luzern till 1848 in the Sonderbundskrieg, when they were carried to Ziirich.
§ 42. THE FIRST WAR OF CAPPEL. 169
ship in one church, appeared from a visit to the hostile army as peacemaker, and prevented a bloody collision. He was a friend of Zwingli, an enemy of the mercenary service, and generally esteemed as a true patriot. With tears in his eyes, says BuUinger, he entreated the Ziirichers to put off the attack even for a few hours, in the hope of bringing about an honorable peace. " Dear lords of Ziirich, for God's sake, prevent the division and destruction of the confederacy." Zwingli opposed him, and said : " My dear friend,^ you will answer to God for this counsel. As long as the enemies are in our power, they use good words ; but as soon as they are well prepared, they will not spare us." He foresaw what actually happened after his death. Aebli replied : " I trust in God that all will go well. Let each of us do his best." And he departed.
Zwingli himself was not unwilling to make peace, but Only on four conditions which he sent a day after Aebli's appeal, in a memorandum to the Council of Ziirich (June 11) : 1) That the Word of God be preached freely in the entire confederacy, but that no one be forced to abolish the mass, the images, and other ceremonies which will fall of themselves under the influence of scriptural preaching; 2) that all foreign military pensions be abolished; 3) that the originators and the dispensers of foreign pensions be punished while the armies are still in the field ; 4) that the Forest Cantons pay the cost of war preparations, and that Schwyz pay one thousand guilders for the support of the orphans of Kaiser (Schlosser) who had recently been burnt there as a heretic.
An admirable discipline prevailed in the camp of Ziirich, that reminds one of the Puritan army of Cromwell. Zwingli or one of his colleagues preached daily ; prayers were
^ They addressed each other " Gevatter," ^'gossip," which denotes a baptismal relationship. When Zwingli was pastor at Glarus, he stood sponsor to Aebli's children in baptism.