RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Odo (Ecolampadius
the citizens shook off the secular power of the bishop, and after these political changes there was no obstacle to the free development of the Reformation. Capito was the first who was active for the cause in Basel, beginning with the overthrow of the order of pericopes. Unfortunately he left Basel in 1519, but he left results. In Wilhelm Roubli, preacher at St. Alban's, there appeared a Reformer of a different type, who in 1521 began to preach against the mass, purgatory, worship of saints, and other abuses of the Roman Church, and with success to hold before the people Christ crucified. On Corpus Christi he ordered a Bible to be carried before the procession, with the inscription, " The Bible, that is true holiness, everything else is dead men's bones." Thereupon the priests accused him before the bishop, who, because of the excitement, referred the matter to the council, while the populace vehemently demanded the acquittal of the preacher. The council in great alarm yielded, but, owing to the intrigues of the clergy, Roubli was banished in 1522, though not till he had inflamed the souls of the people and opened their hearts to the Evangelical truth. After him, the sermons of Johann Liithard of the Franciscan monastery and of Wolff Wissenburg, preacher at the hospital, exercised a lasting influence. Hence, when (Ecolampadius came to Basel, he found it already the center of an Evangelical movement from which proceeded a great mass of literature.
In (Ecolampadius the movement received a leader. He was at first without a position, but toward the end of 1522 he became unsalaried vicar to Antonius Zanker, preacher at St. 3. Early Martin's. In 1523 the council made Work of him and Konrad Pellican (q.v.) lec- OEcolam- turers on Holy Scripture at the unipadius versity; but the anti-Evangelical uni- There. versity did not recognize them, and they were compelled to lecture outside of the academic halls. The university had become more and more the stronghold of the old religion and even Erasmus was cold and indifferent. But clergy and laity thronged to hear the lectures of (Ecolampadius. Luther was greatly elated over his success, but at this time (Ecolampadius came into terms of friendship with Zwingli, who was much nearer to him than Luther, and the natural consequence was his dependence upon Zwingli. At the end of 1522 the university made an effort to end the crisis, and a debate was proposed which did not eventuate. At the instigation of Zwingli a disputation was held in Zurich which greatly furthered the cause of the Reformed in the whole of Switzerland. (Ecolampadius felt so strengthened that he, too, in 1523 drew up four theses for a public disputation and defended them in the presence of large crowds. His first sermons so swayed the people that, soon after hs entered his position, various ceremonies were omitted, priests married, and the people with the clergy split into two sharply opposed parties. The majority of the town clergy attacked (Ecolampadius violently, but the council took a favorable attitude. In 1523 it issued its first reformatory mandate, " the first document of the supremacy of the State over the Church in
Basel," which ordered the free preaching of the Gospel, but did not involve express assent to the Reformation. In 1524 a disputation took place, dealing with the marriage of priests, which was publicly defended by Stephen Stor, a secular priest, who had married. (Ecolampadius took part, but held that celibacy had advantages in that an unmarried priest could better devote himself to his duties. The Reformed again won the victory. About the same time another disputation took place at the instigation of Farel, who had reached Basel as a fugitive. This disputation was also opposed by the university, and its success added new strength to the Evangelical party. (Ecolampadius now became preacher at St. Martin's. The German language was used in baptism, the Lord's Supper was administered in both kinds, and all unprofitable ceremonies were abolished. In 1526 German church song was introduced. In 1525 the Catholic estates of Switzerland made an energetic effort to suppress the Reformation by sending messengers to Basel to invoke the aid of the city against the Reformation in Zurich, but the councilors refused, appealing to their relations with the federation. Thus peace was secured for several years, and the Swiss Reformation was saved. But the rebellion of the peasants inspired the defenders of the old faith with new hopes. Protests were raised against the radical reforms of (Ecolampadius, even from the side of the Reformed, and the council, alarmed by these protests, asked the opinion of Erasmus. The latter advised them to refer the matter to the pope. The rebellious peasants had occupied the Sundgau, Alsace, Breisgau, the Black Forest, and a part of the canton of Basel, and marched before the very doors of Basel. Thanks to the unanimous attitude of its population, the city was saved, and a treaty was made with the peasants. Roman Catholics held the reformation of CEcolampadius chargeable for these events, and he was made responsible for the radicalism of the Anabaptists who greatly embarrassed the political-ecclesiastical movement in Basel.
In the beginning, GScolampadius like Zwingli had many points of contact with them, especially as many of them had been zealous and able adherents of the Reformation. He tried to deal with them in a friendly way. For a time he went 4. Final even so far as to consider the baptism Success of children an open question, but after in 1529. a private disputation with the Anabaptists at his residence in Aug., 1525, he advocated the traditional doctrine. The controversy on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper also penetrated to Basel. Originally (Ecolampadius agreed with Carlstadt (q.v.) on this doctrine, incurring thereby the displeasure not only of the Romanists, but also of the council. The works of Carlstadt were forbidden, and dissensions arose among the clergy so that Zwingli had to admonish them to live in concord. For the defense of his standpoint (Ecolampadius published in _AuS-> 1525> his treatise De genuina verborum Domini " hoc est corpus meum" expositio. This moderate
treatise led to no agreement, but rather sharpened the contrast, and the literary dispute assumed a
CEcolampadius (Economus