CHAPTER FOUR

ZURICH: PROFESSOR IN THE SCHOLA TIGURINA

Emidio Campi*

By European standards, the University of is of recent founda- tion. Established in 1833 by popular referendum, it cannot compare in age to such time-honoured seats of higher learning as and Hei- delberg, or Oxford and Bologna. Nevertheless, the origins of Zurich’s university are somewhat older than the founding referendum and can, in fact, be traced back to a tradition dating from the early . Inspired by of Rotterdam who had instituted the ‘Collegium Trilingue’ in Louvain as an independent school without connection to the university, founded the ‘Prophezei’ in 1525 as an institution for the training of the clergy in Zurich.1 Considerably less dramatic than the name might imply, the school aimed at provid- ing future pastors with a fi rm grounding in the Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek as well as Latin.2 Th e Prophezei quickly developed into an institution of higher learning whose infl uence and reputation spread within a short time beyond Switzerland to the rest of Europe: namely, the Schola Tigurina.3

* Th is essay is the revised and enlarged version of a paper published under the title ‘Peter Martyr Vermigli as a teacher at the Schola Tigurina’, in Emidio Campi et al., eds., Scholarly Knowledge: Textbooks in early modern Europe (Geneva: Droz, 2008), 391–405. 1 Th e name was derived from ‘prophecy’ following Zwingli’s interpretation of 1 Corinthians 12, 28 and 14, 26–33 and used as term for school in the church ordi- nance of 1535 (Christenlich ordnung und brüch der kilche Zürich). See Emidio Campi, ‘Prophezei’ in Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 4th ed., vol. 6 (Tübingen: Mohr, 2003), col. 1716. 2 Cf. , Reformationsgeschichte nach dem Autographon, ed. by Johann Jakob Hottinger und Hans Heinrich Vögeli, vol. 1, Frauenfeld: Beyel, 1838, 281–291 (reprint Zurich: Th eologischer Verlag, 1985). 3 See Schola Tigurina. Die Zürcher Hohe Schule und ihre Gelehrten um 1550, ed. Institut für Schweizerische Reformationsgeschichte, 2nd edn. (Zurich: Pano Verlag, 2000). 96 emidio campi

Th e driving force behind this growth was Zwingli’s successor as Antistes of Zurich, Heinrich Bullinger.4 Among the faculty at the Schola Tigurina, one fi nds such notable scholars as Jacob Wiesendan - ger, called Ceporinus, Konrad Pellikan, Konrad Gessner, Th eodor Bibliander, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Josias Simler as well as out- standingly erudite pastors devoted to theological inquiry like , Rudolph Gualther, Otto Werdmüller (alias Myliander), Johannes Wolf, and Ludwig Lavater. Th eir importance has been largely overshadowed by Bullinger, whose leadership and enormous productivity have thus far been the main focus of modern scholarly interest. In recent years, however, more intensive research has led to increasing recognition of these lesser known, although not less important fi gures.5 In particular, Peter Martyr Vermigli has become a frequent subject of research.6 Why did this Florentine refugee (religionis causa) arouse the interest of his Zurich contemporaries? What did they know about him, about his thought and his writings? What were their hopes and expectations when they appointed him to the chair of Old Testament at the Zurich school? What was his distinctive contribution to the Schola Tigurina? Why did his works form a standard against which future Reformed came to be measured? It is worthy of note that despite the growing interest in Vermigli’s life and thought, and in particular the undeniable importance of his

4 See Kurt Jakob Rüetschi, ‘Bullinger and the schools’, in Bruce Gordon and Emidio Campi, eds., Architect of Reformation: An Introduction to Heinrich Bullinger 1504–1575 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004), 215–229. For the most recent literature on Heinrich Bullinger, see Fritz Büsser, Heinrich Bullinger. Leben, Werk und Wirkung, 2 vols. (Zurich: Th eologischer Verlag, 2004–2005); Emidio Campi, ed., Heinrich Bullinger und seine Zeit. Eine Vorlesungsreihe (Zurich: Th eologischer Verlag, 2004); Peter Opitz, Heinrich Bullinger als Th eologe: Eine Studie zu den ‘Dekaden’ (Zurich: Th eologischer Verlag, 2004); Emidio Campi and Peter Opitz, eds., Heinrich Bullinger: Life, Th ought, Infl uence, 2 vols. (Zurich: Th eologischer Verlag, 2007). 5 Christine Christ-von Wedel and Urs B. Leu, eds., Erasmus in Zürich: eine versch- wiegene Autorität (Zurich: Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2007), 77–165, 309–326. 6 See for the most recent literature, Emidio Campi, ed., Peter Martyr Vermigli. , Republicanism, Reformation (Geneva: Droz, 2002), cited hereaft er as PMV; Achille Olivieri, ed., Pietro Martire Vermigli (1499–1562). Umanista, Riformatore, Pastore [Italia Sacra 76], (Rome: Herder, 2003); Frank A James III, ed., Peter Martyr Vermigli and the European (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2004); Torrance Kirby, Th e Zurich Connection and Tudor Political Th eology (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2007); Luca Baschera, Tugend und Rechtfertigung. Peter Martyr Vermiglis Kommentar zur Nikomachischen Ethik im Spannungsfeld von Philosophie und Th eologie (Zurich: Th eo- logischer Verlag 2008); Jason Zuidema, Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499–1562) and the Outward Instruments of Divine Grace (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008).