Affair of the Sausages

The Affair of the Sausages (1522) was the event that sparked the Reformation in Zürich. Huldrych Zwingli, pastor of Grossmünster in Zurich, Switzerland, spearheaded the event by publicly speaking in favor of eating sausage during the Lenten fast. Zwingli defended this action in a sermon called Von Erkiesen und Freiheit der Speisen (Regarding the Choice and Freedom of Foods), in which he argued, from the basis of Martin Luther's doctrine of sola scriptura, that "Christians are free to fast or not to fast because the Bible does not prohibit the eating of meat during Lent."[1]

Relief above the Grossmünster in Zurich, reading: "In this House of God, Huldrych Zwingli's Reformation took its start."

History
Smoked sausages

Ulrich Zwingli was a pastor in Zurich, who was dedicated to the Reformation ideology of Martin Luther.[1] His first rift with the established religious authorities in Switzerland came during the Lenten fast of 1522, when he was present during the eating of sausages at the house of Christoph Froschauer, a printer in the city.[2]

According to William Roscoe Estep, Zwingli had already held his convictions for some time before the incident.[3] In March 1522, he was invited to partake of the sausage supper that Froschauer served not only to his workers, who, as he later claimed, were exhausted from putting out the new edition of The Epistles of Saint Paul but also to various dignitaries and priests. Because the eating of meat during Lent was prohibited, the event caused public outcry, which led to Froschauer being arrested.[4]

The planned provocation took place e.g. in the presence of Leo Jud, Klaus Hottinger and Lorenz Hochrütiner, which all gained notoriety for Swiss reformation later. Froschauer himself published from 1525 on the Zürich Bible.[5] The meal involved Swiss Fasnachtskiechli and some slices of sharp smoked hard sausage, which had been stored for more than a year.[5] Though he himself did not eat the sausages, Zwingli was quick to defend Froschauer from allegations of heresy. In a sermon titled Von Erkiesen und Freiheit der Speisen (Regarding the Choice and Freedom of Foods), Zwingli argued that fasting should be entirely voluntary, not mandatory.[5] According to Michael Reeves, Zwingli was advancing the Reformation position that Lent was subject to individual rule, rather than the discipline which was upheld at the time by the Catholic Church.

In Basel, a sort of more opulent Spanferkel-meal served the same purpose some time later.[6][7]

However the Zurich sausage affair was interpreted as demonstration of Christian liberty and kept being of similar importance for Switzerland as Martin Luther's 95 theses in Wittenberg for German reformation.[8][9]

Impact

After hearing of this indictment, Hugo von Hohenlandenberg, the Bishop of Konstanz, was so scandalized by Zwingli's preaching that he called for a mandate prohibiting the preaching of any Reformation doctrine in Switzerland.[3] However, the damage had already been done, and Zwingli went on to become an extremely popular and revered figure in Swiss Protestantism, having contracted and recovered from the Black plague and drawn up sixty-seven theses (similar to Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses) that denounced several long-standing beliefs of the Church of Rome.[4]

In culture

The Affair is the subject of a 2016 cantata Geist und Wurst by Edward Rushton.

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See also

References
  1. Lindberg, Carter (July 2009). The European Reformations. John Wiley and Sons. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-4051-8068-9. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  2. Fluri, Adolf (24 January 2012). "Froschauer, Christoph (d. 1564)". The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. GAMEO. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
  3. Estep, William Roscoe (1986). Renaissance and Reformation. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-8028-0050-3. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  4. Tucker, Ruth A. (16 August 2011). Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church. Zondervan. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-310-20638-5. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  5. Gottfried W. Locher: Die Zwinglische Reformation im Rahmen der europäischen Kirchengeschichte. Göttingen, Zürich: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht 1979, S. 95–98, insbesondere Fn. 55
  6. "Die Reformation als Einschnitt und Aufbruch, Geschichte der Universität Basel". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
  7. R. Wackernagel, "Spanferkelessen" in "Das Jahrzehnt der Reformation", 11. Buch, Geschichte der Stadt Basel (History of Basel), Band 3, Basel, 1924, p. 327f
  8. Dorothea Meyer-Liedholz, Nicole Lang, Rahel Voirol-Sturzenegger, Christian Metzenthin, Monika Widmer Hodel: Wir glauben in Vielfalt; Theologischer Verlag Zürich (Swiss schoolbook), Wurstessen für die Freiheit (eating sausage for freedom) p.201, 2011
  9. Martin Honecker: Wege evangelischer Ethik: Positionen und Kontexte; Saint-Paul, 2002, p. 185
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