Second war of Kappel

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The second war of Kappel (Zweiter Kappelerkrieg) was an armed conflict in 1531 between the Protestant and the Catholic cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the Reformation in Switzerland.

1 Cause
2 Battle of Kappel
3 Aftermath
4 Literature
5 See also

[edit] Cause

The Tagsatzung of 1531 in Baden failed to mediate between the parties (1790s drawing)

The tensions between the two parties had not been resolved by the peace concluded after the first war of Kappel two years earlier, and provocations from both sides continued unabatedly, fuelled in particular by the Augsburg Confession of 1530. Additionally, the Catholic party accused Zürich of territorial ambitions.

As the Catholic cantons refused to help the Three Leagues (Drei Bünde) in the Grisons in the Musso war against the Duchy of Milan, Zürich promptly considered this a breach of contracts between the confederacy and the Three Leagues and declared an embargo against the five alpine Catholic cantons, in which Berne also participated. While the Tagsatzung had successfully mediated in 1529, on this occasion the attempt failed, not least because Zwingli was eager for a military confrontation. The Catholic cantons declared war on Zürich on 9 October 1531.

[edit] Battle of Kappel

The forces of Zürich are defeated in the battle of Kappel (1548 etching).

Battle of Kappel

Date	October 11, 1531
Location	Switzerland
Result	Catholic victory

Combatants

Schwyz, Uri, Zug

Zürich

On October 11, 1531, the Catholic cantons decisively defeated the forces of Zürich in the Battle of Kappel. The victorious side was led by Hans Jauch of Uri. The Zürich troops were without support from allied cantons, and Huldrych Zwingli led them rather inexpertly, and was killed on the battlefield. At Kappel, two brothers of the Göldli family (Kaspar and Georg) stood on opposite sides, epitomizing the tragedy of this war between confederates.

After the defeat, the forces of Zürich regrouped and attempted to occupy the Zugerberg, and some of them camped on the Gubel hill near Menzingen. A small force of Aegeri succeeded in routing the camp, and the demoralized Zürich force had to retreat, forcing the Protestants to agree to a peace treaty to their disadvantage.

[edit] Aftermath

This so-called Zweiter Landfrieden forced the dissolution of the Protestant alliance. It gave Catholicism the priority in the common territories, but allowed communes that had already converted to remain Protestant. Only strategically important places such as the Freiamt or those along the route from Schwyz to the Rhine valley at Sargans (and thus to the alpine passes in the Grisons) were forcibly recatholicised. Politically, this gave the Catholic cantons a majority in the Tagsatzung, the federal diet of the confederacy.

Heinrich Bullinger who had been a teacher at Kappel, and since 1523 an outspoken supporter of Zwingli's, at the time of the battle was pastor at Bremgarten. Following the Battle of Kappel, Bremgarten was re-catholicized. On 21 October, Bullinger fled to Zürich with his father, and on 9 December was declared Zwingli's successor.