Basel

“ But with the Reformation, Basel became the arena of contests which menaced the very existence of the university itself, the professors being, for the most part, opposed to the new movement with which the burghers warmly sympathized. Eventually, the statutes were revised, and in the latter half of the 16th century the university may be said to have attained its apogee. Before he had signed the bull for the foundation of the university of Basel, Pope Pius, at the request of Duke William of Bavaria, had issued another bull for the foundation of a university at Ingolstadt Ingolstadt. ”

“ There was but little chance, however, of rapid progress, as from Andeer to Splügen the road is almost always on the ascent, sometimes gradually, at others in steep zigzags up the shoulder of some obstructive hill, and constantly overhanging or crossing the rapid, white, foaming mountain-stream, sole representative here of the noble river whose broad waters have been admired at Basel. ”

“ As in other Swiss towns the trade gilds got all political power into their hands, especially by the 18th century. They naturally favoured the city at the expense of the rural districts, so that in 1832 the latter proclaimed their independence, and in 1833 were organized into the half canton of Basel Landschaft, the city forming that of Basel Stadt. ”

“ Basel (74) , in the NW. of Switzerland, on the Rhine, just before it enters Germany; has a cathedral, university, library, and museum; was a centre of influence in Reformation times, and the home for several years of Erasmus; it is now a great money market, and has manufactures of silks and chemicals; the people are Protestant and German-speaking. ”

“ HELVETIC CONFESSIONS, the name of two documents expressing the common belief of the reformed churches of Switzerland. The first, known also as the Second Confession of Basel, was drawn up at that city in 1536 by Bullinger and Leo Jud of Zürich, Megander of Bern, Oswald Myconius and Grynaeus of Basel, Bucer and Capito of Strassburg, with other representatives from Schaffhausen, St Gall, Mühlhausen and Biel. ”

“ There are few things in the world so fine as a mighty river, few rivers so fine as the Rhine, and few spots so{13} favourable for its contemplation as the balcony at Basel. As you look at the deep colour of the water, you think of all the wonders which on its way it has seen. You remember your own exploits and pleasant walks in past times along the lovely valley of the Aar, and over the barren and stony waste of the Grimsel, to the source of this beautiful feeder of the Rhine ”

“ The industries include silk ribbons (8000 hands) , metal articles, tanning, paper, aniline dyes and other chemicals, brewing, &c.; and the position of Basel, a little below where the Rhine becomes navigable and at the terminus of the French and German railways, has made it the emporium of a most important trade. At Basel was signed the treaty of peace between France and Prussia, 5th April, and that between France and Spain, 22nd July, 1795. ”

“ In the centre are the arms of Basel, supported by basilisks, under an archway in course of building, which is decorated with a series of empty shields for coats of arms. In the landscape background on either side are men engaged in erecting buildings on the river bank, and in the foreground is a boat filled with soldiers. ”

“ The canton borders on Alsace and Baden, has an area of 177 sq. miles, and a pop. of 222,000 (1916) , nearly all speaking German. It is divided into two half-cantons, Basel city (Basel-Stadt) and Basel country (Basel-Land) . The former consists of the city and its precincts, the remainder of the canton forming Basel-Land, the capital of which is Liestal. The whole canton belongs to the valley of the Rhine. The soil is generally well cultivated ”

“ The gray light, sweeping over the sky, showed Ruth the wooded slopes reaching down toward the Rhine, which had formed the Swiss-German boundary at Basel, but which now flowed almost due north between the German grand duchy of Baden and the German Imperial Territory of Alsace, within the western edge of which now ran the French and American battle line. ”

“ The Reformation was spreading beyond Zurich. Evangelical preachers had arisen in many of the other cantons, and were gaining adherents.
§ 6. The Reformation outside Zurich.
Basel, the seat of a famous university and a centre of German Humanism, contained many scholars who had come under the influence of Thomas Wyttenbach, Zwingli’s teacher. Wolfgang Fabricius Capito, a disciple of Erasmus, a learned student of the Scriptures, had begun as early as [Pg 39] 1512 to show how the ceremonies and many of the usages of the Church had no authority from the Bible. He worked in Basel from 1512 to 1520. ”

“ So as soon as Herzbruder could ride we despatched our money (for now we had but one purse in common) by way of banker's draft to Basel, equipped ourselves with horses and servants, and made our way up the Danube to Ulm and thence to the Spa before mentioned, for now 'twas May and pleasant travelling. There did we hire a lodging: but I rid to Strassburg, not only to receive in part our money which we had conveyed thither by way of Basel, but also to inquire for the medicos of experience that should prescribe for Herzbruder recipes and the manner of his taking the baths. ”

“ Reformation in Basel, A.D. 1520-1525.―In Basel, at an early period, Capito and Hedio wrought as biblical preachers. But so soon as they had laid a good foundation they accepted a call to Mainz, in A.D. 1520, which they soon again quitted for Strassburg, where they carried on the work of the Reformation along with Bucer. Their work at Basel was zealously and successfully continued by Röublin. He preached against the mass, purgatory, and saint worship, often to 4,000 hearers. On the day of Corpus Christi he produced a Bible instead of the usual relics, which he scornfully called dead bones. ”

“ The people yields its servants, indeed, some compensation, but it does not reward them with pensions or with superabundant influence. It builds up no official class who forget their citizenship and separate themselves from the mass of the people, squeezing as many advantages as possible out of their offices, even to the prejudice of efficient service. The Cantons, upon enumeration, number not twenty-two but twenty-five, because three of them have been divided into half-Cantons, making nineteen whole and six half Cantons. Basel is divided into Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft (urban and rural) ”

“ Germany remained neutral; Charles VII. of France confined himself to securing to his kingdom by the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, which became law on the 13th of July 1438, the benefit of a great number of the reforms decreed at Basel; England and Italy remained faithful to Eugenius IV. Finally, in 1447 Frederick III., king of the Romans, after negotiations with Eugenius, commanded the burgomaster of Basel not to allow the presence of the council any longer in the imperial city. In June 1448 the rump of the council migrated to Lausanne. ”

“ In the liberal cantons the Burgomaster presided. The Council, however, encroached upon the rights of the people at large, and deprived them of direct influence in the management of affairs. Basel and Schaffhausen followed in the track of Zurich. Genuine democracies represent the cantons à Landsgemeinde. The government embodied the will of a sovereign people, and from its very antiquity commands our veneration and deserves special attention. ”

“ A small party that regarded no man worthy of succeeding the great Ziska, refused him allegiance, and styled themselves Orphans. They were the most fanatical of all.―Meanwhile the Council of Basel had met (§ 110, 8) and after long fruitless negotiations it was resolved in A.D. 1433 that 300 Hussite deputies should appear at Basel. After a fifty days’ disputation the four Calixtine articles with certain modifications were accepted by the council. On the basis of this Basel Compact the Calixtines returned to the Romish church. ”

“ At Basel he did much laborious work for Froben's editions, and came to the conclusion that the Church taught many doctrines of which the early doctors of Christendom knew nothing. He spoke his views frankly, but he disliked polemic; he found also more toleration than might have been expected, even after he became active in circulating Luther's books. Thus, supported by the civic authorities, he remained guardian of the convent of his order at Basel from 1519 till 1524, and even when he had to give up his post, remained in the monastery for two years, professing theology in the university. ”

“ We shall have very soon to return again to Wohlgemuth and Nuremberg, but in the year which followed the production of the great Chronicle Sebastian Brant's Narrenschiff attracted the eyes of the literary world throughout Europe to the city of Basel, and we also may be permitted to digress thither. In the year of the Chronicle itself a Basel printer, Michael Furter, had produced a richly illustrated work, the Ritter vom Thurn von den Exempeln der Gottesfurcht und Ehrbarkeit, the cuts in which have ornamental borders on each side of them. ”

“ But if, through the Emperor or the Swiss, Basel was shut to us, I do not see why the League after such a beginning should abandon the enterprise. I gave the reasons in other letters, but the decision lies with others who perhaps are of a contrary opinion.
I have written a detailed account of what happens to the Eight. My own impressions, such as they are, I write to Your Magnificence, to whom I can explain things with more freedom than to such eminent magistrates. You can therefore guess at the truth; to me it appears that although there is danger there is also hope. ”

“ The reputation of the victory greatly strengthened the Catholic party.
But Zurich was now no longer the sole centre of Reform. At Schaff-hausen, Hofmeister, at Biel, Wyttenbach, Zwingli's old teacher at Basel, were preaching freely. In Basel Capito's work (1512-20) was more than carried on by Œcolampadius, now (February, 1525) minister at St Martin's. Bern, the most important of all the cities, was, in religion as in politics, inclined to a policy of its own. Political power was here in the hands of the aristocracy, the gilds being politically unimportant ”

“ The university library is very rich, and contains the original MSS. of the acts of the great oecumenical council. There are a number of modern monuments in the city, the most important being that set up to the memory of the Swiss who fell in the battle of St Jakob (1444) , won by the French. Basel is the seat of the chief missionary society in Switzerland, the training school for missionaries being at St Chrischona, 6 m. ”

“ Manuel painted at Bern, Hans Asper at Zurich, and at Basel itself there were other painters besides Holbein. Half a century before him the Dance of Death had been painted, after the disaster of a plague, on the walls of a church-yard at Basel.
The council-hall at Basel gave occupation to architects from 1508 till 1520. It is believed that Holbein painted three of the walls, only one of which (hid behind old tapestry, and discovered again in 1817) has escaped the ravages of time. ”

“ The confederated cantons thankfully acknowledged what Basel and Schaffhausen had constantly done in these heroic days for the whole Confederacy, and that warlike Appenzell had never been backward at the call of glory and liberty. Therefore Basel, June 9, 1501, and flourishing Schaffhausen, August 9, 1501, were received into the perpetual Swiss bond, and finally, 1513, Appenzell, already united in perpetual alliance with most of the cantons, was acknowledged as coequal with all the Confederates. ”

“ The military camps of Drusus had grown into settled communities, until to-day are found along the Rhine the great cities of Basel, Strasburg, Speyer, Worms, Mayence, Coblenz, Cologne, and Düsseldorf, and between them are dotted a series of cities and towns less important only in size, certainly not in the magnitude of their interest for the traveller or student, nor in their storied past. ”

“ To the honorable, the wise and the discreet, the Council and burghers generally of Basel, of Colmar, of Schlettstadt, of Rheinau, of Naffach, and after them, all those cities where this letter appears, Nicholas the younger Zorn, mayor of the city, and the burghers of Strassburg generally offer their free service with entire friendship. Many things are done honorably and justly, which in foreign countries are perverted, because their origin is not rightly understood. ”

“ One of the German emperors, therefore, issued orders that all the towns should erect fortifications, and that, in times of war, the rural population should take refuge within them. Basel was one of the first that was enclosed in Switzerland, being on the frontier. Then St. Gall, which had sprung up round the great monastery, and was also near the frontier; Zurich and Lucerne followed later. Lucerne has kept up the old Swiss character better than almost any other town, from its position near these forest cantons, which have more or less imbued it with their spirit. ”

“ Basel said that sending embassies and letters were useless. The overbearing disposition of these people, as well as their rudeness, was well known.--Deputies could easily meet in such a way as would only widen the breach. Let us once more call a Diet at Baden and bring up there our common complaints. Together we will demand a speedy remedy. If they promise, it is well; if not, our honor is preserved, though we break asunder. Schaffhausen and St. Gall expressed the same opinion, and Bern likewise fell in with the invitation. ”