A meeting of scholars in Zurich, depicted on a print from the 19th century.
A meeting of scholars in Zurich, depicted on a print from the 19th century. e-rara

The University of Zurich’s grandmother turns 500

The first public lectures were held in Zurich in June 1525. This marked the beginning of higher education in the city on the Limmat, which would lead to the founding of the university 300 years later.

Tobias Jammerthal

Tobias Jammerthal

Tobias Jammerthal is professor of church history and history of theology at the University of Zurich.

We don’t know whether the sky was cloudy or whether the first rays of sunshine were lighting up the chancel of Zurich’s Grossmünster cathedral in the early hours of 19 June 1525. But on that Monday, 500 years ago, the small crowd that had gathered must have felt a certain excitement when Huldrych Zwingli – who had been the people’s priest and canon at the Grossmünster for nearly seven years – stood up to pray. They could almost certainly feel that that this was the start of something new.
View inside Zurich’s Grossmünster. Print, 1841.
View inside Zurich’s Grossmünster. Print, 1841. e-rara
Until shortly before June 1525, the canons and their chaplains had gathered at this hour to say the Gregorian morning prayers. From that day on, however, priests from the city of Zurich and anyone else who wanted to participate could come to the Grossmünster every day to study the Scriptures, particularly the Old Testament. Zwingli prayed that God would grant the members of the congregation a true understanding of His word and the ability to transform themselves based on their understanding.

Almighty, eternal and merciful God whose Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path, open and illuminate our minds that we may purely and perfectly understand Thy Word and that our lives may be transformed to what we have rightly understood in the Word, that nothing may be displeasing unto Thy Majesty, who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Zwingli’s ‘Prophezey prayer’ of 1525
A passage from the Book of Genesis was then read out in the Vulgate (Latin translation). After that, Jakob Ceporinus rose to speak. The young humanist from Dinhard near Zurich read out the same text in the Hebrew original, translated it into Latin and explained the vocabulary and grammar. Then it was Zwingli’s turn to speak again. He read out the passage in question from the Greek translation of the Old Testament – known as the Septuaginta, translated it and explained it. He didn’t only discuss the linguistic issues, however, but also looked at the content, in order to capture the meaning of the biblical text for the present day.
Portrait of Huldrych Zwingli, 19th century.
Portrait of Huldrych Zwingli, 19th century. Swiss National Museum
This all took place in Latin – the language of the learned. The reformers of Zurich wanted the knowledge and insights that the congregation had gained during the hour to also benefit the wider population. A priest in attendance therefore addressed the people who had in the meantime congregated in the nave at the sound of bells ringing. In a sermon in German he summarised what the scholars had previously discussed among themselves.

It was met with great interest, perhaps too great: because no one knew exactly when the German sermon would start, many people made their way to the Grossmünster much earlier – disturbing the scholars as they worked. In November 1525, Zwingli therefore suggested that the bells should ring towards the end of the scholarly section. This was intended to signal when it was it was time for the German language part.
Zurich’s Grossmünster on the city map by Jos Murer, 1576.
Zurich’s Grossmünster on the city map by Jos Murer, 1576. Zurich building history archive
This structure of scholarly Bible study, followed by a sermon based on the same passage delivered in the vernacular was sometimes later referred to as ‘Prophezey’. The people of Zurich therefore established an understanding of ‘prophecy’ as interpretation of the Bible, which can already be found among the Church Fathers, and which had been revived by Erasmus of Rotterdam. However, what was characteristic of the Zurich ‘Prophezey’ was the fact that the philological, scholarly work was closely related to the ecclesiastical preaching. This also reveals the intention which led Zwingli and his colleagues to initiate these lectures in the first place – an intention that is concisely expressed in the opening prayer. The goal was not just to gain knowledge, but to encourage an associated, profound reformation in the listeners.

The Bible interpretation in Latin was a ‘public lecture’ (lectio publica). It was not only public in the sense that it was open to anyone who understood Latin, but also because visitors didn’t have to pay. It was financed by the Grossmünster chapter, which, as Zurich’s only medieval religious establishment, had not been dissolved, but had reformed itself as an institution. And it would continue to exist for another three centuries.
From the ‘Prophezey’ came the Zurich Bible (also known as the Froschauer Bible) in 1531 – the first complete translation of the Bible into German from the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek.
From the u003cemu003e‘Prophezey’u003c/emu003e came the Zurich Bible (also known as the Froschauer Bible) in 1531 – the first complete translation of the Bible into German from the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. e-rara
Just one year later, in 1526, two other public lectures were established. One, on Latin dialectics and rhetoric, was led by Johann Jakob Amman, and the other, on Greek poetics, was run by Rudolf Collin. The two young humanists had studied together in Milan and acted as lectores, assisting hebraist Konrad Pellikan, who had just taken over as the successor of Ceporinus after his death in late 1525. This led to the emergence of a higher education institution of sorts, whose curriculum and teaching methods were influenced by both humanist and reformationist thinkers.

From 1541, the curriculum was extended to include other subjects – such as natural philosophy (physica), ethics and the New Testament. In 1559, detailed regulations governing higher education were introduced for the first time. Forty-two years later, as part of a large-scale educational reform, the Collegium Humanitatis was founded as an intermediate level between the Latin schools and public lectures. This became known as the Collegium Carolinum.
Portrait of Konrad Pellikan, print, circa 1700.
Portrait of Konrad Pellikan, print, circa 1700. Swiss National Museum
While the Carolinum was not a university and was therefore not entitled to award academic grades, the level of the teaching was comparable with the universities and so-called ‘schools of higher learning’. Then, as now, the reputation of the lecturers helped boost an educational institution’s prestige and renown. Zurich’s Carolinum also benefited, and thanks to notable figures such as physician and natural scientist Conrad Gessner, hebraist Theodor Bibliander, theologian Petrus Martyr Vermigli, orientalist Johann Heinrich Hottinger and philologists Johann Jakob Breitinger and Johann Jakob Bodmer – to name but a few – it was continually able to recruit renowned international scholars to Zurich.

The Grossmünster chapter was only definitively abolished in 1832, and with it, the history of the Collegium Carolinum also came to an end. Just a year later, however, the University of Zurich was founded as a successor institution. So, if we can think of the Carolinum as the mother of the University of Zurich, it should be clear by now who its grandmother was: the ‘public lectures’ that started on a Monday morning in summer, 500 years ago.

Published on: 19.06.2025

Modified on: 07.10.2025

URL: https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2025/06/the-university-of-zurichs-grandmother-turns-500/

More of: Modern AgeReligionEducation

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