Always among Us
Images of the Poor in Zwingli's Zurich

An examination of poor relief in post-Reformation Zurich, with special reference to Zwingli's sermons and pamphlets.

Lee Palmer Wandel (Author)

9780521522540, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 October 2003

208 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.31 kg

"...a carefully crafted, well-written study, and it is a welcome addition to the growing literature in English about Zurich during the Reformation period." J. Wayne Baker, Church History

In this elegantly written book, Lee Wandel discusses the relationship between the reform of poor relief and the Protestant Reformation in early sixteenth-century Zurich. In the introduction she traces the various ways that poverty had been evaluated, and its social and religious connotations, up to the sixteenth century. The first chapter provides a portrait of sixteenth-century Zurich. The next three chapters explore the discussion of the poor in various media of the town. The second chapter examines the sermons and pamphlets of Huldrych Zwingli, who was preaching that the poor were the true images of God. The third chapter addresses printed images depicting Christ calling beggars and other poor folk to Him, which appeared on title pages of Zwingli's pamphlets. The fourth chapter turns to the language of legislation, and in particular the poor ordinances of 1520 and 1525.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The city on the Limmat
2. The people's preacher and the living images of God
3. Images of the poor
4. The poor in the language of legislation
Conclusion
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]