Caroline Schnyder. Reformation und Demokratie im Wallis (1524-1613). Mainz: Philipp von Zabern Verlag, 2002. viii + 355 pp. Euro 51.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-3-8053-2994-1.

Reviewed by Beat Kümin (Department of History, University of Warwick)
Published on H-German (November, 2004)

Religious Tension and Political Transformation in an Alpine Republic

In recent years, member states and associates of the Swiss Confederation have emerged as useful micro-laboratories for the investigation of religious change and the testing of seminal theories such as the "communal reformation" (Peter Blickle) and "confessionalization" (Heinz Schilling and Wolfgang Reinhard). Following on from important works on the Grisons, which highlighted the late medieval process of communalization and identified a pattern of early modern "confessionalization from below," and a long-term quantitative study of villages in the canton of Berne, where the quest for greater "social discipline" was found to be heavily influenced by the parishioners, we are now offered an in-depth examination of the political repercussions of the Reformation in the Valais.[1]

In this clear and highly readable book, Caroline Schnyder sets out to investigate the role of the reformed minority in the transformation of an episcopal principality into an early modern republic. The chronological scope extends from the first evidence of Lutheran ideas in this area (1524) to the formulation of a "democratic" constitution in 1613. Negotiations and resolutions of the governing council (Landrat) provide the bulk of the source material, but the author also draws on extensive sets of personal and diplomatic correspondence. The study focuses on an Alpine Region along the river Rhone in the southwest of present-day Switzerland. In the sixteenth century, its 40,000 inhabitants were divided into a primarily German-speaking upper part and a (politically subject) French lower part. From the late Middle Ages, the Bishops of Sion saw their secular powers eroded by the emergence of strong rural and urban communities in the upper half of their territory. The latter organized themselves in seven military-judicial districts (Zenden) and developed a corporate identity as a Landschaft. Communal representatives gained access to the episcopal council and gradually came to dominate the area's political life.

The book is very tightly structured. Schnyder guides the reader through each section with detailed introductions, meticulous empirical analyses and regular summaries. Her chapter plan is essentially chronological and the argument can be outlined as follows: at the end of the Middle Ages, the political regime of the Valais was characterized by an underlying tension between monarchical and communal principles. After decades of growing lay influence in local ecclesiastical life, Lutheran ideas gained a foothold in the small towns of Sion and Leuk in the mid-1520s. For the first sixty years, however, the supporters of religious change occupied an ambiguous position "between the confessions" and hoped to change the Catholic Church from within. It was only the clergy's intransigence which led to the formation of reformed lay associations by the 1580s. The latter proceeded very cautiously, balancing (conflicting) advice from Calvinist Geneva as well as Zwinglian Basel, Bern, Schaffhausen and Zurich, and managed to preserve traditional bonds with their Catholic neighbors. Members of the reformist movement held important political offices and--even though heretical ideas had officially been banned--pursued low-profile spiritual activities in an atmosphere of implicit toleration. The bishop, of course, did not approve of these developments and neither did the Catholic Swiss cantons nor the powerful neighbors of Savoy and Spanish Milan. It was in this period of crisis that the reformed party first argued that the highest power in the land rested in the hands of council and communes rather than bishops (p. 182). In 1604, however, under pressure from abroad and the staunchly Catholic uppermost Zenden, the Landrat passed an unambiguous resolution in support of the old faith. The "Visper Abschied" presented non-conformists with the alternative of re-conversion or exile. Yet the letter of the law could not be enforced in the reform-minded towns of the lower Zenden and after two years of tensions, a compromise solution prevailed. Reformed burghers were allowed to stay and even serve in public office, as long as they practiced their religion in private. This seems to have calmed religious passions and when bishop Adrian von Riedmatten attempted to reaffirm his princely prerogatives with reference to a dubious medieval privilege a few years later, his "subjects" refused to endorse it. The reformers' insistence on the "freedom" of the Valais now became the rallying cry of the entire country. When the council elected a new bishop in 1613, the candidate was forced to accept the rule of the Zenden "as a free democratic regime" (p. 309). In Schnyder's interpretation, Reformation-related conflicts exposed the territory's inner political contradictions and resolved them through an unequivocal decision in favor of democracy. The model for this transformation, furthermore, derived from time-honored political custom rather than Protestant theology. Human agency and communal tradition rather than confessional impulses changed the Valais in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (p. 324).

The author presents an absolutely fascinating case study of Reformation politics in an extraordinary setting. If early modern princes had nightmares, then the Valais must have loomed large. It is the sort of context where Bartholomäus Allet of Leuk, a mere innkeeper and office-holder (despite his openly reformist leanings), openly challenged the position of his overlord. He was the probable author of a letter which argued that episcopal claims to sovereignty were "untruthful" and warned that the people would offer "no more obedience, ... no rent nor income" should the bishop continue to invoke medieval myths (1613) (p. 295). Representatives of the Catholic Church fared little better. A rather farcical episode ensued from the desire of the papal nuncio, Giovanni Francesco Bonhomini, to visit the diocese of Sion in 1579. Bishop Hildebrand von Riedmatten brought the request before his council, which immediately replied that this was wholly unnecessary and in breach of long-standing liberties. A clearly embarrassed bishop advised the nuncio to proceed with caution as his visit might trigger unrest. After some delay, Bonhomini announced that he still wanted to deliver a set of papal instructions. The council approved an informal meeting with the bishop, but when the nuncio entered the territory in late December, two armed officials of the town of Sion approached him to convey the burghers' irritation that he persisted with his visit in such an "unexpected and rash" manner (p. 102). Startled by this reception, Bonhomini abandoned his journey. Riedmatten, now even more embarrassed, caught up with the papal delegate on his way back in order to explain the situation. The nuncio threatened the Valais with serious consequences, but ultimately nothing happened.

Reflecting its origins as a thesis, the book concentrates on the immediate issues at hand and less on the wider implications of its findings. Readers will find an admirable reconstruction of the political chronology and a convincing critique of previous scholarship on the region. Schnyder rightly censures historians for their failure to acknowledge the genuine religious beliefs of the reformed minority and a tendency to suspect ulterior political motives behind their actions. In the process, however, the author may overplay the extent to which we can disentangle religious and political concerns in this period. At one stage, she maintains that doctrinal divisions alone provided insufficient ground for intolerance (p. 166), pointing to domestic social tension as a more likely reason, but without really substantiating this claim. In the upper Zenden, at least, popular attitudes do seem to exemplify the virulence of (Catholic) religious passion. One might also question the use of "democracy" to describe what emerged in the seventeenth century, even though the term--but not, of course, the modern concept--explicitly appears in the sources. Would it not be more appropriate to speak of the triumph of regional autonomy and "communal sovereignty," given that political participation was restricted (at best) to adult male burghers and that Schnyder herself questions the extent to which individual towns and villages were involved in the decision-making process of Landrat and Zenden?

In terms of wider conclusions, the book offers a useful reminder that "confessions" could be amorphous and not necessarily antagonistic constructs in the late sixteenth century. The Valais also provides a prime example for lay leadership within an informal ecclesiastical framework, to the extent that burghers of Leuk and Sion presided over their own religious assemblies and even drafted an independent confession of faith (1592). The reformed party in fact never managed to establish an institutional Church in this region. But what exactly do Schnyder's findings mean, e.g., for the concept of a "Communal Reformation"? Does the Valais suggest that townspeople and villagers preferred a "mixed" religion based on Scripture, lay control and affordable clerical services but also the veneration of saints (esp. the Virgin Mary) (p. 120)? Furthermore, how does the situation in Sion and Leuk compare to that of Huguenot minorities in the cities of Catholic France, i.e. similar reformed movements subject to a regime with enormous influence in the Swiss confederation?

Overall, Reformation und Demokratie im Wallis makes an important contribution to early modern Swiss historiography. In addition, the book raises fresh questions about the relative importance of human agency, political structures and confessional impulses in sixteenth-century Europe more generally. It is to be hoped that Schnyder will now proceed to elaborate her conclusions in a broader comparative perspective.

Note

[1.] Works on the Grisons include, Immacolata Saulle Hippenmeyer, Nachbarschaft, Pfarrei und Gemeinde in Graubünden 1400-1600 (Chur: Kommissionsverlag Bündner Monatsblatt, 1997); and Randolph C. Head, Early Modern Democracy in the Grisons: Social Order and Political Language in a Swiss Mountain Canton 1470-1620 (Cambridge: University Press, 1995). For a long-term quantitative study of villages in the canton of Berne, see Heinrich R. Schmidt, Dorf und Religion: Reformierte Sittenzucht in Berner Landgemeinden der Fruehen Neuzeit (Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer Verlag, 1995).

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Citation: Beat Kümin. Review of Schnyder, Caroline, Reformation und Demokratie im Wallis (1524-1613). H-German, H-Net Reviews. November, 2004.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11089

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