Christoph Schappeler

Christoph Schappeler (* 1472 in St. Gallen, † August 25, 1551 ) was a Reformed theologian, peasant leader and reformer.

Life

About youth and education nothing is handed down to 1513 he was a schoolmaster in St. Gallen. Memminger trade and patrician family Vöhlin 1479 had donated a Prädikatur on their altar in the St. Martin's Church. After the first holder of the Prädikatur had died, 1513 Schappeler proposed by the city of Memmingen Council and appointed by the patronage of the Lord in Feb.. His folksy manner of speech easier for him here to work. Since he was unassailable in his life and work, his opponents were also in the period of religious ferment, as he took the Protestant party, not harm. His sermon moved in this time, the social thought of the Bible strongly to the fore. His thoughts were less determined by Martin Luther as of Ulrich Zwingli, with whom he was as friendly as with Joachim von Watt. Zwingli would have liked to have him back in Switzerland, but the Council did not let him out of Memmingen.

Introduction of the Reformation

With the introduction of the Reformation, he went carefully. He placed the Bible at the center of church life to practice from there to the existing conditions with all sharpness criticism. He quickly won the citizenship of the new doctrine. As he viewed was shown by the fact that he was called frequently in his native Switzerland and in 1523 at the second Zurich disputation presided.

In Memmingen the laity as Sebastian Lotzer led now an even bolder language, and in 1523 he was able to even the uproar that his sermons had triggered barely damp. Despite the desire of the Bishop of Augsburg, the Council did not want to let him go, so that the bishop in 1524 took him with the spell and appealed to the Swabian League against the city. On December 7, 1524 Schappeler then led the sacrament in both kinds. For the Memminger defense from 2 to January 7, 1525, he set seven articles on as a confession of his teaching. The result was the overcoming of enemies that prey presented everything to God and to the Council. Now, the Council, on its own by the Reformation in Memmingen, for which he had laid the foundation.

Peasants' War

At this time the peasant uprising broke out, in which he was also drawn. At times, it was called even the main leader. Although he had no direct dealings with the leaders of the peasants, but they sent Lotzer, her writer 's thoughts. To what extent he was involved in the drafting of Article 12, is uncertain. In the Swabian League Memmingen was regarded as the birthplace of the revolt. When the city was occupied on June 9, 1525 by troops of the Swabian League, Schappeler fled the city to St. Gallen, where he lived for many years without office and waiting in vain for the recall in its old sphere of influence. To a larger work, he no longer came.