their country, the bishops of Switzerland were subject to foreign
metropolitans, two of them being under the jurisdiction of the
Archbishop of Mainz, two under Besancon, one under Aquileia, and one
subject immediately to Rome. Partly for this reason, partly, also,
owing to the increasing encroachments of the civil power, disputes and
conflicts between the ecclesiastical and temporal jurisdictions were
not unfrequent. But it would be a mistake to suppose that there were
no good ecclesiastics in Switzerland at this time. There were many
excellent priests, both secular and regular, who recognised the sad
condition of affairs, and who supported measures such as those
undertaken by the Bishop of Basle in 1503 with all their power. The
great body of teachers known as the Friends of God were at work in
Switzerland as in the Netherlands, and were doing splendid service for
education, both secular and religious.

The man, who played in Switzerland the part played so successfully by
Luther in Germany, was Ulrich Zwingli. He was the son of rich parents,
born at Wildhaus, in the canton of Saint Gall (1484), educated at the
Universities of Berne, Basle, and Vienna, and after his ordination to
the priesthood, appointed to the parish of Glarus. He was a young man
of remarkable ability both as a student and as a preacher, and was
fortunate enough to attract the notice of a papal legate, through
whose influence a pension was assigned to him to enable him to
prosecute his studies. He was a good classical scholar with a more
than average knowledge of Hebrew, and well versed in the Scriptures
and in the writings of the Fathers. For a time he acted as chaplain to
some Swiss regiments fighting in Italy for the Pope against France,
and on his return to his native country he was appointed preacher at
the famous shrine of Our Lady at Einsiedeln.[1] Here his oratorical
powers stood him in good stead, but his judgment and level-headedness