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Voltaire
Voltaire (1694-1778) was a French author, historian, and philosopher whose thoughts on religious toleration and moderation of authoritarian power were influential during the Enlightenment. His most famous work today is the satirical Candide...
Article
Zwingli's Persecution of the Anabaptists
Huldrych Zwingli (l. 1484-1531) broke with the Church in 1522 and defended his beliefs at the First Disputation in 1523, encouraging many people in Zürich to embrace his teachings. Among his followers was a group, soon known as Anabaptists...
Definition
Huldrych Zwingli
Huldrych Zwingli (l. 1484-1531) was a Swiss priest who became the leader of the Protestant Reformation in the region at the same time Martin Luther (l. 1483-1546) was active in Germany. Zwingli is known as the 'third man of the Reformation'...
Article
Zwingli's On Rejecting Lent and Protecting Christian Liberty
Although Huldrych Zwingli (l. 1483-1531) began his Reformation efforts in Zürich in 1519, his first break with the Church came in 1522 when he defended a group of citizens who had broken the Lenten fast by eating sausages. The event, known...
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Bust of Voltaire
A portrait by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon of Francois-Marie Arouet or Voltaire (1694-1778), a French philosopher and historian. It was finished around the year 1778. White Marble has been used for the sculpture. It is currently...
Definition
The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment (Age of Reason) was a revolution in thought in Europe and North America from the late 17th century to the late 18th century. The Enlightenment involved new approaches in philosophy, science, and politics. Above all, the...
Definition
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was a French author and philosopher known for his views which influenced the Enlightenment and his general editorship of the multi-volume Encyclopedia, often described as the 'Bible of the Enlightenment'. Diderot...
Article
Gibbon's Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire
The English historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) wrote and published his seminal work History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire between 1776 and 1788. The dominant theme of Gibbon's six-volume work is that the fall of the Roman Empire...
Definition
Kappel Wars
The Kappel Wars (also known as the Wars of Kappel) were armed conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in Switzerland during the Swiss Reformation. The First Kappel War ended before it began in 1529, while the second, in 1531, concluded...
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Roman Funerary Stela from Zurich
A father had this tombstone erected in memory of his little boy Lucius, who had died at the age of two. The inscription in Latin not only mentions the profession of the man, who was head of the Zurich customs post, but also of the Roman name...