author
Johann Jakob Hottinger
1783–1860
A Swiss historian and writer from Zurich, he devoted much of his work to the Reformation and the history of the Swiss Confederation. His books helped preserve key episodes and figures from Swiss religious and political life for later readers.
1 Audiobook
The Life and Times of Ulric Zwingli
by Johann Jakob Hottinger
About the author
Born in Zurich on May 18, 1783, he studied theology in Zurich and Leipzig and was ordained in 1804. He went on to teach in Zurich before becoming a professor, and built his reputation as a careful historian with a strong interest in Swiss church history and the Reformation.
His best-known works include studies of Ulrich Zwingli and major accounts of the Swiss Confederation during the age of religious division. Writing in the first half of the nineteenth century, he focused on turning complicated religious and political struggles into readable historical narrative.
He died in Zurich on May 17, 1860. Remembered as both a scholar and an educator, he belongs to a long Swiss intellectual tradition and is especially associated with the historical study of Zurich and the Swiss Reformation.