The battle of Kappel 1531, and a brother clash

It was on the 9th October 1531 that the Catholic cantons of Switzerland declared war to the Protestant Zürich. The 2nd Müsserkrieg formed a motivation for the declaration. Switzerland now was ready to begin the Zweiter Kappelerkrieg. After the Erster Kappelerkrieg in 1529 tensions between the Protestant and Catholic remained. On the 11th October 1531, Catholics with an army of 7000 soldiers fought against the Züricher Protestants, who were with 2000 men in the Battle of Kappel. Zürich stood alone in this battle, as other Protestant cantons did not support the army. The leader of the Zürichers was the Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli. He was noted for his reform ideas as early as 1518, when he preached as pastor in Grossmünster, Zürich. The Battle of Kappel would cost him his life, together with 500 other Protestants.

The Catholics, who won the Battle took Zwingli's body and burned him as a heretic.

Later attempts of the Protestants for revenge did not go so well, as is to be seen in the peace treatment (the Zweiter Landfrieden).

According to the Zweiter Landfrieden, the Catholics were given priority in common territories, but already reformed parishes were allowed to remain Protestant. An establishment of the two religions in Switzerland, a new concept, would follow.

An interesting genealogical picture is to be gained in this battle of Kappel.

It is to be starting with the ancestry of the vicar Hans Jakob Schlatter (1671-1718), the progenitor of the Dutch family Slaterus - thanks for his ancestry in male line to Henk Slaterus.

It was time to look at his  ancestry on the maternal line. His mother, Barbara Keller vom Steinbock descended from an important Züricher family. Consider following state, her ancestry from the family Göldli is pictured - note that the years are not all verified; most people are living around Zürich:

Heinrich Göldli, (+1514)

x Barbara von Peyern

                |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------            

Kaspar Göldli (ca. 1468-1542)                                          Georg Göldli (ca. 1466-1536)
x Ursula von Breiten-Landenberg                                  x Emerita Mötteli von Rappenstein

                |                                                                                            |

Hans Heinrich Göldli (1496-1553)                                  Joachim Göldli (+1581)
x Adelheid Schleidinger (+1573)                                     x 1524 Barbara von Bonstetten (+1531)

                |                                                                                            |

Elisabeth Göldli (1527-1578)                                            Fortunata Göldli
x 1545 Wolfgang Haller (1525-1601)                               x 1548 Rudolf Rordorf (1515-1570)

                |                                                                                            |

Dorothea Haller (1546-1592)                                            Elisabeth Rordorf (*1561)

x 1563 Prof. Jakob Ulrich (1538-1605)                             x 1588 Hans Konrad Koller

                |                                                                                            |

Martha Ulrich (1577-1649)                                                Hans Rudolf Koller (1588-1662)

x 1597 Hans Heinrich Keller vom Steinbock (*1574)        x 1608 Regula Pfister

                |                                                                                            |

Hans Konrad Keller vom Steinbock (1611-1681) x 1633 Regula Koller (1615-1690)

                                                                              |

Barbara Keller vom Steinbock (1642-1684) x Hans Rudolf Schlatter (1642-1684)

                                                                              |

Hans Jacob Schlatter (=Johannes Jacobus Slaterus) (1671-1718) --> Dutch family Slaterus

The two brothers Kasper and Georg Göldli both participated in the battle of Kappel. Though neither of them fell in battle, Kasper fought at the Catholic side, and Georg at the Protestant side.

Let's first summarize their lifes:

Kaspar Göldli (ca. 1468-1542), was treasurer at the court in Milan 1487. In 1499 he was captain of the Züricher Fähnlein (a sort of battalion with foot folk) in the battle of Frastanz. In 1506-1510, 1516-1522 he was Reichsvogt, in 1514 Landvogt at Lugano. He continued his military career  as commander of the Züricher Fähnlein in the Papstzug in 1521. The same year, he received knighthood. In 1523 he was Zeugherr. The same year he fled to Rapperswil, being involved in a juridical process around Konrad Hegner. In 1531, he temporary went to Schwyz, and fought in the battle of Kappel at the Catholic side. In 1542 he died at Rapperswil. He married (1) to Ursula von Breiten-Landenberg, and (2) to Kunigunde von Stadion.

Georg Göldli (ca. 1466-1536), in 1495 participant of the Grossrat in Zürich, 1519 captain in service of the duke of Württemberg, in 1521 captain in the Zug to Piacenza, and became knight in the same year of his brother. In 1531, he served as captain in the second Müsserkrieg, which led to the second Kappelerkrieg, where Georg was commander on the Protestant side. After the battle, an investigation was started upon him, I suggest because of the Protestant failure in this battle. He was acquitted, but left Zürich in 1532. The "Göldlitürm" he sold, and four years later, in 1536, he died in Konstanz.

Georg was married three times: (1) to Emerita Mötteli von Rappenstein, (2) to Catharina Truchsess von Waldburg, and (3) to Anna Keller vom Steinbock.

I wonder how big the tension was between the two brothers; did they clash on faith, or did they just do their job with regrets facing each other?  These are interesting, though no easy answerable questions.

Eventually, both sides went Protestant, and the families  became - or remained - part of the more distinguished Zürich elite. Fun is the descendence from both brothers.

A lot of information about the Swiss history is to be found in the Historisches Lexicon der Schweiz