Fun Facts from Church History: A Note on Zwingli’s Sister Anna
Anna married Leonard Tremp, a master tailor in Bern, who eventually became a leading citizen and was an ardent promoter of the Reformation there. Four letters from him to Zwingli have been preserved, all in German with a Latin translation: vii., 483, in which he warns Zwingli against going to the Baden conference lest he be murdered on the way; viii., 23, in which he speaks of various cantonal matters; viii., 195, which seems to be imperfect; viii., 276, in which alone does he mention his wife, confesses his personal fault in regard to the treaty between Geneva and Bern, which Zwingli had strongly deprecated; and one letter to him and Zwingli, vii., 524.
These letters show the intimate footing he stood on with Zwingli. So in the letter from Haller to Zwingli, dated January 28, 1522 (vii., 189), Tremp and his wife are thus mentioned: “Tremp, most affectionate of your friends, and his most worthy wife are well and hope that you are also in the best of health.” And Zwingli sends remembrances to Tremp when writing to Bern, e. g., vii., 319. It was from Tremp’s house that Megander and Haller wrote to Zwingli on March 2, 1531 (viii., 583).*
Everyone in Zwingli’s family embraced reform. Wisdom- it’s genetic.
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* S.M. Jackson, Huldreich Zwingli: The Reformer of German Switzerland (1484–1531).
I love these posts on letters to and from or referring to, Zwingli. The loss of letter writing as technological communication takes over, will compromise all future history. The reasons letters were written and the intricate details they betray, in quite unexpected, irrelevant and incidental ways, is astonishing. We have intimate details of everyday life like little windows into the past. Letters provide so much more insight into everyday realities of the past. I listened to a documentary on the letters of one of our first Prime Ministers, which also included readings as well as readings from letters in the British museum from ordinary people giving insight into ordinary life. Not very ordinary! Losing the art of letter writing will be history’s greatest tragedy.