The Affair of the Sausage March 9th 1522

Om March 9th 1522, Huldrych Zwingla, amongst others, was invited to a Sausage Supper at the house of printer, Christoph Froschaue. The printer published 700 works including those by Erasmus, Luther and Zwingla. Zwingla led the Reformation in Switzerland, and the Affair of the Sausage, took place in Zurich. In 1519 Zwingla was appointed as the People’s Priest at the Grossmünster in Zurich. Inspired by humanism and the example of Erasmus he believed true belief could only come through studying the scriptures. Sola scriptura is how Luther put it. ‘Verbum Dei lux est quae omnia clarificat’ – The Word of God is the light that brightens everything. So said German Protestant Johannes Oecolampadius.

Erasmus made a new translation of the Bible into Greek using modern scholarship to make it as accurate as possible. Erasmus believed that reform of the Church was necessary as some of the theology was based either on corrupt translations, had no backing in scripture. or was subject to different interpretations. But, he believed that reform should be from within the Catholic Church. And they should be based on morality, education, and the recovery of the pure text of Scripture. Zwingli, Luther and other Protestants agreed. However, ultimately, they were not prepared to stay within a Church which used its power to thwart scripture-based reforms.

Sausages & Scripture Supper?

Zwingla took one of his target examples, from Catholic traditions of fasting, for which he found no backing for the specific dietary prohibitions in the Bible. He preached against these practices, which particularly impacted the poor. The Affair of the Sausage, was a meeting where critics ate sausages during the Catholic fast of Lent. Meat was forbidden by the Church during Lent. The Sausages were eaten with Swiss Fasnachtskiechli which are fritters. And here is a recipe!

Twelve people attended. The Supper caused an uproar and Froschaue was arrested. Zwingla wrote a Sermon on the subject called ‘Regarding the Choice and Freedom of Foods’ which Froschaue published. If, Zwingla argued, it is such a sin to eat eggs on Fast days, why did it take the Church 14 centuries to outlaw the practice?

Two years later, attendee Hottinger, a boot maker, was beheaded in Baden for challenging the Mass. It is inspiring, although baffling, how so many ordinary people were prepared to die rather than admit something they believed false. For the martyrdom of one such Londoner see my post on Thomas Tomkins here.

Secret Marriage

Zwingla’s next campaign was to oppose the ban on priests marrying. He could show that Bible does not ban Priests from marriage, although there are many verses praising celibacy. Zwingla had already secretly married. Thomas Cranmer, in England, similarly jumped the starting gun by marrying before Protestant regimes made it legal for priests. Thanks to History to Today for alerting me to this sausage-based heritage item, and to Wikipedia for additional details.

For a complete chance of subject read a former March 9th post of mineheritage-with-my-grandson-2-british-library-museum/

First Published on March 9th, 2026