Zwingli Killed at Kappel

October 11, 1531

The reformer Huldrych Zwingli marched out with the Zurich militia to meet a Catholic Swiss army at Kappel. He carried a halberd and was cut down on the battlefield. His corpse was quartered, burned, and mixed with dung. The Swiss Reformation stalled at the edge of the Catholic cantons. His death left Switzerland permanently divided along confessional lines, shaping Swiss federalism to this day.