Berchtold Haller (c. 149225 February 1536) was a German Protestant reformer. He was the reformer of the city of

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, where the Reformation received little to none opposition. Haller was born at Aldingen in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

. After schooling in

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

, where he established a friendship with

Philipp Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, an intellectual leader of the ...

, he studied theology in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. He became a teacher in

Rottweil Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years. Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has over 25,000 ...

in 1510 and in Bern in 1513, where he was appointed assistant preacher at the church of St Vincent in 1515. In 1520 he became a canon and the people's priest. Even before his acquaintance with

Huldrych Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a Swiss Christian theologian, musician, and leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swis ...

in 1521 he had begun to preach the Reformation, his sympathetic character and his eloquence making him and the painter and writer

Niklaus Manuel Niklaus Manuel Deutsch (''Niklaus Manuel'', c. 1484 – 28 April 1530), of Bern, was a Swiss artist, writer, mercenary and Reformed politician. Biography Niklaus was most likely the son of Emanuel Aleman (or Alleman), a pharmacist whose own fa ...

a great force. Zwingli became his friend and adviser and they began a lively exchange of letters. In 1526, Haller participated in the disputation of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

, and in 1528 in the

Bern Disputation The Bern Disputation was a debate over the theology of the Swiss Reformation that occurred in Bern from 6 to 26 January 1528 that ended in Bern becoming the second Swiss canton to officially become Protestant. Background As the reformation in ...

, which resulted in the Bernese Reformation edict on 7 February 1528 in which Bern officially decided for the Reformation. Zwingli's 1531 death brought the Reformation in Bern to a crisis, to which the city council reacted by calling the first Bernese Synod with 200 participants. Haller was especially concerned as Zwingli's successor Heinrich Bullinger was unable to attend. However, he received strong support from Wolfgang Capito who arrived in Bern shortly before the opening of the Synod. In 1532 Haller became the leader of the Reformed Church of Bern. He was in contact with Guillaume Farel in the western part of Switzerland and Heinrich Bullinger in Zürich and acted as a mediator between the

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

Reformation and Zürich. He died in

, leaving no writings except a few letters which are preserved in Zwingli's works.

References

* Rudolf Dellsperger
''Berchtold Haller''
In: ''Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz''. Retrieved 24 November 2009 (French, German, Italian) * Rudolf Dellsperger
''Haller, Berchtold''
In: Gerhard Müller (ed.): ''

Theologische Realenzyklopädie The ' (''TRE'') is a German encyclopedia of theology and religious studies. It contains some 2000 articles in 36 volumes. The first installment was published in 1977, the last in 2004. Genesis and editors The ' is published by Walter de Gruyter ...

'', Volume 14, De Gruyter, Berlin 1985, pp. 393–395 . Retrieved 24 November 2009 (German)

External links

* Christian Neff
''Haller, Berchthold (1492-1536)''.
In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, 1956. Retrieved 24 November 2009

References

External links

Further reading