Christoph Froschauer (ca. 1490 – 1 April 1564) was the first printer in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, notably for printing the Froschauer Bible, the

Zwinglian The theology of Ulrich Zwingli was based on an interpretation of the Bible, taking scripture as the inspired word of God and placing its authority higher than what he saw as human sources such as the ecumenical councils and the Church Fathers. He ...

Bible translation The Christian Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. the whole Bible has been translated into 756 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,726 lan ...

. His workshop is the nucleus of the

Orell Füssli Orell Füssli is a Swiss banknotes printing and bookselling company, established by Christoph Froschauer in 1519 as a book printer and publisher. It is currently operating in many print-related segments, such as security printing, bookselling and ...

publishing house. Froschauer was born in Neuburg near Oettingen (Bavaria) and acquired Zürich citizenship on 9 November 1519, as a gift "for his art." He learned the printer's trade with his uncle, Hans Froschauer, in

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

and came to

in 1515. Working for one Hans Rüegger, he built a printing press. At Rüegger's death in 1517, Froschauer married his widow and took over the press, and he was given citizenship in 1519. A dispute over the sausage eating organized by Froschauer in his workshop during Lent in 1522 brought about open conflict between Zwingli and the clerical establishment, thus setting off the Reformation in Zürich. At his wife's death in 1550, he married Dorothea Locher. The ''Froschau'' quarter of Zürich, just off the current ''Froschaugasse'' (), is named for Froschauer. The historical workshop was at the northern boundary of the ''Froschau'', at Brunngass 18, facing the ''Zähringerplatz''. He printed the works of Erasmus von Rotterdam, Luther and notably of

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 Swi ...

. Between 1520 and 1564, about 700 titles in close to a million copies left Froschauer's four presses. The paper used was produced in the city's paper mill at the

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, continuing a further 35 km until it reaches the river A ...

, also operated by Froschauer. Froschauer died of the plague in 1564 in Zurich. His nephew Christoph Froschauer the Younger (1532–1585) took over the shop. Stumpffia froschaueri holotype - Oo 411438

Stumpffia froschaueri holotype - Oo 411438

A frog in the genus '' Stumpffia'' was named after him in 2020.

References

External links

Froschauer, Christoph (d. 1564)
at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online {{DEFAULTSORT:Froschauer, Christoph 1564 deaths 16th-century printers 16th-century Swiss people Swiss book publishers (people) Year of birth unknown People from Zurich

See also

References

External links