Wednesday, January 24, 2024

It is the 24th of January 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

I really don’t want to bury the lede- so it was on this day, the 24th of January in 1639, that the Swiss ex-pastor turned mercenary George Jenatsch was assassinated by a man dressed as a bear with an axe. And lest you think this a frivolous story (one which was turned into a 19th-century historical novel and movie in the 80s), I assure you, it is deeply connected to the history of the church and the effects of the Reformation in Switzerland and beyond.

For background, let me remind you of the tragedy that was the 30 Years War. Waged in various phases between 1618 and 1648, it marks the transition from the Early Modern world and the Reformation to the modern world. It began as a religious war with political overtones and ended as a political war that helped establish the modern nation-state and a degree of religious tolerance for the warring Christian factions.

Our man George was from the Swiss Canton of Grison or Graübunden. Its various names reflect its location in east Switzerland, with important connections to Germany, Italy, and France. It’s important to note that since 1499, the Swiss Cantons had relative freedom from the Holy Roman Empire, which would be the foundation for its modern autonomy from much of European politics. And if Switzerland as a whole was independent, the canton of Grison was especially so. It would be ruled by popular courts and two rival families- the pro-French Protestant Salis family and the pro-Spanish Habsburg Catholic Planta family.

Grison had been a relatively poor canton since the 16th century due to the “Little Ice Age,” which made an agricultural lifestyle difficult in the mountainous region when the snow took months to thaw. The Jenatsch family would take to civic and pastoral jobs. George’s father, Israel, was a pastor who studied in Zurich, and this is where he sent him at the age of 14. At first, George was praised for his eloquence and given both a stipend and a pass to the local soup kitchen. But rivalries, brawls, and prejudices against the “mountain folk” like George led to his leaving Zurich for Basel. There, he earned money for the children of the Protestant Salis family. In 1617, George took a call to a church back home. There, he was involved in political factions in the church, which couldn’t decide who to support as the war loomed, and Grison was home to the Valtellina- a crucial mountain pass and military trade route. His pro-Protestant and Salis faction raised a court that pressed charges against a Catholic arch-priest and two members of the Planta family. George, an increasingly vocal member of the court, would be blamed for the torture and death of the arch-priest and the assassination of the Plantas- one of them, Pompeii, according to a pamphlet, had his “heart and organs [torn] from [his] flesh” and was “pinned on the floor with an axe”.

George would be on the run, supporting the cause of independence for his Canton. He initially stood by the French Huguenot Henri de Rohan only to double cross him, convert to Catholicism, and support the Habsburg Spanish cause. Just as we see with the 30 Years War itself, religious causes could give way to pragmatism and political expediency. Back in Grison, he was hailed by some as a new “William Tell” in support of Swiss independence. To others, he was a dangerous turncoat. To the Planta family, he was the assassin who killed their son. And so, on this day- the 24th of January in 1639, during Carnival festivities (the raucous pre-Lenten season), an assassin dressed as a bear took down George Jenatsch with an axe- his body was buried in the cathedral that day, and he had become so infamous that the local authorities didn’t bother with an exhaustive investigation.  The story would become an infamous Swiss tale of independence, identity, and betrayal. In the 1950s, his body was exhumed, and later, DNA studies, as well as a gash to the skull, confirmed the story.

It is a story indicative of the tenuous post-Reformation world where religious issues and political loyalties could make for strange bedfellows and is certainly a reminder of the perils of confusing our political and Christian identities.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary- from Psalm 46, which would become a famous Reformation hymn:

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

    and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

    the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;

    God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 24th of January 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who certainly has questions about the bear costume and how he concealed the axe- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who asks that you stay safe this carnival season- you know what to look for. I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.