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

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

in Zurich, 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 Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. all of the Bible has been translated into 724 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,617 languages, and ...

. His workshop is the nucleus of the

Orell Füssli Orell Füssli is a Swiss 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, ...

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 (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

and came to Zurich 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 The Reformation in Zürich was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrates of the city of Zürich and the princess abbess Katharina von Zimmern of the Fraumünster Abbey, and the population of the city of Zü ...

. 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 Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (gi ...

and notably of

Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Univ ...

. 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, after 35 km reaching the river Aare. The confluen ...

, also operated by Froschauer. Froschauer died of the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

in 1564 in Zurich. His nephew Christoph Froschauer the Younger (1532–1585) took over the shop. Stumpffia froschaueri holotype - Oo 411438

A frog in the

Stumpffia ''Stumpffia'' is a genus of microhylid frogs that are endemic to Madagascar. They are mostly brown frogs that typically live among leaf litter. ''S. contumelia'' has a snout–vent length of about , making it one of the world's smallest frogs, a ...

genus was named after him in 2020.

References

External links

Froschauer, Christoph (d. 1564)
at

Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) is an online encyclopedia of topics relating to Mennonites and Anabaptism. The mission of the project is to provide free, reliable, English-language information on Anabaptist-related t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Froschauer, Christoph 1564 deaths 16th-century printers 16th-century Swiss people Swiss book publishers (people) Year of birth unknown People from Zürich 16th-century businesspeople

See also

References

External links