Myconius, Oswald
MYCONIUS, OSWALD
Swiss humanist and reformer: b. Lucerne, Switzerland, 1488; d. Basel, Oct.14, 1552. Myconius (originally Geisshäusler) was educated at Rottweil, Bern, and at the University of Basel (1510–14). He came to Zürich as a teacher in 1516. In 1518 his influence was decisive in securing the election of his friend Huldrych zwingli as people's priest of Great Minster. He began intensive study of the Bible in 1520 and went to Lucerne in that same year to teach. His departure in 1522 was occasioned by his open espousal of the Reformation. After a brief sojourn in Einsiedeln, he returned to Zürich in 1523 to assist Zwingli in his reform of the city. In 1531 he moved to Basel, there to succeed oecolampadius as antistes of the city in August 1532. In addition to writing commentaries on several books of the Bible, he wrote a brief biography of Zwingli in 1532, prepared the Basel Confession of 1534, and contributed to the formulation of the First Helvetic Confession of 1536 (see confessions of faith, ii: protestant confessions of faith).
Bibliography: k. r. hagenbach, Johann Oekolampad und Oswald Myconius (Leben und ausgewählte Schriften der Väter und Begründer der reformirten Kirche 2; Elberfeld 1859) 309–462. o. e. strasser, Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 7 v. (3d ed. Tübingen 1957–65) 4:1230.
[c. garside, jr.]