Bullinger, Anna (c. 1504–1564)

Swedish reformer, married to Heinrich Bullinger, who was a host to refugees during the 16th-century Reformation. Born Anna Adlischweiler around 1504 in Sweden; died in 1564; married Heinrich Bullinger (a church reformer), in 1529; children: eleven.

Anna Bullinger was living in a Zurich convent with her failing mother when she met and fell in love with Heinrich Bullinger who was to gain recognition in the church reform movement. The couple delayed marriage due to the illness of Anna's mother, giving Heinrich time to prepare his future wife for the upcoming nuptials with a small book entitled Concerning Female Training, and How a Daughter Should Guide Her Conduct and Life. The couple wed in 1529, after which Bullinger succeeded his father as pastor at Bremgarten, Argau, Switzerland. In 1531, as Roman Catholic armies were attacking Protestant ministers, Bullinger fled the city with his father and brother, leaving his young wife with their two small children to find her own way through the besieged city to join him in Zurich. There, Heinrich succeeded Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli as chief pastor, bringing both honor and increased responsibility to Anna. Managing on a small income, she cared for her ever increasing family (she would have 11 children), and made a home for many refugees, who praised her as a loving and caring host. Anna Bullinger died of the plague in 1564, after nursing her husband back to health from his own bout with the disease.