Abstract

The woodcut “Die göttliche Mühle” [The Divine Mill] was designed by Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli and his co-religionist, Johannes Füssli.  It appeared in a work by Martin Seger (c. 1470-1534) published by Christoph Froschauer in Zurich, with accompanying texts by Füssli.  In the scene, God’s miller, Christ, pours the foundations of Christian faith into the mill, while Erasmus, the miller’s servant, fills the grain sack with the Greek New Testament, Luther kneads the dough into Bibles, and another, maybe Zwingli, distributes this “bread.”  Catholic figures like the Pope and the bishop look on with disapproval.  In the background stands “Karsthans,” a peasant laboring in the fields. The woodcut illustrates central themes of the early Protestant Reformation, in general, and of Zwingli’s preaching, in particular, including the centrality of Scripture, the priesthood of all believers, and the ignorance of Catholic clergy.

Ulrich Zwingli and Johannes Füssli, The Divine Mill (1521)

Source

The text of the broadsheet read:


"Erasmus observed this really well

And quickly headed to the mill

So that he would arrive in time

Deal with the mill and start to grind           

He, the Holy Scriptures’ servant swift,

Like flour teaches us to sift

Scriptures, texts so manifold

To keep its taste truly sweet and bold."

 

Source: Martin Seger, Dyss hand zwen schwytzer Puren gmacht, fürwar sy hand es wol betracht. Getruckt zuo Zürich : [Christoph Froschauer the Elder], [1521] (Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Zwingli 106: a.1).
Broadsheet, woodcut designed by Ulrich Zwingli and Johannes Füssli.

Zentralbibliothek Zürich