Born: 1504 (circa), Switzerland
Died: 17 September 1564
Country most active: Switzerland
Also known as: Anna Adlischweiler
This biography was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Anna Adischwyler (also known as Anna Bullinger, l. c. 1504-1564) was the wife of the reformer Heinrich Bullinger who succeeded Zwingli as head of the Reformed Church in Zürich after the latter’s death in 1531. Her father died when she was eight years old, and her mother, who was ill and could not afford to raise her, turned her over to a local convent in Zürich, where she became a nun. The convent also served as a hospital where her mother became a patient. After the monasteries were dissolved in 1524, Anna (who had converted to Protestantism) and her mother remained behind, and she met Bullinger when he accompanied Zwingli’s associate Leo Judd (l. 1482-1542) on a visit one day. Bullinger instantly fell in love with her and proposed marriage, but her mother, who remained Catholic, objected, and they had to wait until she died in 1529 to marry. Anna Bullinger not only supported her husband’s ministry and vast responsibilities once he took over from Zwingli but also opened her home to refugees and the poor of the city as well as entertaining the leading reformers of the day when they visited Zürich in addition to raising her eleven children. She was praised as a selfless and devoted Christian, working tirelessly to provide comfort and shelter for others, and proved this by caring for her husband when he was stricken by the plague, even though she was sick herself. She died of the plague in 1564.