Toponyms are a common source of European surnames, whether derived from a place with its own name (Genovese, Krakowski, London) or merely a significant feature (Del Río, Dupont, Hill). My own surname, Broadwell, may indicate an English ancestor who lived in Broadwell, Warwickshire (or Oxford- or Gloucestershire) or perhaps just near a notably brād wella, a wide spring or stream. An even more evocative toponymic surname, Froschauer (man from the frog meadow), provides matter for a set of canting printer’s marks used by two Swiss bookmen of that family, uncle and nephew Christoph Froschauer, examples of which devices can be seen in the books they printed which are held by the Penn Libraries.
The elder Christoph (1490?-1564) was born in Bavaria and learned the printing trade from his uncle Johann Froschauer (d. 1523) in Augsburg before moving to Zurich. There he worked with printer Hans Rüegger (1475-1517), a partnership so successful that after Rüegger’s death Froschauer inherited his shop and married his widow Elise (d. 1550). Although neither this nor his subsequent marriage to Dorothea Locher produced any offspring, the products of Froschauer’s press made him the foremost printer in Zurich and a leading source of Reformed publications:
As a friend of Huldrych Zwingli Froschauer printed all the reformer’s important works. In addition to Reformation writings, Froschauer published significant, in some cases richly illustrated, historical, medical and scientific works, as well as numerous Bibles in Greek, Latin, German and English. The significance of his printed works and the variety of his typographic material ensured him an excellent position among the book printers of the first half of the century. With his printing press expanded to four presses, his own type foundry, woodcut workshop, bookbindery, paper factory as well as an extensive publishing and book trade business, Froschauer was an entrepreneur ahead of his time. [Als Freund von Huldrych Zwingli druckte Froschauer alle wichtigen Werke des Reformators. Neben reformatorischen Schriften erschienen bei Froschauer bedeutende, zum Teil reich illustrierte Schriften geschichtliche, medizinische und naturwissenschaftliche Werke sowie zahlreiche Bibeldrucke in griechischer, lateinischer, deutscher und englischer Sprache. Die Bedeutung seiner Drucke und die Vielfalt seines typographischen Materials sicherten ihm eine hervorragende Stellung unter den Buchdruckern der ersten Jahrhunderthälfte. Mit seiner auf vier Pressen erweiterten Druckerei, eigener Schriftgiesserei, Holzschneidewerkstatt, Buchbinderei, Papierfabrik sowie mit umfangreichem Verlags- und Buchhandelsgeschäft war Froschauer ein über seine Zeit hinausweisender Unternehmer.] (Vischer 8)
Froschauer was not content simply to print the doctrines of the Swiss Reformation, however; he also practiced them, forwarding the Reformers’ agenda with the same energy he brought to his business. He is still remembered today for providing Zwingli with a seminal opportunity to advocate for freedom of conscience in matters not explicitly dictated by Scripture. On 9 March 1522 Froschauer served his workers a meal of sausages in defiance of the prohibition against eating meat during Lent. So that no one would miss the point, he also invited Zwingli and several other Reform-minded burghers to attend this piece of political dinner theater, known to history as the Zürcher Wurstessen or Affair of the Sausages. After Froschauer’s arrest, Zwingli (who had strategically refrained from partaking in the meal) preached a sermon, “Von erkiesen vnd fryheit der spysen” [“On the Choice and Freedom of Foods”], which launched the Reformation in Zurich. Zwingli’s eloquence also ensured that Froschauer received little more than a slap on the wrist from the authorities; the discharged printer promptly set his friend’s sermon in type (VD 16 Z 925), ensuring its propositions wide currency in the debate over ecclesiastical authority.
Froschauer’s association with Zwingli also led to the production of one of his masterworks, the 1531 edition of the Zurich Bible, Die gantze Bibel der vrsprüngliche[n] Ebraischen vnd Griechischen waarheyt nach, auffs aller treüwlichest verteütschet (VD 16 B 2690). The text was translated into Swiss German by Zwingli and other Reformers of the Prophezey, “a learned circle whose activity was the mastery of biblical languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Latin), and the study of the Bible, applying humanist principles of philology and classical literary theory” (Wandel). Froschauer brought out several editions of the Zurich Bible in different formats, but this magnificent folio is distinguished by both its beauty and its accessibility:
Many features of the work make it evident that Froschauer designed it to appeal to a wide audience among 16th century lay German and Swiss readers. The text … is printed in a powerful, easily legible Schwabach font. Richly illustrated by artists Hans Leu, Hans Asper, and Hans Holbein, this vernacular edition of the Scriptures would appeal to old and young readers alike. Key sections and opening chapters of biblical books are marked by historiated letters, impressed upon miniature artworks, depicting animals, biblical characters, or other symbols. In addition to reference helps contained in the prefatory sections of the work, the publisher added other important features to assist readers … includ[ing] running heads, as well as marginal notes and cross-references. (Snavely 270-271)
The swift progress of the Swiss Reformation ensured a market for Froschauer’s religious books and pamphlets, but his output was not limited to such works, as his 1543 catalog Index Librorum, quos Christophorus Froschouerus Tiguri hactenus suis typis excudit (VD 16 B 2690) testifies: “Under the titles Grammatica, Schoolbooks, Rhetorica, Cosmographica, Poetica, Moralia, Of Manners and Behavior, Theologica, Bibles, Medica, Herbals and a twelfth group that summarizes everything not mentioned above, he lists 216 different books” [Unter den Titlen Grammatica, Schulbüchle, Rhetorica, Cosmographica, Poetica, Moralia, Von Sitten und Gebärden, Theologica, Bibeln, Medica, Artzneybücher und einer zwölften Gruppe, die oben nicht Erwähntes zusammenfasst, nennt er 216 verschiedene Bücher] (Staedtke 18). Another, primarily secular masterpiece emerged from Froschauer’s press in 1547, a massive two-volume chronicle of Swiss history and geography by Johannes Stumpf (1500-1576?) titled Gemeiner loblicher Eydgnoschafft Stetten, Landen vnd Völckeren Chronick wirdiger thaaten beschreybung (VD 16 S 9864). Printed in the same type as the Zurich Bible, it was even more copiously illustrated, with cuts numbering in the thousands,* including “five pages of coats of arms … cityscapes … and also woodcut portraits, coins, military illustrations and depictions of nature. Stumpf also provided his book with 23 modern maps, of which 13 were the work of Stumpf himself” (McLean 109). And this is only one of nine titles known to have been printed by Froschauer that year, including editions of Erasmus’s New Testament in Greek and Latin, the complete works of Vergil with annotations by Philip Melanchthon, and the comedies of Terence.
Froschauer’s pressmen certainly earned their sausages under his indefatigable leadership, which continued until his death from plague in 1564. Most of his enterprises—”namely [his] publishing business, press, bookbindery, locksmithy, joiner’s workshop, woodcutting studio with all tools and supplies” [nämlich Verlagsgewerbe, Druckerei, Buchbinderei, Schlosserei, Tischlerei, Formschneideatelier mit allen Werkzeugen und Vorräten] (Staedtke 21)—then passed to his nephew, also Christoph Froschauer (1532-1585). He, too, printed prolifically: the online database of sixteenth-century German imprints, VD 16, lists over 300 editions produced during his tenure. Nor did he sacrifice quality to quantity: the shop’s reputation endured under his management such that after his death (similarly without issue) his heirs continued to print as Officina Froschoveri until 1591, when they were bought out by Johannes Wolf (1564-1627)—who advertised his editions as “typis Froschovianis” for some time afterward, too. The house that Christoph Froschauer, uncle and nephew, built changed owners and names many times in the ensuing centuries but was never shuttered; today it is recognized as a lineal ancestor of Swiss publisher Orell Füssli.
In his Bibliographie der Zürcher Druckschriften des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts Erarbeitet in der Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Manfred Vischer catalogs twenty-four variations of the Froschauers’ device (542-549). All of them incorporate a frog or frogs, from the element Frosch- (frog) in the printers’ surname. Many also show these amphibians surrounding or climbing a willow tree, as in the examples above from two books in Penn’s Culture Class Collection: Heinrich Bullinger’s De Origine Erroris Libri Duo (ca. 1550; VD 16 B 9655) at left and Josias Simmler’s De Republica Helvetiorum Libri Duo (1576; VD 16 S 6510) at right. This image plays on the element -auer (man from the meadow): German Aue (meadow) is synonymous with Weide (meadow), which in turn is homonymous with Weide (willow). And willows, of course, thrive in the wet soil of environments also favored by frogs.
Another frequent element in these devices is a putto perched on the back of a frog, sometimes empty-handed—as in the example from the Culture Class Collection copy of Pierre Cholin’s Dictionarium Latinogermanicum (1541; VD 16 C 2282) at left above—sometimes armed with a willow withy or a rod—as in the example from Pietro Martire Vermigli’s In librum Iudicum (1571; VD 16 B 3041), a copy of which is held at the Katz Library, at right above. I have not seen an explanation offered for these passengers, but I wonder if Christoph Froschauer the Reformer is making a snide or provocative gesture toward the popular Catholic legend of Saint Christopher and his own first name. Instead of a holy giant carrying the Christ Child, we have a humble frog ridden by a mischievous or perhaps inspirational putto. As “a personification of human spirit and emotion” (Vertefeuille link), however, the Renaissance putto’s meaning is very much dependent on its context, so I must leave an exact interpretation of this image as an exercise for students of art history. But let us at least salute the army of frogs marching in the vanguard of the Reformation behind their enterprising (not to mention sausage-loving) generals, the Frog-Meadow-Men.
Note
*Enumerators differ: Staedtke gives “almost 4000 illustrations” [fast 4000 Abbildungen] (19); McLean, however, counts “2400 woodcuts spread throughout” (108).
Works Cited
McLean, Matthew. The Cosmographia of Sebastian Münster: Describing the World in the Reformation. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2007.
Snavely, Iren L. “Zwingli, Froschauer, and the Word of God in Print.” The Reformation: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies. Edited by Andrew Pettegree. Vol. 1. London: Routledge, 2004. 256-275.
Staedtke, Joachim. Anfänge und Erste Blütezeit des Zürcher Buchdrucks. Zürich: Art Institut Orell Füssli, 1965.
Vertefeuille, Lin. “The Putto – Angels in Art.” Virtual Library on The Ringling Museum. The Ringling Museum, 2005, ringlingdocents.org/putto.htm. Accessed 14 July 2020.
Vischer, Manfred. Bibliographie der Zürcher Druckschriften des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts erarbeitet in der Zentralbibliothek Zürich. Baden-Baden : Verlag Valentin Koerner, 1991.
Wandel, Lee Palmer. “Zwingli, Huldrych.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference, www-oxfordreference-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195064933.001.0001/acref-9780195064933-e-1557. Accessed 10 July 2020.
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