History of Zurich Trivia Quiz

Answer: Water City

Turicum comes from the Celtic word "dur" which means water. Dur was then corrupted and latinized to Turegus and eventually Turicum. The word Zurich would not be used until the 9th century. It probably got the name from the many lakes and rivers that surround the city, most notable Lake Zurich.

When Zurich was founded is unknown and archaeological evidence of pre-Roman societies has been found under Lake Zurich. The earliest known evidence of the Roman Turicum is a stone tablet dating from 200 AD, but it is highly likely the city was founded in some form before then. Ancient coins dating from 100 BC were found in the area but it is unknown if they originated in the area.

Answer: Tax collection checkpoint

Turicum's location on waterways made it a prime place for ships to harbor and a place for the Romans to collect taxes on the goods being transported. Zurich's location in the center of the continent was also beneficial and contributed to it being a tax collecting stop. Goods from all over Europe passed through Zurich's waterways and then eventually over the Alps to Rome or continued along the rivers. Zurich's position as a tax collection checkpoint seems ironic today because Switzerland has a well known reputation for being a tax haven for foreigners.

Answer: They introduced Christianity to Zurich

According to legend, Felix and Regula were brother and sister who converted to Christianity as members of the Theban Legion. When the Legion was being persecuted by Emperor Maximian, they fled to what is now Zurich, Switzerland. There, they introduced Christianity to the city but were executed in 286. They are usually associated with their servant Exuperantius, who is also a martyr saint. They were beheaded and, according to legend, carried their heads up a hill before dying. Their burial site was covered by the Grossmunster Church, a protestant church.

Their tomb was raided during the Protestant Reformation and a result their bodies were lost and have not been recovered.

Answer: Louis the German

Fraumunster Abbey was founded by Louis the German for his daughter Hildegard. The abbey was founded mainly for women of noble rank who either did not marry or were widowed. Over time, the various leader of Zurich and Switzerland gradually granted Fraumunster Abbey more rights.

They abbey was granted the right to mint its own coins and collect tolls in 1045. This made the abbess of the convent the de facto leader of Zurich. By 1218, the abbess earned the right to appoint the Zurich mayor and also served as a judge-like figure.

Answer: A merchant guild

The Zunft zum Kambel was guild of small merchants established in Zurich in 1336. The guild passed the Zunftordnung laws, which stripped the abbey of most of its power, especially the ability of the abbess to pick the mayor. The guild and the laws' passage were spearheaded by Rudolf Brun who also became the city's first mayor not picked by the abbess. The establishment of the guild is sometimes called the Merchants' Revolution or Brun's Revolution. The Fraumunster abbess was not totally removed from power until the monastery was suppressed in the 1520s.

Answer: The rest of the Old Swiss Confederacy

Zurich canton had become part of the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1351. However, it was expelled in 1440 when Zurich occupied lands claimed by Glarus and Schwyz cantons. The area in question belonged to Count Friedrich VII of Toggenberg who died intestate and without an heir to claim the lands. The rest of the Swiss cantons sided strongly with Glarus and Schwyz, and Zurich was expelled for occupying the lands and stealing the grain crop.

Zurich attempted to align with the Holy Roman Empire but that failed when Zurich was defeated at the Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl in 1443. Zurich was eventually readmitted into the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1451.

Answer: Ulrich Zwingli

Zwingli had long been a critic of the Catholic Church, particularly its influence on the people and allegedly widespread corruption in church management. Zwingli first became known in Zurich in 1522 when he campaigned against the Lenten fast. As Zwingli's influence grew and his views became more popular, he became acquainted with Katharina von Zimmern, who was the abbess of Fraumunster Abbey. As the town officials, influenced themselves by Zwingli, began disestablishing the monasteries, von Zimmern handed the Catholic Fraumunster Abbey to Zwingli, apparently supportive of the Reformation.

It is not entirely well documented what von Zimmern's position on the Reformation was. It has been speculated that she handed the abbey over to avoid a bloody war. However, historical evidence suggests otherwise. The abbess had, for years, allowed Zwingli to preach in the cathedral and in the monastery and in the years afterwards, married a friend of Zwingli's and continued to push the Reformation's ideas in Zurich.

Answer: Austria

The French Revolution inspired a similar (though significantly less violent and bloody) revolution in Switzerland, which replaced the Swiss Confederacy with the Helvetic Republic once the French took control. France was growing more and more chaotic by the day and thus was seen as a weaker power. Austria decided to take advantage of that and marched toward France. France, meanwhile, marched toward Austria.

The two forces met in Zurich with the Austrians defeating French General Andre Massena to lay claim to Zurich.

The French took it back after the second battle. Switzerland thus found itself under the control of the French, a reign that lasted until the Congress of Vienna granted Switzerland full sovereignty again in 1815.

Answer: Groundhog Day

The Burning of the Boogg is similar to Groundhog Day because they both are supposed to predict the weather for the months ahead. The Boogg is actually a snowman that is stuffed with explosives and sometimes sprayed with kerosene. The quicker the snowman's head explodes, the nicer the summer will be. If the snowman's head takes a while to explode, the summer will be rainy and unpleasant.

The forecast usually winds up being correct but it is sometimes wrong. In 2014, for instance, the head exploded in under 8 minutes but the summer was awful and dreary.

Answer: False

Switzerland did remain neutral> However, it was bombed a few times. Zurich was accidentally bombed by the United States on March 4th, 1945. The Air Force was supposed to bomb a city in Germany called Aschaffenburg but went off course and believed it was flying over the German town of Freiburg im Breisgau. It was actually Zurich and the bombing killed 5 people. At almost the same moment, the Swiss city of Basel was also accidentally bombed.

The most devastating bombing of Switzerland during World War II was in Schaffhausen, which was again mistaken for a German city. That bombing left 40 people dead. There was no clear explanation for what happened. Some allies blamed the foggy weather while others said they actually thought Schaffhausen was a German city, not a Swiss canton.