In February, 1562, the Basel city council had offered to send theologians to mediate the dispute between the Strasbourg clergy and the Academy.
“A general paragraph was later added to this document stating that the Lord's Supper would be taught in conformity with the Augsburg Confession, its Apology, and the Wittenberg Concord.
This paragraph corresponded with a decision of the Strasbourg city council that the Augsburg Confession and its Apology, rather than the city's own Tetrapolitan Confession, would serve as the doctrinal standard for the arbiters.”[2] Sulzer repeatedly reassured Zanchi that he and the other mediators were there in Strasbourg to draw up a common statement “which would end the controversy and reconcile the two sides, not to reach a final agreement on the doctrinal issues.
Instead, the handshake would signify two things: that Zanchi accepted the Consensus' formulation of doctrine, and that he sincerely forgave the other party for wrongs committed against him in the course of the controversy.”[3] The agreement ended the controversy in Strasbourg, but undermined the unity of the four evangelical German-speaking cities of Switzerland.
“Their failure set the stage for Basel's gradual alienation from the other Reformed churches and cities in Switzerland over the next two decades.” [4]