The religion he learned was good Catholic; and the element of popular superstition in it was far less weird and terrible than in Northern Germany.

He remembered one little tale told him by his grandmother, how the Lord God and Peter slept together in the same bed, and were wakened each morning by the housekeeper coming in and pulling the hair of the outside man.
Education began early under the tuition of an uncle, the parish priest.
At ten Ulrich was sent to Basle to study.

Here he progressed well, becoming the head scholar, and here he developed a love of music and considerable skill in it.

Later he went to school at Berne, where he attracted the attention of some friars who tried to guide him into their cloister, an effort apparently frustrated by his father.

In the autumn of 1498 he matriculated at Vienna.