1. A Kidnapped Nun is Helped Along⤒🔗

In a series of three articles we would like to pay attention to Katharina von Bora, the wife of Martin Luther. For many people, she lived mainly in the shadow of her husband — and what do you expect when he is considered as the great reformer of Germany. But now that her 500^th birthday is being commemorated — January 29^th — her place in history should be in the spotlight. We will try to do this by looking at the following three parts:

1. her personal circumstances up to the year 1523;
2. her married life with Luther;
3. their children and the education father and mother Luther gave them.

An ex-nun marries...←↰⤒🔗

Many people were rather surprised when on June 13^th and 27^th, 1525, the ceremonies for the marriage of Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora took place. There was joy among the relatives and a handful of friends, but it was mixed with feelings of uncertainty and even of fear. A friend like Melanchthon was not even sure if he should be happy about this marriage. For here there were two remarkable people in a marriage relationship side by side: the former monk Luther, on whom the imperial ban was still in effect — he was therefore an “outlaw” — and at his side the former monk Katharina, who had taken a great risk with her flight from the monastery: the punishment for kidnapping(escaping) was the death penalty! According to strong Roman assertions, if she were to marry a former monk it  was inevitable that their marriage would result in “monstrous” creatures. After all, the devil had got these two spouses completely under his power!

When you take a closer look at the dates of this marriage, you will see that the devil’s forces were particularly active in Germany, especially in Luther’s eyes: it was the time of the revolutionary Peasants’ Revolt. Did it not seem as if Luther had lost his senses and had thrown himself into a marriage where the devil was gleefully rubbing his hands? And did this not put the whole so-called reformation of the church and of society under the evil suspicion of debauchery and sex?

What was the matter with Luther and Katharina that they took this step? Who is this woman who would henceforth share her bed — and indeed her whole life — with such a husband?

Of poor nobility←↰⤒🔗

Katharina von Bora was born a short distance from Leipzig, more precisely in the village of Lippendorf (in the district of Meissen) along a small river, the Pleisze. Her parents, Hans von Bora and Katharina von Haubitz, of whom we know little or nothing, were of noble birth but that was hardly noticeable anymore. The family had become impoverished during previous decades; only a few land holdings remained. When the girl was well into her fifth year she went for the first time to the convent school (run by the Benedictines) in Brehna. When she turned 10, her father ordered her to enter the convent itself, the Nimbschen Abbey which belonged to the Cistercian Order and was located near the Saxon town of Grimma. This happened, as someone has aptly noted, “not against, but without her will”. It characterized the time and also the person of Katharina: noble girls (for whom the family sometimes could no longer care) were given a place in a convent and Katharina complied with the customs of the time. The admission of nuns took place here without the need to pay a sum to the convent. Furthermore, Katharina was lucky (or was it meant to be?) that her aunt Magdalena von Bora also lived there. Käthe (as she was called; English from “Katie”) spent her teenage years behind the doors of the convent, but those years had barely ended when she chose her path for life: on October 8, 1515, she was ordained as a nun.

The convent was a school of learning. Among other things, Käthe learned the first rudiments of Latin – intended to make it easier to understand the church texts (sung or recited aloud). For the rest, Käthe practiced the “ora et labora” (pray and work) in order to facilitate her journey to heaven.

At the time that the Augustinian professor Martin Luther published his 95 theses in Wittenberg, a town further north, Käthe was therefore a young nun of 18 years old. But would she also have heard about Luther’s action? We can safely assume that this news did indeed pass through the walls of the convent. It is a well-known fact that the inhabitants of nearby Grimma almost all agreed with Luther’s evangelical teachings. It must have been quite an issue for the sisters to hear how Luther defended himself against ecclesiastical and secular courts and dignitaries. And how impressive it must have been when Father Wolfgang von Zeschau of the nearby Augustinian monastery resigned his post and left the monastic community. Some members of the fraternal order had also followed his example. Their relatives in the Nimbschen monastery were informed of this. And so the question of their futures began to dominate their thoughts more and more.

Luther’s influence←↰⤒🔗

In addition to Luther’s public appearances, Luther’s writings contributed to much talk and discussions. The foundational article 62 of Luther’s theses (on the true treasure of the church: the holy gospel of the glory and grace of God) already made it clear that there was only one decisive authority for every believer: nothing but God’s Word. We do not know which of Luther’s writings were ever discussed or read at the Nimbschen convent, but the regular contact with the outside world makes it easy to imagine that Luther’s work on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520) gave rise to serious questioning of the Roman doctrine of good works. Luther’s writing To the Christian Nobility (1520) may also have been of significance, where in chapter 4.14 Luther’s sharply stated opposition to celibacy can be read. And when after 1521 Luther’s writing on monastic vows found its way through Germany, the nuns in Nimbschen must also have felt this strongly: how strongly attached are we to the constraints of church regulations? And how much weight did a vow still carry that had been made at an earlier moment?

Now it had become somewhat easier for monks than for nuns to enter a new future. The prior of the nearby Augustinian monastery who had resigned had found a job as a manager of a hospital/retirement home. But how would nuns be able to manage to open the door to their own freedom? They needed help.

Käthe’s escape from Nimbschen←↰⤒🔗

In deepest secrecy, nine of the nuns discussed the procedure for(process of) leaving the convent. Voluntary resignation was out of the question and so they would try to involve their relatives in the desired escape. However, their pleas fell on deaf ears. No relative wanted to run the risk of living in discord with either a worldly or an ecclesiastical ruler. Fear applied the brakes on any demonstration of charity, even for their own child. But we may ask ourselves: would such a collective escape really be so easy to execute? It seemed almost impossible to achieve. The plan to remove all nine of them could also not be replaced by an attempt to get individuals out, one at a time. For when the first nun would be able to escape, the others would be guarded all the more securely. Therefore, the girls devised something else. They managed to smuggle a letter out of the monastery, addressed to Martin Luther himself. He has loosened the bonds of ecclesiastical tradition; surely he would now deal with the consequences of this as well? And indeed, the reformer from Wittenberg did not run away from the challenge of the nuns from Nimbschen. He did not hesitate for a moment and hatched a plan. For this purpose he consulted with a merchant, Leonhard Koppe, a respectable citizen of Torgau. This man came regularly to the convent in question to deliver his merchandise. He knew of a way to minimize the risk of discovery. A date, or rather a fairly exact hour, was agreed upon when Koppe would “pick up” the girls with his cart: in the twilight of Easter evening, i.e., at a late hour of Saturday of April 4, 1523.

That evening Koppe would deliver a large stock of herring (or other fish) to the convent in his covered wagon and he would take the empty barrels back with him. And that is how they hoped to succeed. While Koppe and his two helpers were delivering the fish, nine nuns climbed onto the cart in the dark and hid among the barrels (or, as the legend goes, in the barrels). A difficult journey brought them to their first resting place, Torgau, where they spent Easter Monday and then travelled on to Wittenberg. There they arrived on April 7. The women were liberated! Would they be facing an uncertain future? They had burned their figurative bridges behind them...It was impossible for them to go back to their families. But who in Wittenberg would dare risk helping these ladies?

Luther helps them along←↰⤒🔗

It was Luther himself who revealed the secret of the escaped nuns. In an Open Letter written speedily to his “besonderen Freunde” (special friend) Leonhard Koppe, Luther explained the role that he and Koppe had played in the event. In addition, Luther, who called Koppe a “blessed robber,” wanted his publicity campaign to ensure that people did not say anything insulting about the escaped nuns . Luther mentioned all of them by name. After all, there was nothing in this matter that could not stand the light of day! God’s will had prevailed here  and had found an echo in the hearts of these nuns. Therefore they were also allowed to break their earlier vows, because it had been based on human ingenuity whereas no commandment of God applied in their situation.

Luther, however, went beyond taking public responsibility and taking the blame. He also wrote a letter to Spalatinus, the chancellor of Elector Frederick the Wise (of Saxony), and asked the government for help in supporting the women. After all, Luther’s own income was so paltry that he could not afford looking after them by himself. But, said the reformer, there are rich gentlemen at the court whose money is not tightly sewn in their pockets...

Luther’s colleague, professor Nikolaus von Amsdorf, also wrote a similar request. However, it did not immediately make any difference. Luther needed to write a second letter, because apparently there was a problem at court. The cautious Elector was reluctant to stick out his neck over this public issue. But Luther did not think this was necessary because the whole affair happened beyond his control and the Elector didn’t know anything, did he? When the abbess of the Nimbschen convent would ask Frederick for clarification, the Elector could therefore say with a clear conscience that the responsibility for the escape was with the actual culprits; he had had no prior knowledge of it. Shortly after Easter the abbess had lost another three nuns and suspected a broader conspiracy that threatened to bring down the convent. Similar scenes occurred in other monasteries. Germany was beginning to secularize, but in the eyes of many protestants this signified a healthy development.

Katharina finds a temporary shelter←↰⤒🔗

We do not read anything about Käthe’s family at the time. It is likely that her father, Hans von Bora, was no longer alive in 1522. Her stepmother, Margarethe, was still alive but she lived in the area where the Roman Catholic Duke Georg of Saxony held sway and thus had no opportunity to do anything for Käthe — even if she had the necessary means.Most of the (now former) nuns were able to find their place in Wittenberg or in its surroundings; some soon entered into marriage. But for Käthe, none of that seemed possible yet. After some time, however, she saw the opportunity to live and work in the house of the mayor and lawyer Philipp Reichenbach and his wife Barbara Cranach. However after a short time she moved to the house of the famous painter Lucas Cranach (who occasionally also served as mayor) to help his family with the housework. She also worked in the store where Cranach kept his pharmacy, where he sold wine and other liquors, and where he had his printing business. Through this wide-ranging business Käthe was introduced to a whole new world — a bustling world compared to the quiet convent. It was also busy place where young men flocked to Wittenberg to study and possibly to find themselves a wife. Soon Käthe meets her first love. But his name is not Martin Luther...

2. In Love — Rejected — Hastily Engaged — and Married←⤒🔗

Katharina’s first love←↰⤒🔗

The work experience gained by the ex-nun Katharina von Bora with the Cranach family was followed with a temporary domestic job with the Melanchthon family. Although she was appreciated for her efforts, her relationship with Melanchthon’s wife, Katharina Krapp, was rather strained. In later years the two did not always get along very well either. But in this household, where according to the custom of the time there were often boarders, “our” Katharina met her first love: Hieronymus Baumgartner, a patrician son who came from Nuremberg, born in 1498. He had studied at the University of Wittenberg in the years 1518-1521 and now, in 1523, he returned for a short time to his former teacher Melanchthon. These days of returning to his alma mater received extra charm by the budding love between Hieronymus and Käthe. Could this possibly lead to a marriage? Käthe as a woman who would really feel at home in the distinguished circles of Nuremberg...? Unfortunately, Hieronymus’ parents object quite strongly: their son marrying a runaway nun? And additionally someone who is as poor as a church mouse!? No way. It was obvious that there was contempt for her social status. Luther, who became informed of these developments, became quite concerned about Käthe’s situation. He even sent a terse letter to Hieronymus to hurry up with the marriage because if he didn’t move forward, Katharina could “be given to someone else who is ready for her”. What did Luther mean? Did he himself perhaps have a crush on Katharina? Or was there really some other man in the picture who would like to marry her? The latter was indeed true, but the question is whether Luther was already aware of these attempts to connect Katharina to the remarkable person of the theologian Dr. Kaspar Glatz. Luther’s final words in his letter to Baumgartner read, “I would greatly rejoice in your union.” However, the letter did not achieve any results. A short time later

Hieronymus received permission from his parents to marry a 15-year-old girl of standing.

The Glatz affair←↰⤒🔗

Katharina herself categorically refused to be associated with the learned Dr. Glatz, although the latter had received an honourable appointment as rector of the University of Wittenberg in the summer of 1524. At that time she not know anything about the man’s eccentric practices later on, but her intuition may have alerted her to some of Glatz’s less attractive character traits. Indeed, two years later he was questioned about financial malpractice in his university work. Katharina continued to stand her ground in her tricky situation, which included her confiding in (the bachelor) professor Nikolaus von Amsdorf, thus preventing Dr. Glatz from marrying her.

But what about a marriage to von Amsdorf? Or would this bachelor — if he possibly was not inclined himself — perhaps mediate between her and Martin Luther? It began to look as if Katharina was ready to make her own choice: for Luther himself.

Luther’s ideas regarding marriage←↰⤒🔗

Was Luther ready for marriage? One would not suspect so. He did always express his joy when a colleague or friend got married—for instance, to Bartholomew Bernhardi, one of his early followers who is known to have been the first ex-Roman “clergyman” to get married (in May 1521). And in 1522, the town preacher Johannes Bugenhagen was married, about which Luther expressed his great delight. He expressed the same joy when his colleague Justus Jonas got married (also in 1522).

But Luther himself had not yet made an effort to find himself a wife. On November 30, 1524, he wrote to his friend Georg Spalatinus, the chancellor of the elector, that he was definitely not thinking about getting married. Did he perhaps think that his monastic vow (which also included celibacy) had been imposed on him by God himself during the storm at Stotternheim in 1505? If this were the case he could not free himself from it. But in these years (the 1520’s), Luther came to see that celibacy was a human institution and not a requirement that God had placed upon him, and that it is not in line with the New Testament that priests were not allowed to marry.

In his Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520) Luther already called marriage a God-given form of life for a man and his wife. In 1522, Luther published an exposition containing a number of sermons on the married life; this too showed that he no longer wanted to recognize marriage as a sacrament of the church. He expressed lofty and praiseworthy words about the divine institution of marriage in contrast to those who — in line with Roman thinking — considered marriage to be of a lower order.

Together with the writings of other reformers, the trend was set here for a great re-evaluation of marriage. At the same time, it can be seen as a strong encouragement to all clergymen to critically reconsider their position regarding celibacy.

The choice of his life←↰⤒🔗

Meanwhile, Luther’s situation in life was such that he truly needed help to do his housework. Luther lived with at least one other monk in the Augustinian Black Monastery in Wittenberg. His bedroom had not been cleaned for ages. He himself complained that his straw mattress was rather hard and was never refreshed. It must have been quite a mess. Men such as Melanchthon and von Amsdorf were in a much better situation in their bourgeois houses.

But would Luther ever choose a wife for himself, and if so, who would she be? No, not that Katharina von Bora; to him she came across as actually a bit too stuck-up. He had his eye on another ex-nun, Ave von Schönfeld — who had also been kidnapped from Nimbschen. But unfortunately for Luther, someone else got the better of him: Basilius Axt, the Prussian duke’s personal physician, made a marriage pact with Ave. In later years Luther wrote that God himself had led the way so that he had to take care of this poor, despised Katharina von Bora.

Why did Luther want to get married? Was it out of love? No. Was it to fulfill the heart’s desire of his father? He had always considered his son’s monastic vows to be an odd case. But now his son Martin had the opportunity to continue the Luther lineage...

One can also answer the question as to why Luther chose to get married by saying that he now could show for himself what he had always prevented others from doing with regard to marriage. How he also showed to distance himself from Rome in this regard.

In a letter to the Saxon councillor Johann Rühel (May 1525), Luther pointed out an even different context, namely the tense times when the devil went around like a roaring animal. This is why Luther wanted to marry his Käthe before he died. These were truly apocalyptic times. The Reformation was in a crisis — the Peasant Revolt did not help its cause. Would this be the final period of history? If so, acting quickly would be an important fact. Luther did not want to wait any longer.

Moving fast during wartime←↰⤒🔗

The momentum really picked up when spring 1525 arrived. We don’t know exactly how the love affair got started. But what is certain is that the two lovers did not wait months or even years to get married. Martin Luther was already 41 and Käthe 26 when they decided to get married. They did so in two stages: on June 13, 1525, a so-called secret wedding, in the afternoon at 5 o’clock in Luther’s home, the Black Monastery in Wittenberg. This was performed by Johannes Bugenhagen, the town preacher, in the presence of a number of witnesses, namely Mr. and Mrs. Cranach and the professors Justus Jonas and Johann Apel. After Bugenhagen’s prayer the spouses stretched out on the marriage bed — according to current custom — in order to indicate the reality of the union.

From that moment on, the “betrothed” couple stayed together in the Black Monastery, where such a situation had never occurred before. Justus Jonas got tears in his eyes when he saw the spectacle: Luther on a bed with his bride. He wrote in a letter one day later, “Yesterday I was present and saw the betrothed on the bridal bed...Now that it has taken place, and God has evidently willed it, I pray that God may grant all happiness to the excellent and pure man...God is wonderful in his counsels and in his works.” And while Jonas already viewed this development with some concern, it was Melanchthon who felt that the cause of the Reformation would be much harmed by such an act at such a sad and criticaltime. Not only was the Peasant Revolt in full swing, there was also great sadness in Saxony because of the death of Elector Frederick on May 5. How difficult things would become for his son and successor, Johan the Steadfast. In between all the work, Luther wrote the resolute booklet Against the Murderous Thieving Hordes of Peasants and after this he also published a Missive on the same revolutionary matter.

Nevertheless, preparations continued: two days after the silent start of the wedding, Luther began to write invitations to the official public wedding ceremonies they planned for the 27^th of June. Some of these letters have survived, for instance the one sent to the Mansfeld councillors Rühel, Thür and Müller. There we read those famous words of Luther that he “desired to live before the end of his life in the position ordained by God”. To that end he now wanted to be consistent in his choice of the woman of his life and thus make a definite break with celibacy.

Every member of the family, every friend and colleague was allowed to witness this joy. The invitations made it clear that it was going to be a grand celebration. On June 27 Luther’s parents were present when the ceremonies began with a church service and continued with a banquet at which friends and colleagues also joined in great numbers; among them were Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, Jonas, Amsdorf, Lang, Linck and Spalatinus, and of course Leon- hard Koppe, as well as the councillors of the dukes of Mansfeld. On behalf of the Wittenberg University and the local government, Martin and Käthe Luther were presented with some important gifts. From the elector the couple received a sum of 100 guilders, where it should be remembered that Luther’s annual salary was also 100 guilders — a royal gift indeed. And it did not stop there: Luther’s annual salary was increased to 200 guilders!

Käthe as the housewife from Proverbs 31←↰⤒🔗

The Luther family lived at the ancient Augustinian monastery. But Käthe made sure that the dilapidated condition of buildings and garden was addressed. She started to grow carrots, cucumbers and melons in the monastery garden where a new water source was dug. She fattened up a few pigs, kept a large number of chickens, and also made the flower garden bloom again with roses and lilies. And she devoted much of her care to the herb garden, which was so important for their health. Luther was happy that he was relieved of the care of the household, yes, even more so, that Käthe’s care was of an excellent standard. Their house became a centre for the entire congregation of Wittenberg, a home for theological students who sought temporary lodging and for all who needed Luther’s pastoral care. Historians speak in this context of “the birth of the evangelical/protestant manse”.

In our view, Luther might have entered into a kind of marriage of convenience — by his own admission he had not really been in love — yet the true bond of love between him and Käthe became very strong. Sometimes Luther had very peculiar thoughts; he said, “In the first year of marriage you sit at the table and you think: First I was sitting here alone, now we are together; and when you wake up in the morning you discover somehow a few strands of hair beside you...”

Luther praised his wife. There was no way that he would exchange her for the kingdom of France or Venice. Käthe soon became called “the morning star of Wittenberg”. Once the reformer told how fortunate he had become by God’s grace to have such a wife as Käthe: “Ich habe ein treues Weib nach dem Spruch Salomos: Ihres Mannes Herz darf sich auf sie verlassen’ (Prov. 31:11).”I have a wife who truly reflects the Proverb of Solomon: “The heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain.”

A mellower Luther?←↰⤒🔗

Even Melanchthon noticed that Luther became somewhat mellower after his marriage. The great humanist Erasmus also took comfort in this opinion for a time, but it soon proved to be a grave mistake in his case: Luther thoroughly opposed the humanist that same year, 1525, with his message of the bondage of the will versus Erasmus’ doctrine of the free will. It is rumoured that Käthe even urged her husband to do so. If this is true, it can therefore be said that Luther’s marriage had further strengthened the Reformational view of man.

3. Luther’s Family in Times of Prosperity and Adversity←⤒🔗

The purpose of marriage←↰⤒🔗

Martin and Katharina Luther received six children from God in their marriage. The parents felt richly blessed — even though they were not spared the suffering of the premature death of two of them. Before we introduce them we will first take a look at the purpose of marriage, as Luther has expressed it.

Through his well-known Tischreden (Table Talks) Luther expressed himself more than once on the meaning of marriage and matters related to it. Among other things he said, “Marriage is an ordinance of God. The natural bond of love between a man and a woman is the first thing we are allowed to observe. At the same time, marriage is more than a natural thing; it is a gift from God that is sweet and beautiful. But when a marriage goes bad, it is hell. Fidelity and faith are the ties that (ought to) bind husband and wife to each other, and children come with that union. They will be the sweetest guarantee of love. Marriage is a duty and a means of salvation.” Thus says Luther. He went on to say: “Physical union is not only for conceiving children, it also serves to strengthen mutual love. This is the rule of paradise, even though the Fall unfortunately intervened: no child is conceived without original sin.”

These citations already provide some clarity about Luther’s views on marriage. For him, therefore, its essence lies not in procreation, but in the relationship of love. The loving couple may thus serve each other, for this is how God wants it. And their service — either with or without children — is further elevated by God to the level of service to the church and society. Marriage is therefore not primarily a legal principle for the church, but it is the government that must act in an orderly manner in this matter. The church has to work on the consciences of those who are married. That is her main task.

In saying this, Luther fundamentally broke down the distorted view in the papal church. With Luther, marriage is valued above celibacy. For indeed, the gospel is not opposed to nature; instead it sanctifies it. One does not need to fear the last day in the marriage bed.

Divorce←↰⤒🔗

We would also like to take a moment here to consider Luther’s assessment of the issues surrounding divorce. Despite the fact that a Christian marriage is established before God and thus begins with the invocation of the name of the Lord, it can fail. In Luther’s day, marriage problems were probably just as serious as in our day. The difficulties and annoyances were often serious obstacles. Luther therefore also raged against those who committed adultery: One should “chop off their heads!” Toward the end of his life he exclaimed, “For why is sin against God’s other commandments punished severely (often physically) and divorce is not? Is not that sin then far worse, also in its consequences for the wife and any possible children?”

Meanwhile, Luther recognizes that divorce is lawful in certain cases. In the first place Luther is thinking of adultery. He also considers divorce permissible in case of impotence of one of the partners. “However,” Luther continued, “it is unlawful in the case of serious and severe illness, stinking breath or festering wounds. God will give his special grace in such cases!” Such instances required that people would bear their cross.

A separate issue is the possibility of a (secret) double marriage. Luther thought divorce was so terrible that he even considered bigamy to be acceptable — under certain conditions. In his time, the Landgrave Philip of Hesse had entered into a secret double marriage which Luther, Melanchthon and also Philip’s father-in-law thought they could authorize. This (now known) case of bigamy was condemned by the secular state law, which meant that the political arm of the Reformation movement in Germany lost a great deal of influence.

Luther’s children←↰⤒🔗

The birth of the first child in the family of Martin and Käthe became a tense affair for the parents-to-be. Not only because of the fact that they were about to experience a birth for the first time, but much more because of the anxiety based on the old Roman superstition that claimed that if a monk married a (former) nun the first child from this relationship would be a two-headed monster. After all, the devil gets his way with such people...The historian H.A. Oberman estimated quite a risk: “What would have become of the Reformation if the first child had indeed been disabled?”

Fortunately, on June 7, 1526, a healthy, lively son was born and baptized the same day by Bugenhagen, who received the name Johannes (after Luther’s father, Hans).

Hans appeared several times in the first letters from his father as Hänchen, about whom father Luther wrote in a very admiring way. For example, in the summer of 1530 — when he was 4 years old — the boy received a very charming letter from his father, who was at the Co-burg at the time of the Reichstag in Augsburg (where the Augsburg Confession was introduced). In the letter, the young boy is presented with an almost idyllic picture of a paradise for children: a pleasure garden with the most delicious fruits.

Hans did not have such a profound inclination for studying as his father had, but he was not forced into it either, considering his aptitude. Eventually Hans did study law and got a job at the chancellery in Weimar at the court of Prince Johann Frederick of Saxony (the Magnanimous). He did not reach an advanced age and died when he was 49 years old.

On December 10, 1527, a daughter was born: Elisabeth. Sadly she died after only eight months.

Luther was very sad about this; he wrote: “My little daughter Elisabeth has died. It is remarkable how sick, and almost in a womanly way, my heart has been left behind. It hurts me so much. I could never have believed before that a father’s heart could be saddened so profoundly by a child.”

The third child was once again a girl; on May 4, 1529, Magdalena (Lenchen) was born. She lived for 13 years and died after a severe illness in September of 1542. Her death was a very difficult matter for both father and mother. However, the epitaph, written by Luther himself, also gives evidence of their comfort: “Here I, Magdalena, Doctor Luther’s little maid, resting with the saints, sleep in my narrow bed. I was a child of death for I was born in sin. But now I live, redeemed, Lord Christ, by the blood you shed for me.”

Meanwhile, on November 9, 1531, another son had been born, Martin. He is often mentioned as a sickly child who, along with that, also needed a lot of attention and may have been somewhat spoiled. He later tried to follow in his father’s footsteps by studying theology. However, he never did hold an office. He lived in Wittenberg and died there at the early age of 34.

On January 28, 1533, the third son was born, Paul. This naming had everything to do with the apostle Paul, in whose letter to the Romans the reformer had rediscovered the gospel of God’s free grace. This son — also often sick and weak — later went on to study medicine, became a lecturer at the University of Jena and then obtained a position as personal physician to the Duke of Brandenburg. Finally, he became a physician at the court of Elector August of Saxony in Dresden. He died at the age of 59.

The sixth child in Luther’s family was once again a daughter; Margaretha came into the world on December 17, 1534. She married the wealthy, East Prussian nobleman Georg von Kunheim when she was 20. Her parents did not live to see that moment. Margaretha is the only child of Luther’s who had descendants, although they did not bear the Luther family name.

However, the name Luther did not die out; it was preserved through the male descendants of Jacob Luther, Martin’s brother. According to a fairly recent report, there were about 3,000 descendants of the Luther family living in the world (especially in Europe and the USA), of whom approximately 400 bear the name Luther. In the former East Germany there are about 170 people with the name of the reformer. Hans Luther Sr.’s great desire for descendants was fulfilled, even if it was not through the direct line of his famous son.

Käthe’s responsibility for her family←↰⤒🔗

In the fast-growing family of Martin and Katharina Luther — six children in the span of eight years — there was always a lot going on. Much of it was the mother’s responsibility because the father was often absent for long periods of time. This was in connection with the Reichstagen (imperial sessions) that Emperor Charles V convened and because of the various religious discussions that were held between the various confessional groups.

Katharina must have been a strong, mentally and physically healthy woman to cope with all the busy-ness. We should also remember that there were more people living in her house than just her own family. For instance, there was her aunt Magdalene von Bora, nicknamed Muhme Lena, who was taken in to spend the last years of her life in their “Black Monastery”. There were also three of Luther’s nieces who were part of the household because they could no longer count on any help from their families. And there were many drop-ins who were given shelter for shorter or longer periods. At one time, in 1536, Luther’s friend Johannes Agricola came to Wittenberg with his wife and nine children and when they could not find a home right away they were lodged for some time with the Luther family.

Such a large household required a lot of money. The Saxon Elector, Johann Frederick the Magnanimous, ensured that the family received many deliveries in-kind, and even King Christian III of Denmark sent a large shipment of herring and butter.

Katharina also worked to expand the family’s land holdings. First she bought three parcels of land, then an outlying farm (‘Vorwerk’) and finally a small property of Käthe’s brother that had been neglected. The entire holdings began to look like a medium-sized agricultural enterprise, with arable farming and especially livestock (cows, pigs, goats, chickens, geese, ducks and pigeons); the dog Tölpel (‘bumpkin’) was there to guard the place. Käthe also had access to a fishpond, and she brewed the beer herself.

At various occasions Käthe had to nurse her husband during his frequent periods of illness. Once in a while, Käthe herself was seriously ill. When this happened Luther was truly a man in need. He would rather die himself than to have his family lose her. He had an enormous admiration for her: in the more than 20 letters that Luther wrote to his wife (which have at least been preserved!), the opening lines alone often speak volumes. On February 7, 1546, shortly before Luther’s death, the reformer addressed his letter to: “Meiner lieben Hausfrau Katherin Ludherin, Doktorin, Saumarkterin zu Wittenberg, meiner gnädigen Frau zu Händen und Füßen.”¹

Education: an affair of both government and parents←↰⤒🔗

It goes too far to discuss in detail here the educational reforms carried out by Luther and especially by his friend and colleague Melanchthon. We will mention two things. First, the letter Luther wrote in 1524 “An die Radsherrn aller Städte deutschen Landes, dass sie christlichen Schulen aufrichten und halten sollen.”²This publication took place at the time when many monasteries were being closed down (and with them, places of education were disappearing) and when the appeal of the radicals surrounding Karlstadt was still advocating that nothing should be pursued in terms of education and nurturing (because, as they alleged, the Spirit would work in the hearts of the faithful). In line with this is also Luther’s published sermon from 1530 about the matter “that parents should send their children to school”. The government had to create the right conditions to make this possible. It is typically Luther speaking when we read his reasoning: “Whereas the government can oblige its healthy subjects to don spikes and muskets and to serve in the military, then there is much more reason for it to oblige its subjects to send their children to school. For the most dangerous enemy is the devil, who is secretly engaged in undermining cities and states through the neglect of education.”

Next we mention here the issue of Luther’s two catechisms, which have left a strong mark on the religious education of children and (young) adults.

For the sake of completeness it is good to realize that in those days there was no compulsory education and that education was mainly a matter for the upper layers of society. People with low incomes could not afford to pay for schools. Luther made a plea for children to go to school for at least one or two hours each day and then to be engaged in a craft (which earned some money).

The end of Käthe’s life←↰⤒🔗

The final years of Käthe’s life, lived as a widow, were rather difficult. Especially because of the religious war which had broken out again in Germany. To make matters worse, in the summer of 1552 the plague spread (again) in Wittenberg. There were also victims in the Lutherhaus, or the Black Monastery. Käthe decided to flee for her life in September, but on the way she had a bad fall from the wagon that was to take her to Torgau. She did arrive there, but Käthe did not recover. On December 20, 1552 she died there and was buried in the local Marienkirche. Her four children ordered the following inscription on the tombstone, “³The epitaph on the stone shows a woman wearing a headscarf, a feature of distinguished women at the time.

This self-confident woman was allowed to become a servant in her life for the progress of God’s work in this world. Even Luther, as the main character of the Reformation, remains unthinkable without his Käthe.