Personalities & Contemporary Witnesses
Read interesting reports and biographies written by Luther's confidantes and adversaries.
Personalities & contemporary witnesses
1459-1530
"When Martin was a child, he was always calm and well-behaved. When he reached the age of four, we enrolled him in school in Mansfeld. He was too young and too small to be able to make it to school on his own, so his older classmates would carry him, something he obviously enjoyed. Martin later went to school first in Magdeburg, then in Eisenach. I had always hoped that he would grow up to become a lawyer. Instead, he joined the Augustinians in Erfurt and became a mendicant friar. Martin always had a mind of his own. Martin’s decision to enter the monastery led to us having a serious argument, after which we lost touch. I viewed monks as lazy, living at the expense of the people and doing nothing more than stuffing their bellies all day. It was not until Martin’s wedding that my wife and I travelled to Wittenberg, and after many years, Martin and I were finally able to reconcile our differences. Of course, by that time, he had already given up being a monk."
Born around 1459 in Thuringia
Died in May 1530 in Saxony-Anhalt
Wife: Margarethe Luder
Children: Martin Luther, Jacob Luther
