My Lord Katie: Katharina von Bora Luther

Last Years

Dr. Luther's Death

The death of her husband was a sudden and hard blow to Katie. Dr. Luther had gone to Mansfeld to settle a dispute among the princes. On the return journey he became ill and stopped to rest in Eisleben, the town of his birth almost 63 years earlier. There he parted life in the morning hours of February 18, 1546 among friends and his three sons.

Grave of Katharina Luther
died 20 December 1552
buried in the Marienkirche, Torgau

The Widow Katie

With her husband dead, Katharina needed more than her good managerial skills. While he was alive Dr. Luther's salary was largely used to run the expensive household. The land they owned provided little income.

With Luther's death Katie was dependent on the generosity of the Elector John Frederick and the princes of Anhalt. She was permitted to keep the house they were given upon their marriage twenty years earlier. In addition, Elector John Frederick granted 1,000 gulden in trust for the children and helped Katie acquire a farm, Gut Wachsdorf, for the children, at a cost of 2,200 gulden.

Among all her trials after her dear husband's death, nothing disturbed Katie Luther more than the thought of her little family breaking up. Chancellor Brück insisted that the boys be taken from their home and given a proper education. Katie fought tooth and nail until the chancellor gave up on the idea.

War

As if her husband's death, financial insecurity and the threat of losing her sons was not enough, Katie had to face the threats of war and becoming a refugee. Shortly after Dr. Luther's death, in June of 1546, the Schmalkaldic War broke out. The following year John Frederick was defeated and Wittenberg was in a panic. Katie fled with her family to Magdeburg.

By June of 1547 she returned to ruin. Her farms had been along the roads that both armies had used. Her animals were gone and the buildings were burned to the ground. She was forced to go into debt, borrowing 1,000 gulden to rebuild. In order to add to her income she took into her home boarders from among the students of the university.

Final Days

In 1552 the plague broke-out in Wittenberg. The University was moved to Torgau. In the fall Katie decided to leave Wittenberg. During the trip her horses were frightened and she was thrown from the carriage. No longer possessing the strength needed to recover, and at times barely hanging on to life, she remained bed ridden for months. The end came December 20, 1555 at the age of 53 years, 11 months. Because of the unsettled situation within Saxony, she was buried the next day at Torgau in the Pfarrkirche.

Although her mortal remains were interned far from those of her beloved husband, she remained faithful to his teachings unto death.

The Luther Line

The surviving Luther children were adults. Hans was 26, Martin 21, Paul 19 and Margarete 18. Hans studied law and became a court advisor. Martin studied theology but never had a regular call.

Paul became a well known physician. He fathered six children and the male line of the Luther family continued through John Ernest until 1759.

Margarete married into a noble and wealthy Prussian family. Her untimely death came in 1570 at the age of 36. Her descendants have continued to the present time.