Life of Luther | Page 3

LUTHER'S CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH UP TO HIS ENTERING
THE CONVENT.--1483-1505.


CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
On the 10th of November, 1483, their first child was born to a young
couple, Hans and Margaret Luder, at Eisleben, in Saxony, where the
former earned his living as a miner. That child was Martin Luther.
His parents had shortly before removed thither from Möhra, the old
home of his family. This place, called in old records More and Möre,
lies among the low hills where the Thuringian chain of wooded heights
runs out westwards towards the valley of the Werra, about eight miles
south of Eisenach, and four miles north of Salzungen, close to the

railway which now connects these two towns. Luther thus comes from
the very centre of Germany. The ruler there was the Elector of Saxony.
Möhra was an insignificant village, without even a priest of its own,
and with only a chapel affiliated to the church of the neighbouring
parish. The population consisted for the most part of independent
peasants, with house and farmstead, cattle and horses. Mining,
moreover, was being carried on there in the fifteenth century, and
copper was being discovered in the copper schist, of which the names
of Schieferhalden and Schlackenhaufen still survive to remind us. The
soil was not very favourable for agriculture, and consisted partly of
moorland, which gave the place its name. Those peasants who
possessed land were obliged to work extremely hard. They were a
strong and sturdy race.
From this peasantry sprang Luther. 'I am a peasant's son,' he said once
to Melancthon in conversation. 'My father, grandfather--all my
ancestors were thorough peasants.'
[Illustration: Coat of arms]
His father's relations were to be found in several families and houses in
Möhra, and even scattered in the country around. The name was then
written Luder, and also Ludher, Lüder, and Leuder. We find the name
of Luther for the first time as that of Martin Luther, the Professor at
Wittenberg, shortly before he entered on his war of Reformation, and
from him it was adopted by the other branches of the family. Originally
it was not a surname, but a Christian name, identical with Lothar,
which signifies one renowned in battle. A very singular coat of arms,
consisting of a cross-bow, with a rose on each side, had been handed
down through, no doubt, many generations in the family, and is to be
seen on the seal of Luther's brother James. The origin of these arms is
unknown; the device leads one to conclude that the family must have
blended with another by intermarriage, or by succeeding to its property.
Contemporaneous records exist to show how conspicuously the
relatives of Luther, at Möhra and in the district, shared the sturdy
character of the local peasantry, always ready for self-help, and equally
ready for fisticuffs. Firmly and resolutely, for many generations, and

amidst grievous persecutions and disorders, such as visited Möhra in
particular during the Thirty Years' War, this race maintained its ground.
Three families of Luther exist there at this day, who are all engaged in
agriculture; and a striking likeness to the features of Martin Luther may
still be traced in many of his descendants, and even in other inhabitants
of Möhra. Not less remarkable, as noted by one who is familiar with
the present people of the place, are the depth of feeling and strong
common sense which distinguish them, in general, to this day. The
house in which Luther's grandfather lived, or rather that which was
afterwards built on the site, can still, it is believed, but not with
certainty, be identified. Near this house stands now a statue of Luther in
bronze.
At Möhra, then, Luther's father, Hans, had grown up to manhood. His
grandfather's name was Henry, but of him we hear nothing during
Luther's time. His grandmother died in 1521. His mother's maiden
name was Ziegler; we afterwards find relations of hers at Eisenach; the
other old account, which made her maiden name Lindemann, probably
originated from confusing her with Luther's grandmother.
What brought Hans to Eisleben was the copper mining, which here, and
especially in the county of Mansfeld, to which Eisleben belonged, had
prospered to an extent never known around Möhra, and was even then
in full swing of activity. At Eisleben, the miners' settlements soon
formed two new quarters of the town. Hans had, as we know, two
brothers, and very possibly there were more of the family, so that the
paternal inheritance had to be divided. He was evidently the eldest of
the brothers, of whom one, Heinz, or Henry, who owned a farm of his
own, was still living in 1540, ten years after the death of Hans. But at
Möhra the law of primogeniture, which vests the possession of