Shadows of My Father

by Christoph Werner

  It was just as well that Mother had not seen these letters, for she would certainly have become angry and scolded him, mainly concerning the gift of food—seeing that there were sometimes forty or fifty people around our table.

  One must also consider the dirty and rundown condition of the Black Monastery and its remaining occupants when Mother moved in. Even the straw mattress on which Father slept was moldy and stank. Mother was well informed about the financial situation of his friends and colleagues, and she would not let it go unmentioned so that he and the table guests would be inspired to give more careful attention to the money.

  So said Mother during a table conversation: “Herr Philipp received from King Henry VIII a large sum, 500 gold pieces, and we only received 50. He gets 400 guldens yearly from the elector, and 80 thalers from another source.”

  This embarrassed Father in front of the others, and I believe he felt a little ashamed for his wife. His answer then was: “But Magister Philippus expends much money for his family and for strangers. He distributes the money. Also, he would deserve that one gave him a kingdom, because he is so important and his work has benefited the empire, the church in Germany, and also abroad.”

  Mother made no answer to this because Father’s reply was too foolish and she did not want to expose him. Because everything he said about Magister Philippus was, for him, true.

  In addition to the various land holdings and the Black Monastery, which was provided with the right to brew beer and for Father’s lifetime was free from taxes, Father left a large collection of noble cups, jewels, chains, rings, and donated money, which in his will he estimated at 1000 guldens.

  His monthly salary of 200, later 300, guldens now fell away. This had been paid directly from the elector’s purse because he had no regular position at the university.

  The reopened hostel brought in some money, and Mother also received a part of an honorarium in the amount of 50 thalers, which had been granted to Father by the king of Denmark, Christian III. Here had the faithful Bugenhagen provided assistance.

  Florian von Bora, my cousin, whom I have already mentioned and who belonged to the household and helped himself generously at the meals, received through my mother’s efforts a stipend with which he could study law in Wittenberg.

  Immediately after my father’s death, the gracious elector had sent a gift of 100 guldens to Mother as a first support. The counts of Mansfeld, whom I did not wish well because they had caused Father to undertake his fatal last journey to Eisleben, donated 2000 guldens, which, however, could not be withdrawn until the summer after his death. The elector had already, when Father was still alive, provided him with 1000 guldens as capital, from whose interest we boys should study at the university. This sum, too, could not at once be made use of.

  All this, I am convinced, sounds like a lot of money, particularly to ordinary people like a carpenter journeyman, for example, who had to do a day’s work for twelve kreuzers and who could live on one gulden at seventy-two kreuzers for a few days. But alas, God in His inscrutable goodness wanted everything different, and to awaken and at the same time chastise his flock allowed a bloody war to break out. For that he used as his willing tools, Emperor Charles and the electors and estates that had been recently converted to the New Gospel by Father.

  In AD 1544 the Peace of Crepy was signed with France, and also the armistice with the Turks was negotiated. So the emperor could turn his attention to the troubled regions in Germany. One can believe that nothing more was in his heart than to reconcile the warring parties, to reestablish the unity of Christendom and, with it, the empire, and to reform the old church in accordance with the Catholic principles and the thousand-year-old tradition. But God did not want that the contending parties should be peacefully united through councils or religious discussions. And so the emperor, with his Spanish army composed of Europe’s best soldiers, supported by the pope, who loaned him ten thousand foot soldiers and five hundred riders, and helped by the increasing gold and silver income from America, fought against the Protestant ranks, united in the Schmalkaldic League. The opponents, of course, were all fighting God-fearingly for the best cause.

  Soon the situation stood badly for the Schmalkalders, especially when the kaiser succeeded in winning the young duke Maurice of Saxony over to his side. For this he promised him the electorate, which so far had been with the duke’s cousin Elector John Frederick, the gracious prince of my father. After that, Maurice was called the Judas of Meissen.

  On the 24th of April, 1547, the emperor won the battle at Mühlberg on the Elbe, in which our elector, John Frederick, was taken captive and stripped of his electorate in favor of the aforementioned cousin. Also, Landgrave Philip of Hesse surrendered and was likewise taken prisoner.

  In the battle on the Lochauer Heath, as it is still called today, John Frederick had fought bravely even though hindered by his corpulence and not quite sober, which did not help. His troops were surprised by the emperor’s soldiers, among whom the Spanish army especially stood out. They crossed the Elbe unnoticed by the elector’s army, whose general, the elector himself, with laudable trust in God had just attended a service held in a tent. He had appropriately prayed for victory in the coming clash, but it does not always go according to one’s wishes even though they be pious.

  The inordinate fondness of our prince for the good beer from Torgau—as if he had divined what was coming—had been audibly dispraised by my father in a sermon held in Torgau Castle and attended by such high-standing persons as the electoral prince of Brandenburg and Bishop Matthias of Jagow. Father asked the congregation urgently as honorable people not to take the drunkenness of the court as an example.

  Wars and rumors of wars had already caused Mother in October of 1546 to flee from Wittenberg with us children. With some of our goods in several carts, we traveled through Dessau to Magdeburg. At the time, I could not understand why, without a visible cause, we did this. Johannes Bugenhagen, at any rate, stayed in Wittenberg while Magister Philippus also went away and took refuge in Zerbst. I almost believe that it was he who had advised Mother to flee. Perhaps it had come to his ear that the emperor’s general of the Hungarian troops had boasted he wanted to excavate the bones of Luther and feed them to the dogs. And he wanted to cut to pieces Bugenhagen and Melanchthon and completely destroy the town. In addition, soldiers had hanged several Protestant village priests in their own churches, which as martyrs’ deaths is admittedly not without merit in God’s eyes.

  Wolf Sieberger, Father’s true helper, remained in the Black Monastery to oversee what had remained.

  My fourteenth birthday on January 28th was therefore a quite poor affair. Nobody was in the mood to sing and be cheerful, and I could be happy that my birthday was noticed at all. I at least received a new pair of trousers, because to my shame you could see my underclothes through holes in my old ones. It was clear to me that Mother at the moment had no money for presents, because in order to pay for our accommodations and the cost of the flight, she had been forced to sell part of Father’s silver cups and mortgage the rest.

  Johannes, our oldest brother, twenty at the time, had to interrupt his studies in Wittenberg, which he was not really sad about. Diligent learning and spiritual exercises were not in his nature, which at the same time did not make life easier for him because he was of goodwill.

  Because of the ravages of the war, the university had been severely impaired.

  Already in July 1546 the elector had written from Weimar that because of the war the university might look for a place to move to, for example, Altenburg, Zeitz, or Jena. Thereupon the university allowed the students to continue their studies or leave the university.

  It can be imagined that an orderly course of study under these conditions was no longer possible. I add here that I was already, pro forma, a student myself since I had from November 1543, at ten years old, been enrolled under my father’s wish that I should study medicine.

  On the 18th of November 1546, Maurice o
f Saxony approached Wittenberg with his troops, many of whom were from foreign lands and especially feared. The Wittenbergers burned their suburbs and destroyed the crops in the gardens that lay outside the town walls, on the one hand to provide a clear field of fire for their weapons, and on the other hand to prevent any foodstuffs or useful equipment from falling into the enemy’s hands. Though enough remained, and the enemy soldiers, who could not take the town because it was the second strongest fortress of the electoral principality, contented themselves with plundering the surrounding lands. Thus our family lost for the time being not only the town gardens but also the estates Boos and Wachsdorf.

  The worst was the loss of livestock, because though one can again grow grain, it is impossible to get hold of young livestock, as the plunderers had butchered and consumed all the mothers.

  Provisionally, we stayed in some misery at Georg Maior’s, who had also fled from Wittenberg but had connections in Magdeburg, where he had been headmaster. This excellent man and comrade of Father’s had taken a wife and produced ten children, who understandably came first in matters of food and clothing.

  Our schooling was also makeshift so that, combined with a lengthy illness that I believe had its cause more in my mind than in my body, I was quite in arrears. I was bedridden and felt weak, and the village quack allowed me to be bled (though I already believed this would not help without determining the cause of the illness). I think now that the circumstances of the time—the death of my father, the flight from home, the misery and poor nourishment in a strange place—had all contributed so that I even once more began wetting the bed.

  Finally, shortly before Easter 1547, we returned to our home, again traveling over very poor roads, hungry, and often soaked through because the tarpaulin over the carts was not waterproof enough. What our poor mother went through at the time pains me to the heart, although I must say my older brother Johannes gave her strong support. The rumor still persists that Johannes had taken part in the elector’s army as an ensign, but I know better. He was with us all during the flight.

  We became once again cheerful when we saw the approaching walls of Wittenberg and had no idea that the next disaster awaited us. As mentioned, our brave elector now was used by the emperor as a valuable pawn. The emperor threatened him with hanging, which was proper under the law since he and Philipp of Hesse stood under the ban of the empire unless he would turn over the town of Wittenberg. And so the emperor in May 1547 seized Wittenberg without a fight, although he behaved very nobly and forbade his people, among them especially Duke Alba, who was particularly eager to distinguish himself against the Protestants, to desecrate Luther’s grave, which he visited. Later, alienated if not to say enraged by Luther’s work, he expressed that in view of the resulting religious and political turmoil in the empire, he should have burned the heretic at Worms, but it was now too late. Since he was an intelligent man, he surely did not want to pour oil on the fire of the religious war, and he left Luther’s grave as he had found it.

  Our elector had to sign the Wittenberg Capitulation, which meant that he lost the electorate to the Albertine line of Dresden, that is, to Duke Maurice of Saxony. As early as the 4th of June, Maurice was appointed the new elector. The kaiser considered Philipp and John Frederick his personal prisoners and dragged them along on his military campaign. They were not set free again until AD 1552.

  The peaceful transfer of Wittenberg, which I consider reasonable because the town was not subjected to plundering and destruction, caused once again the flight of Mother and us children. And again we went to Magdeburg, which this time did not seem secure because of the emperor’s victories. So along with Magister Philippus and Georg Major, we traveled through Helmstedt, where at the time there was no university, to Braunschweig. Here we found accommodations at a now Protestant cloister. My mother’s plan was to find protection and security with the Danish king Christian III, which Melanchthon quite approved of. Before me lies a very touching letter my mother wrote to the king, in which she describes her plight:

  Great, All-Powerful King, My Gracious Lord!

  Before anything else, it is my reverent prayer to God my Lord that Your Majesty and all Your loved ones may fare well and that Your Majesty will rule happily ever after.

  Most Gracious Lord. After I have had in this year many great distresses and heartaches, of which the first is my and my children’s misery at the death of my lord husband, whose death anniversary approaches on February 18th; and following after that these dangerous wars, which are laying waste to the fields of our beloved fatherland with no end in sight to the misery and suffering: is for me in such distress a great and high comfort that Your Majesty has sent both a gracious letter and the gift of 50 thalers for the comfort of myself and my children, also further that Your Majesty promised us to continue Your gracious benevolence toward a poor widow and my poor orphans.

  For all this I am deeply grateful and hope that God the Lord, who calls Himself a Father of widows and orphans, may bestow on Your Majesty and Your Royal Wife, whom I call my Most Gracious Queen, together with all your lands and people, all His Grace and Goodwill.

  I am again proud of my dear mother. She portrayed our misery and was thankful for the gifts that had been bestowed but expressed no new request. That is more effective than a direct appeal for help. Furthermore, she reminded the loving God of His promise to provide for widows and orphans. Of course, with this she reminded the king that he, as king, is God’s tool.

  There is also a published note from Melanchthon in which he complains bitterly about Mother’s fate, because he had a fine sense of justice:

  When the war broke out, she was forced to wander about in misery with her orphaned children under great difficulties and dangers, and besides the evils which are manifold for widows, she experienced the greatest ingratitude from many who should have been helpful in view of the enormous service of her husband to the church, but had been disappointed instead in a most disgraceful manner.

  Duke Francis of Lüneburg cautioned us about continuing our trip to Denmark because the land was full of soldiers.

  So we got only as far as Gifhorn in the dukedom of Lüneburg and then returned to Wittenberg at the end of June. Already on June 6th, Wittenberg had embraced the new elector, Maurice, and thus the war came to a temporary end.

  This homage to Maurice meant that we, the remaining family of Dr. Martin Luther, had unfortunately now lost our powerful patron, intercessor, and gracious helper, the former (as we had to now regrettably call him) elector, John Frederick, who had always explicitly called himself a follower and friend of Father’s. I must add here (because I am what people call a stickler for detail) that shortly before his death he received in the Treaty of Naumberg, concluded in 1554, the right to call himself “born elector.”

  So had Mother no assistance in a litigation before the bailiff in Leipzig from 1548 to 1550 against a neighbor in regard to our estate in Zülsdorf, which had suffered greatly from soldiers of various nationalities. It had been given to her by my father in 1540 in his will as dowry. The neighbor wanted to dispute her well-known rights in connection to the property. As far as I can remember, Mother had no success with the litigation, which even Melanchthon was unable to help her with.

  The estate in Zülsdorf was particularly close to my mother’s heart because of the beautiful and painful memories regarding her marriage that were associated with it. The estate lies near Lippendorf, her birthplace, and belonged once to the Bora family. Father often lovingly called Mother “the gracious lady of Zülsdorf,” also, “Her gracious lady of Bora and Zülsdorf.” He was without doubt a little proud of her noble parentage despite the certain affectionate irony seen in this way of addressing her. The property had cost Father 600 guldens (money that he had thanks to Mother’s economic efforts and acumen), and it was said the elector had again added 600 guldens in order to restore the house. Because of Zülsdorf, Mother was often absent from Wittenberg, and when our studies allowed, we children accomp
anied her—much to Father’s pain, which caused him to write sweetly wistful letters. I am happy to possess one of these letters, which attests to the relationship between my parents:

  Dear Käthe,

  I am surprised that you do not write or communicate, because you well know that we here are not without concern for you since Mainz and many popish-minded nobles in Meissen are very hostile. Sell and buy what you can, and come home. You are much in my heart.

  All praise be to God, because we were after all not completely left alone.

  There was at first, as mentioned, the king of Denmark, who continued to pay her fifty guldens a year. And secondly, Duke Albrecht of Prussia, not to be confused with Albrecht of Brandenburg, cardinal, elector, and enemy of the Reformation, already mentioned at length. Duke Albrecht was grand master of the Teutonic Order, who was acquainted since 1525 with the New Gospel of Father’s and had converted—on Father’s advice, for which he was very thankful—the order state into the Duchy of Prussia. His uncle, King Sigismund I of Poland, confirmed his inheritance of the dukedom, for which he became the king’s vassal. Albrecht remained a lifelong friend of our family.

  Duke Albrecht now—and here I come back to the affairs of our family—founded in Königsberg a university after the Wittenberg model with Melanchthon’s son-in-law Georg Sabinus as rector.

  The reader will realize how useful connections, relationships, and relatives are for advancing in life.

  At any rate, Johannes, our oldest brother, whose jurisprudence studies in Wittenberg had been interrupted, then attended Königsberg with the support of Duke Albrecht, well supplied with Mother’s recommendations, who hastened to apologize for possible inexperience and the resulting awkwardnesses of her twenty-two-year-old. Naturally, Magister Philippus and Justus Jonas also provided Johannes with good advice.

  In this way, Mother thought our brother was well and safely provided for in order to begin a successful life.