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XI. Luther’s Marriage

While still in the Wartburg, Luther was informed that a number of monks were getting married. “They won’t give me a wife,” he declared. But he was not true to his word. It happened this way: Luther heard of the plight of twelve nuns who wanted to leave their convent but were prevented from doing so by their superiors. Although Luther realized that to aid them was a capital offense, he engaged the services of a merchant who periodically delivered barrels of herring to the convent. The merchant hid the nuns on his cart, making it appear that they were barrels being taken away.

After their escape, the nuns were presented to Luther. He tried to find them homes, husbands, or work, hoping that with time they all would marry. Eventually they all married except one: Katherine von Bora. When Luther met her two years later, she told him that she had not been able to find a husband. Luther decided to take her as his wife. His motive was manifold but did not include love. In deciding to marry, he defied his opponents, testified how much esteem he had for marriage, and satisfied his father’s desire for posterity. One author picked up on Luther’s realization:

This was no love match. “I am not infatuated,” said Luther, “though I cherish my wife.” On another occasion he declared, “I would not exchange Katie for France or for Venice, because God has given her to me and other women have worse faults.” He summed up by giving three reasons for his marriage: to please his father, to spite the pope and the Devil, and to seal his witness before martyrdom. [9]

He sent a wedding invitation to his friend Spalatin, which read:

You must come to my wedding. I have made the angels laugh and the devils weep. [10]

To another he wrote:

Undoubtedly the rumor of my marriage has reached you. I can hardly believe it myself, but the witnesses are too strong. The wedding will be next Thursday in the presence of my father and mother. I hope you can bring some game and come yourself. [11]

Marriage, to Luther, was a totally different way of living:

“Before I was married the bed was not made for a whole year…. But I worked so hard and was so weary I tumbled in without noticing it.” Katie cleaned house. There were other adjustments to be made. “There is a lot to get used to in the first year of marriage,” reflected Luther. “One wakes up in the morning and finds a pair of pigtails on the pillow which were not there before.”He soon discovered that a husband must take the wishes of his wife into account. The fears and tears of Katie restrained him from attending Spalatin’s wedding, in view of the danger of violence from peasants on the way. If Martin referred jocularly to his wife as “my rib,” he called her quite as often “my lord.” Sometimes he even punned upon the name Katie and turned it in German into Kette, meaning “chain.” [12]

Luther helped his wife with the daily chores:

He took care of the garden, which produced lettuce, cabbage, peas, beans, melons, and cucumbers. Katie looked after an orchard beyond the village, which supplied them with apples, grapes, pears, nuts, and peaches. She had also a fish pond from which she netted trout, carp, pike, and perch. She looked after the barnyard with hens, ducks, pigs, and cows, and did the slaughtering herself. [13]

This is Bainton’s appraisal of Luther’s marriage:

The Luther who got married in order to testify to his faith actually founded a home and did more than any other person to determine the tone of German domestic relations for the next four centuries. [14]

Luther dearly cared for his wife; he had a high regard for her and respected her opinions. Their family included six children of their own and eleven orphaned nephews and nieces. To this was added twelve students who lodged with the Luthers, as well as an endless flow of visitors who sat at the table with them. Luther’s conversations with his guests while gathered around the table resulted in a volume entitled Table Talk.