Martin Luther: Biography and Facts

Born on November 10th, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. I would go on to become one of the most significant and controversial figures in western history. I was one of eight children; however, only four of my siblings survived to adulthood (Jacobsen, 2017). In 1525, I married a former nun named Katharina von Bora together we would have six children (“Martin Luther Biography”, 2014). Some people would describe me has having a rather large build and brown hair. One of my biggest life projects took me ten years to complete which was the translation of the New Testament into German (“Martin Luther and the 95 Theses”, 2018).

I grew up loving music and was a proficient lute player and only give up playing when I entered the monastic cloister when I was 21. I planned on becoming a lawyer after finishing my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. That all change however when I was walking to law school one night during a thunderstorm and during a moment of fear I yelled out “Help me, St. Anna! I will become a monk.” As a man of my word, I kept my promise and became a monk (Jacobsen, 2017).

I’m most famous for calling out the Catholic Churchs corrupt practices. It all started after I got angry at Pope Leo X born Giovanni de Medici and his sale of indulgences to build St. Peter’s Basilica (“Martin Luther and the 95 Theses”, 2018). Indulgence is “good works, which often involved monetary donations, that popes could grant to the people to cancel out penance for sins - as corrupting people’s faith” (“Martin Luther Biography”, 2014). So on October 31st, 1517 I nailed a piece of paper to the University of Wittenberg’s chapel door, written on the paper was my Ninety-Five Theses. I also sent a copy of my theses to Archbishop Albert Albrecht of Mainz with the hope he, himself would end the sale of indulgences (“Martin Luther Biography”, 2014). Within my theses, I propounded two central beliefs “that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds” (“Martin Luther and the 95 Theses”, 2018).

The points I made were only meant to be a discussion point, but end up leading to a much more significant reform and ultimately lead to Protestant Reformation in the 16th-century. On January 3, 1521, I was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Leo for not recanting my statements made about the church (“Martin Luther and the 95 Theses”, 2018). My actions help influence many influential figures after me, like Galileo who’s conflicts with the Catholic Church was greatly influenced by the reformation and the protestant reformation which called into question the church's authority (Henderson, 1999).

While it was never my intention to start what became known as the protestant reformation, it became my legacy and ultimately my most significant contribution to the Renaissance as I created a religious movement and Protestantism. On February 18, 1546, at the age of 62, I died after suffering from a stoke in the same place where my life started Eisleben, Germany (“Martin Luther Biography,” 2014).

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