The theme for week 42 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is “Proud” and it left me reflecting on what it means to be proud. I realized that it is difficult for me to feel proud of an ancestor, even if they have done great things. After all, I had nothing to do with their actions – just as I do not feel guilt over an ancestor’s bad behavior. Of course, if I were going to be proud of an ancestor, certainly it should be my 11th great grandfather, Martin Luther the Reformer. But I have already written about him, and I have been genuinely astonished at how many people regularly search for information about Martin Luther’s living descendants and find my blog.  My original blog entry is here.

So, if I am not proud, I can say that I am genuinely admiring of Martin Luther. I will add the caveat that I am well aware of his faults, particularly regarding prejudice. He was, after all, the product of a 15th century upbringing. I don’t agree with his attitudes or excuse them, but I do understand the environment in which they grew.

I realize that I come from a family of individuals who have a long history of being ambitious, and I am to some degree proud of this triat in my family. My husband and I have always said that everything we have, we earned, and no one handed us anything. I am proud to be able to say that, and I am proud that I can identify this trait in the Luther family.

No one seems to epitomize the ambitious, self-made man more than Hans Luder (Ludher) the father of Martin Luther, the Reformer, and my 12th great-grandfather. Hans was born in Möhra, Wartburgkreis, Thüringen, Germany around 1459 to Heine Luder and his wife, Anna Margaretha Ziegler. He was from a peasant family that engaged in farming, but I was surprised to learn that his family was fairly well off. This was a new concept to me. I had supposed that being a peasant meant poverty, but apparently not.

Hans chose to go into copper mining to make a living, evidently because it was more lucrative than farming, but also because he was not in line to inherit the farm. His family’s holding belonged to a property class called “Erbbauernhof.” From what I understand, his family didn’t own land in the sense that we know it, but held it collectively as was the custom of the time. Any inheritance for Hans would not have included his father’s farm, since land was not usually divided among heirs. Contrary to what I would have expected, the law mandated that the farm go to a younger male child; this left Hans to make his own way in world. He may or may not have had some money from his father to get started in the mining business.

Martin Luther was born on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, the first child born to Hans and Margarete. Shortly after Martin’s birth, Hans moved the family from Eisleben to Mansfeld to pursue better opportunities in mining. Hans Luther was not just a miner, though. He was able to lease a mine and up to five small smelting plants, having moderate success in raising his social status through entrepreneurism.

We know a bit about Martin’s parents from his own words. Martin Luther said this about his them: “My father was a poor miner; my mother carried in all the wood upon her back; they worked the flesh off their bones to bring us up; no one nowadays would ever have such endurance.”

But, some researchers question the characterization of Luther’s family as being poor peasants. Trash excavated from the Luther childhood home indicates that the family ate well. Björn Schlenker, archaeologist of Landesdenkmalamt Saxony-Anhalt, described the finds: “We have found more than 7,000 animal bones. The majority originate from swine – young, which tasted very good.” There was also a lot of poultry, especially geese, young chicken, sometimes ducks and doves, and even songbirds. Fish were on the menu and included carp, perch, eel and sea fish, such as herring and cod. There were remnants of a toy crossbow and a belt buckle in the shape of the letter “D,” possibly for Luther’s sister Dorothea (Michel, K, 2008).

Hans had chosen his wife well. Margarete Lindemann was not of the peasant class, but came from a bourgeois family of Eisenach. She brought him both business and social connections that he probably would not otherwise have had. In time, Hans Luder had earned enough respect to earn a spot as a representative to the town council in Mansfeld. By the time he died he left a small estate, estimated to be equivalent to $18,000 by 1950’s standards (Schwiebert, p. 109). Using a dollar inflation calculator, it appears that would be about $178,000 in 2015.

Hans Luder had his heart set on Martin becoming a lawyer. This was one of the few ways to continue to elevate the family’s social status. Martin was provided with the necessary schooling to take up the study of law, but his religious passion took him in a different direction. After a spiritual crisis, he entered the Observant Augustinian Monastery in 1505, and Hans Luther expressed strong objection to his son’s decision. As a monk, Martin would not be in a position to look after his parents in their old age. He would also not give them any grandchildren. For some time Hans and Martin saw little of one another.

Fortunately for me and thousands of other Luther descendants through the years, Martin Luther renounced the Catholic Church, left the monastic life, and eventually married Katharina Von Bora, an escaped nun. Martin’s renunciation of celibacy for clergy changed the world and pleased his father.

Did Martin Luther exaggerate when he said he came from the stock of poor peasants? Probably not. It seems logical that Hans was poor when he was just getting started in his own business, but, over time, he became more prosperous. Erick H. Erikson said this:
To call Hans Luder a peasant, therefore, shows either sentimentality or contempt. He was an early small industrialist and capitalist, first working to earn enough to invest, and then guarding his investment with a kind of dignified ferocity. When he died he left a house in town and 1250 goldgulden (p. 53).

There is only one likeness that I know of for Hans Luder. He and his wife were painted by the famous German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder.

He was a man who had a strong drive to succeed and with it, helped to pave the way for his son, Martin Luther, to have remarkable intellectual and spiritual influence.
*I have relied heavily on a paper, “Luther as Son and Father,” by Richard W. Grunze (1983) for my insights on Hans Luder. He has conducted a nice overview of the literature on Luther and was able to give me a deeper understanding of my well-known family.

Resources:
Erickson, Erik H., Young Man Luther: A Study in Psychoanalysis and History, W. W. Norton & Company, 1993

Grunze, Richard W., “Luther as Son and Father”; Essay presented to the Pastor-Teacher Conference of the Southeastern Wisconsin District, June 7-8, 1983. (Retrieved from www.wlsessays.net/files/GrunzeLuther.rtf on November 3, 2015)

Michel, Kie, “Der Müll des Reformators”; Zeit Online, 28 October 2008. (Retrieved from http://www.zeit.de/2008/45/Luther on November 3, 2015)

Schwiebert, E. G., Luther and His Times, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1950