Katharina von Bora in Amsterdam

Discover the exhibition 'The Many Faces of Katharina'. Five hundred years after her historic marriage to Martin Luther, the exhibition delves into the multifaceted story of Katharina von Bora (1499–1552): the woman who for centuries was primarily known as 'the wife of', but who was so much more. Have you visited the Luther Museum before, a relatively unknown museum at Nieuwe Keizersgracht 570 in Amsterdam?

Katharina von Bora

Katharina von Bora (1499–1552) was a German apostate nun who married Martin Luther, also an apostate monk and reformer, on June 13, 1525. This earned her the nickname "the Lutheran." She played a role in the Reformation in helping to define Protestant family life and helped set the tone for clergy marriages. She managed family life around Luther, cared for their six children, and worked for the family income. She did this by facilitating the purchase and/or rental of land and gardens and operating a brewery for the benefit of the household, ensuring that Luther, resident students, and guests lacked nothing.

The direct cause of a more intimate relationship between Von Bora and Martin Luther can be found in a letter written to Luther by a fellow theologian, Nikolaus von Amsdorff, shortly before his appointment as minister in Magdeburg. She had asked Von Amsdorff to tell Luther to stop his attempts to marry her off to Kaspar Glatz, rector of the University of Wittenberg. She did not want that man. But if Von Amsdorff or Luther were to wish for her as his wife, she would not refuse. One can somewhat trace how the process from acquaintance to marriage unfolded by reading the letters Luther wrote to parents and friends in the months before his marriage. On June 13, 1525, Wittenberg city minister Bugenhagen confirmed the official engagement in the 'Black Monastery' in the presence of five friends of the couple. The public wedding ceremony in the church took place on June 27, attended by Luther's parents as well. In both the ecclesiastical and civil worlds, the marriage provoked both opposition and approval. The couple has six children. Three girls and three boys.

“I would not want to trade my Käthe for all of France and Venice, for God has given her to me and me to her.” This is how Martin Luther described his close bond with his wife Katharina in one of his table talks, which the preacher held during meals with family, friends, and other interested parties. Katharina von Bora was born in Lippendorf near Leipzig in 1499, the daughter of an impoverished nobleman from Meissen. At the age of five, her father sent her to the Benedictine monastery in Breda, now located in Lower Saxony. Her mother had already passed away, so Katharina was placed under the care of the nuns so that her single father could avoid the problems of her upbringing, finding a marriage for her, and arranging a dowry. Four years later, the child was sent to the Cistercians in Nimbschen. By that time, she had already received an education that few girls her age could obtain. She could read and write and was familiar with several liturgical works. Sending young daughters to convents was considered a great ordeal by some Christians. Even the reformer Martin Luther acknowledged the girls’ plight. “Praying incessantly, drawing rosaries, invoking all saints for intercession, fasting, confessing, striving only for good works, compelled and driven day and night, as if by doing so one could pay the Heavenly Father.” Luther’s writings, such as “On the Liberty of a Christian,” eventually reached the nuns south of the Saxon town of Grimma. This is how Katharina von Bora came into contact with them. Luther’s pamphlets instilled in her the courage to escape the strict convent life. Together with several fellow sisters, she plotted her escape from the church walls, despite knowing of the enormous punishment awaiting her if her plan failed. Florentina von Oberweimar was forced to lie face down on the stone floor during church services so that her fellow sisters could step over her, after she had been captured during her flight from the convent. Moreover, she was mistreated and imprisoned.   But Katharina was not discouraged by these prospects. She and the other nuns managed to send a letter to Luther. In response, the reformer sent his accomplice, councilor Leonard Koppe from Torgau, who supplied fish and beer to the convent of Nimbschen, to free the nuns. Assisting nuns or monks in their escape was punishable by death. Nevertheless, Koppe brought the nuns out of the convent at Easter 1523 by transporting them in herring barrels on his wagon to Torgau. When the twelve young women finally in Wittenberg, When they arrived at Luther's residence, the reformer had to find a way to accommodate them. All the former nuns were to marry. Katharina was initially going to marry a friend of the reformer. Hieronymus Baumgärtner, the son of a Nuremberg patrician, and Katharina were attracted to each other. However, because her future husband required a dowry, this marriage did not take place. Katharina rejected another suitor, Kaspar Glatz. Another solution had to be found. Luther had actually never intended to marry. But when Katharina approached the reformer, he agreed to a marriage. Luther and Katharina, known for her self-confidence and organizational talents, established a household together in the old Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg, which served as the model for the Protestant parsonage. The marriage between Luther and von Bora, which produced six children, was for centuries a symbol of revolution and upheaval, as it was the first time a minister's family had been formed. The minister no longer lived a celibate life; he now led a secular life with his wife and children. The Protestant parsonage became an important symbol of denominational recognition in relation to the Catholic Church. His wife was a great support to Luther. By brewing beer and keeping livestock, she ensured the well-being of the family and their guests. Moreover, the reformer's wife provided accommodation for students who recorded many of Luther's sayings. During the epidemics, Katharina also founded a hospital, through which she offered invaluable help to the inhabitants of Wittenberg.

After the death of Martin Luther in 1546, his widow initially led a modest life in Wittenberg. Fearing contagion, she fled to Torgau in 1552 with her four remaining children to escape a plague-like epidemic. Outside the city gates of the Saxon city, she fell and broke her pelvis. She died of her injuries on December 20, 1552, and was buried in the city church of Wittenberg.  

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The Many Faces of Katharina, in Amsterdam until January 25, 2026: https://luthermuseum.nl/nl/agenda/de-vele-gezichten-van-katharina Previous museum blogs: https://www.postzegelblog.nl/tag/made-in-holland/