// WEB PAGE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER (On this date in 15xx...) // FILENAME: web_page_life_of_martin_luther.js // Copyright (C) 1999-2006 by Gregg L. DesElms (gregg@greggdeselms.com) (1-877-383-5148) // All rights reserved. Use by permission only. (You can use it, but just ask first!) // BEGIN // SET FONT CHARACTERISICS document.write('') // GET MONTH/DAY/DATE/YEAR PARTS FROM SITE-VISITOR'S OWN COMPUTER calendar = new Date(); day = calendar.getDay(); month = calendar.getMonth(); date = calendar.getDate(); year = calendar.getYear(); // IMPORTANT: Remember that, throughout, day-of-week and month numbering begins at zero, not one. // (i.e., Sunday = 0, Monday = 1, Tuesday = 2, etc.) (January = 0, February = 1, March = 2, etc.) // THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER // SOURCE: http://www.susanlynnpeterson.com/index_files/luther.htm (and sites linked-to therefrom) // SOURCE: http://www.xrysostom.com/mluther.html (and sites linked-to therefrom) // SOURCE: http://www.luther.de/en/index.html (and sites linked-to therefrom) // SOURCE: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22the+life+of+martin+luther%22+-king&btnG=Search // January if ((month == 0) && (date == 3)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, is excommunicated in the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem on this date in 1521."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 4)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, begins an interview with papal chamberlain, Carl von Miltitz in Altenburg on this date in 1519."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 4)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 59, as part of his body of increasingly angry and polemical work in the years before his death, writes the shamefully anti-semitic Against the Jews (also known as Of the Jews and their Lies) on this date in 1543. Lutherans, to this day, are unable to fully understand or explain -- and can certainly not defend -- this embarrassing piece of Luther's previously-uncharacteristic writing."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 6)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, ends his interview with papal chamberlain Carl von Miltitz on this date in 1519. Luther agrees to make certain concessions, including sending a letter of apology to the pope, and to lay his case before Matthäs Lang, the archbishop of Salzburg."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 9)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, again becomes a target in Rome where the inquisition against him is restarted on this date in 1520."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 12)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 43, publishes the Smart Songbook on this date in 1527."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 13)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 44, begins traveling to evaluate the Protestant clergy, on this date in 1528. From his observations of the poor quality of practical theological knowledge on the part clergy during these trips, Luther would be moved, the following year, to author his Small Catechism."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 14)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 52, writes The Disputation Concerning Man on this date in 1536."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 15)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 47, writes Warning to his Beloved Germans,>/i> discussing the rightness of armed resistance to the emperor, on this date in 1531. He leaves the choice to take up arms to the Protestant rulers."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 16)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 23, begins to study theology at the University of Erfurt on this date in 1507."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 17)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 63, gives what would be his final sermon in the City Church at Wittenberg on this date in 1546. On this date, also, Luther is called to mediate between Gebhard and Albert, the two counts of Mansfield. Six days later Luther leaves for Eisleben and Mansfield with his three sons. It will be his final journey... and, ironically, to the city of his birth."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 18)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 51, becomes dean of the theological faculty at Wittenberg on this date in 1535."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 19)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 42, publishes, on this date in 1526, the completely German Mass under the title of Deutsche Messe Und Ordnung Gottis Dientis (German Mass and Order of the Divine Service). For aesthetic reasons he continues to use the Latin Mass published in the Formula Missae."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 21)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 21, earns his masters degree; and his father gives him a copy of Corpus Iuris and arranges for his entry into law school on this date in 1505."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 25)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 38, learns, on this date in 1522, that while he has been in hiding at Warburg, those who agree with him have been taking revolutionary actions: Monks refuse to say private Mass, then begin leaving the Augustinian congregation until it is finally disbanded. The minister at the castle church marries. Students destroy the altar at the Franciscan monastery. An Evangelical Lord's Supper begins to be celebrated with the liturgy in German and the cup offered to the laity."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 28)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 63, arrives in Eisleben, the city of his birth, with his three sons, on this date in 1546. Though he is exhausted and gravely ill, he gives four more sermons, and participates in the mediation between Gebhard and Albert (the two counts of Mansfield), during the next slightly-more-than two and a half weeks... what would be the final 19 days of his life."); if ((month == 0) && (date == 29)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 49, becomes a father for the fifth time as a third son, Paul, is born to him and his wife, Katherine, on this date in 1533."); // February if ((month == 1) && (date == 4)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 17, moves to Erfurt and begins studying liberal arts at the University of Erfurt, one of the best universities at the time, on this date in 1501."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 6)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 39, is pleased to learn, on this date in 1523, that his personal friend and adviser, Johannes Bugenhagen, becomes Wittenberg's town priest and a theology lecturer at Wittenberg University."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 8)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, would soon be pleased to learn that Elector Frederick the Wise demands that Luther not be outlawed or imprisoned without being given the chance to defend himself at a hearing on this date in 1521. That chance would later come two months later at The Diet of Worms in April of 1521."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 9)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 53, and despite his being very ill, attends the 11-day-long Bundestag at Schmalkald on this date in 1537."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 10)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 52, writes The Disputation Concerning Justification on this date in 1536."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 11)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 39, writes Jesus was Born a Jew, a conciliatory work, on this date in 1523. It is in sharp contrast to Luther's later harshly anti-semitic writings."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 12)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 33, responds to Johann Tetzel's selling of indulgences by publishing his Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences on this date in 1517. He also begins to preach, vigorously, against indulgences."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 13)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 38, is pleased to learn, on this date in 1522, that the ban issued against him and his followers the previous December has been lifted."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 14)) document.write("

On this date in 1892, the grave of Martin Luther, beneath the chancel at the Castle Church at Wittenberg, was opened. For centuries many believed that Luther's corpse was moved to a safer place at the end of the Smalkaldian War in 1547, when the Protestants were defeated after the Battle near Mühlberg, but before Emperor Carl's Imperial Army arrived at Wittenberg's gates. But the matter was settled when the grave was opened in 1892 and the remains were clearly those of the Reformer."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 15)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 43, begins, on this date in 1527, to suffer from heart problems and dizziness, in addition to his perennial digestive and intestinal difficulties. Some 469 years later, in 1996, O.H. Iversen, a reasearcher at Institutt for patologi, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, wrote that from Luther's own writings, as well as those from others, he deduced that Luther suffered, variously, from varicose ulcer, angina pectoris with anxiety, obesity, hypertension arterialis, Meniere's disease with vertigo, tinnitus and fainting fits, gastralgia, constipation with anal ulcers and haemorrhoids with bleeding, urolithiasis, arthritis urica, manic depression with a tendancy to emotional lability, Roemheld's syndrome, and a cataract in one eye. It's a wonder Luther got anything done!"); if ((month == 1) && (date == 16)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 31, is appointed the Augustinian vicar for Meissen and Thuringia, giving him charge over eleven Augustinian monasteries, on this date in 1515... making him so busy that he often finds himself behind on his saying of the daily office."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 17)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 63, enjoys the final full day of his life on this date in 1546. Unable to participate in the final negotiations in between the two counts of Mansfield, Luther rests comfortably until he has a non-fatal attack of angina at around 8:30 PM, from which he recovers. Luther retires for what would be the final time of his life at around 11:00 PM. Justus Jonas, friend and colleague of Luther's, thoroughly documented the Reformer's final hours on February 17th and 18th."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 18)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 63, awakens on this date in 1546 at around 1:00 AM with an attack of angina... his second in fewer than fewer than five hours, and the attack which Luther knew heralded the end his life less than three hours later. After drifting-off and then awakening a time or two more over the next two and a half hours, Luther died peacefully at 2:45 AM in Eisleben, the city of his birth to which he had traveled with his three sons to mediate a dispute between Gebhard and Albert, the two counts of Mansfield. Luther's corpse is laid out in a white smock on his bed in Eisleben until a pewter coffin could be cast. Furtenagel, an artist from Halle, is assigned to finish Luther's death mask."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 19)) document.write("

On this date in 1546, Martin Luther's casket is taken to St. Andrews Church in Eisleben, where Justus Jonas gave the first of what would be two funeral orations at 2:00 PM. The second would be conducted by Michael Coelius at 10:00 AM the next day."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 20)) document.write("

On this date in 1546, the second of what became two funeral orations for Martin Luther is conducted at around 10:00 AM by Michael Coelius at St. Andrews Church in Eisleben. The first was by Justus Jonas at 2:00 PM the day before. Afterward, around noon, the funeral procession leaves town. In most villages through which the procession passes, the church bells ring. At 5:00 PM Luther reaches Halle and his corpse is laid out in the Sacristy of St. Mary's Church."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 21)) document.write("

On this date in 1546, at around noon, Martin Luther's casket is moved from St. Mary's Church in Halle to the electorate of Saxony, in the town of Bitterfeld, on the way to Wittenberg."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 22)) document.write('

On this date in 1546, in the morning, Martin Luther\'s funeral procession arrives at the Western Elster Gate of Wittenberg. Preceded by hundreds of students and 65 horsemen, the casket, draped in a black shroud with a white cross on it, is on a wagon pulled by four black horses. The funeral, with oration by Johannes Bugenhagen, is held in the Castle Church, after which Luther is buried beneath the chancel. The stone on his grave reads, "Here lies the body of Martin Luther, Doctor of Sacred Theology, who died in his hometown Eisleben in the year of our Lord 1546 on the 18th day of February after having lived for 63 years, 2 months and 10 days."'); if ((month == 1) && (date == 23)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, writes Against the Heavenly Prophets on this date in 1525. In it he calls for a truly German Mass."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 24)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 45, writes On War Against the Turk on this date in 1529."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 25)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 47, would soon be saddened to learn that his mother, Margaretta Luther, dies on this date in 1531."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 26)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, begins an intensive period of polemical writing on this date in 1520. He also completes his Brief Form of the Ten Commandments, his Brief Form of the Creed, and his Brief Form of the Lord's Prayer, which he believed contained the essentials for salvation as revealed in the Scripture."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 27)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 23, is ordained a deacon on this date in 1507."); if ((month == 1) && (date == 27)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 56, publishes Disputation on the Divinity and Humanity of Christ on this date in 1540."); // March if ((month == 2) && (date == 1)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, publishes his translation of the seven penitential Psalms on this date in 1519."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 1)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 38, after 11 months of hiding, finally leaves Wartburg and travels to Wittenberg accompanied by several knights on this date in 1522."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, writes Meditation of Christ's Passion on this date in 1520. At the core of this work is the admonition to sinners to allow Christ to free them of sin through his Easter victory over sin and the grave."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 3)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, writes a letter to Pope Leo X stating that it was not his intention to undermine the authority of the pope or the church, on this date in 1519."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 4)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 40, is banned, yet again, by the Third Imperial Diet of Nuremberg on this date in 1524. By this time, however, Luther is so popular that it's unlikely he would be arrested, so he continues his life and work in Germany with impunity."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 5)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 61, writes the preface to the complete Wittenberg edition of the Latin writings on this date in 1545."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 6)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, is summoned by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, on this date in 1521, to appear before the Diet of Worms to be given a chance to defend himself or recant."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 6)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 38, after 11 months of hiding at Wartburg, arrives at Wittenberg and immediately preaches in the parish church on this date in 1522. This begins, for Luther, two years of extensive travel throughout central Germany -- including Erfurt and Weimar -- during which he preaches extensively and spreads, further, his teachings."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 6)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 39, is ordered by the General Council of the Diet of Nürnberg, on this date in 1523, to stop publishing and preaching about anything other than established Roman Catholic doctrine."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 7)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 24, first begins teaching at the new university in Wittenberg on this date in 1508."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 8)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, learns, on this date in 1521, that, in anticipation of his appearance at the Diet of Worms, an edict mandating the sequestration of Luther's books is issued by the Diet."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 9)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 25, becomes Baccalaureus Biblicus, one of the mileposts on the way to his doctorate on this date in 1509."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 10)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 53, declares his earlier-published Schmalkaldic Articles as a statement of Lutheran doctrine on this date in 1537."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 11)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 39, writes On Civil Government on this date in 1523."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 12)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 7, begins elementary school at the Mansfeld Lateinschule on this date in 1491."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 13)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 45, after discovering in his travels that the faithful were woefully unschooled in even the most basic tenets of Christian faith, publishes his Small Catechism on this date in 1529."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 14)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 42, writes Whether Soldiers Too Can Be Saved on this date in 1526."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 15)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, is told by Staupitz, the vicar of his Augustinian order, on this date in 1520, that Rome has ordered Staupitz to either restrain Luther or be dismissed himself. Two months later, Staupitz resigns."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 16)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 13, begins boarding school with the Brethren of the Common Life in Magdeburg on this date in 1497."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 17)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 51, begins, on this date in 1535, a ten-year series of lectures on Genesis which would last until 1545, not long before his death."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 21)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 52, participates in the Wittenberg Concord, a conference of Lutheran and Zwinglian (Anabaptist) theologians meeting at Luther's house on this date in 1536. While they achieve some compromise, there results very little understanding or respect for one another."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 25)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 61, writes Against the Papacy at Rome Founded by the Devil on this date in 1545. Though the argument has a basis in logic and Scripture, the language is the most vehement and vulgar that Luther has ever written... and is accompanied by scatological political cartoons which Luther commissions from Lucas Cranach, and which defame the pope and Rome."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 26)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, debates his ideas at the Disputation at Heidelberg on this date in 1518. Many of his Augustinian brothers come to accept his way of thinking."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 28)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 44, writes Confession and the Lord's Supper on this date in 1528."); if ((month == 2) && (date == 29)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 47, would soon learn of the formation of the Smalkaldian Alliance on this date in 1531. It is a protective alliance of Protestant princes under the leadership of Saxony and Hesse, formed to protect against Catholic attack."); // April if ((month == 3) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 14, begins attending the parish school of St. George in Eisenach on this date in 1498."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 3)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 23, is ordained into the priesthood on this date in 1507."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 5)) document.write("

Katherine von Bora, age 26, who would one day marry Martin Luther, flees the Nimbschen Cistercian Cloister, along with 11 other nuns, to Wittenberg. She developed feelings for Hicronymus Baumgärtner, a student, but he was not interested in her. She was then courted by pastor Glatz, a lecturer at the university, but she was disinterested in him. She became interested in Luther, but he was, at that time, interested in Ave von Schönfeld, another former nun from Nimbschen."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 6)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, begins his journey to Worms, stopping along the way to preach in Erfurt, Eisenach, Gotha, and Frankfurt, on this date in 1521. Traveling with him is Nikolaus von Amsdorf."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 7)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 40, begins two years of argument with Desiderius Erasmus on this date in 1524. It ultimately causes bad feelings and a minor split with the humanists, who had previously welcomed Luther's ideas."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 8)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 46, writes Exhortation to All Clergy Assembled at Augsburg on this date in 1530. It was aimed at those assembled at the Diet of Augsburg, convened by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to make German nobility account for their Lutheran views. In response, they present the emperor with Philip Melanchthon's Augsburg Confession."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 9)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, completes his Exposition of the Lord's Prayer on this date in 1519."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 12)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 27, returns to Erfurt from Rome on this date in 1511."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 15)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, arrives at Worms in triumphal procession, crowds gathered to cheer him, on this date in 1521."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 16)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 46, arrives at the citadel Coburg Veste on this date in 1530 for the Diet of Augsburg. Though he had traveled four days to get there, Luther was unwelcome at the diet because he was still under empirial banishment by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who had organized the diet. So, Luther would reside at the citadel during the diet, and would get updates from Philip Melanchthon and other Protestant participants."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 17)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, refuses to recant his writings during the first hearing of the Diet of Worms on this date in 1521."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 18)) document.write('

Martin Luther, age 37, during the second hearing of the Diet of Worms on this date in 1521, says, "Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason -- I do not accept the authority of popes and councils for they have contradicted each other -- my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen." He almost certainly didn\'t say "Here I stand, I can do no other" as is so often attributed to him.'); if ((month == 3) && (date == 18)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 39, would soon learn that, on this date in 1523, the General Council of the Diet of Nürnberg instructs the princes to enforce the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's Edict of Worms."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 19)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, is condemned at the Diet of Worms by Emperor Charles V on this date in 1521, but is given a few more days to decide to recant."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 19)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, writes Admonition to Peace, a reply to the twelve articles of the Peasants in Swabia on this date in 1525."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 20)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 33, begins a year of lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews at University of Wittenberg on this date in 1517."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 21)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 43, writes Whether these Words: This is My Body on this date in 1527."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 22)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 45, would soon learn that, on this date in 1529, the Second Diet of Speyer, begun two months earlier, sets aside the first Diet's judgment... a compromise that Catholics believe fair. However, it garners huge protest from Luther's followers... from which protest, and not from the general protest of Luther's followers to the Catholic Church in general, that the term Protestant derives."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 23)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 47, finishes translating the Psalms (with the help, of course, of his Wittenberg student and faculty co-translators) on this date in 1531."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 24)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, learns at the Diet of Worms that he is supported by Elector Frederick the Wise on this date in 1521."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 25)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, leaves the negotiation room on the last day of the Diet of Worms saying he is finished, on this date in 1521."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 26)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, and condemned at the just-concluded Diet of Worms by Emperor Charles V, leaves Worms as quietly as possible on this date in 1521."); if ((month == 3) && (date == 28)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 27, is transferred to Wittenberg and moves-in to the Augustinian Black Cloister on this date in 1511."); // May 4 if ((month == 4) && (date == 1)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 46, will soon learn that his father, Hans, dies on this date in 1530 while Luther is at the citadel Coburg Veste waiting for the Diet of Augsburg to begin."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 23, celebrates his first mass as a priest on this date in 1507"); if ((month == 4) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, will soon learn that his long-time protector, Elector Frederick the Wise, dies on this date in 1525. John the Steadfast replaces Frederick as Elector of Saxony."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 3)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 31, begins a year of lectures at Wittenberg on the Epistle to the Romans on this date in 1515. In his studies he comes to the personal conviction -- calling it his conversion -- that the just shall live by faith."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 4)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, is captured by so-called bandits on his way home from Worms on this date in 1521. The capture was, in fact, a ruse arranged by Frederick the Wise so Luther could be taken to safety in Wartburg without Frederick being charged with harboring a heretic."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 4)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 44, loses his and his wife Katherine's second child, daugher Elizabeth, age 5 months, who dies on this date in 1528. Elizabeth had been sickly since birth, quite probably because her mother, Katherine, was exposed to the plague while pregnant in the summer of 1527."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 4)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 45, publishes his Large Catechism on this date in 1529. On this date, also -- a year, to the day, after the death of his second child, infant Elizabeth -- Luther's third child, daughter Magdalena, is born to him and his wife Katherine."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 5)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, writes Against the Murderous and Thieving Hordes of Peasants on this date in 1525."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 10)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, arrives at Wartburg castle, near Eisenach, on this date in 1521. He hides there for 11 months, during which time he grows his hair and a beard and calls himself Junker Jörg (Knight George), and struggles with the devil."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 12)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 30, becomes priest for Wittenberg's city church in addition to his duties on the faculty at Wittenberg University on this date in 1514."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 13)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, is betrothed to former nun Katherine von Bora, age 26, on this date in 1525. When first Katherine became interested in Luther, he was interested in former nun Ave von Schönfeld. Obviously, Martin and Katherine eventually discovered their mutual attraction."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 15)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, would soon be appalled to learn that on this date in 1525, at the Battle of Frankenhausen, some 50,000 peasants are cut down and most of the year's crops, hundreds of villages, 1000 castles and monasteries are destroyed. Nearly 100,000 die including protestant ministers hanged by Catholic princes. The peasants believe that they were betrayed by Luther."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 16)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 40, publishes, with Johann Walther's assistance, the Wittenberg Gesangbuch, a songbook for church use on this date in 1524. Luther writes some of the words and tunes, and adapts others from popular music, while Walther does the polyphony. The settings are simple enough that the young can learn them as well."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 19)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 21, begins law school at University of Erfurt on this date in 1505."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 20)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, writes his Treatise on Good Works on this date in 1520."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 21)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 49, writes About Private Mass and Ordination on this date in 1533."); if ((month == 4) && (date == 26)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, has his works and teachings officially condemned -- and he, himself, placed under the ban of the empire -- by Emperor Charles V's signing and issuance of the official Edict of Worms on this date in 1521."); // June if ((month == 5) && (date == 1)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 39, publishes his first Forma Missae et Communionis, a description of the Mass as it is celebrated in Wittenberg, on this date in 1523. It is in Latin, and is largely the traditional Mass with a few Evangelical touches. He calls on poets and musicians to develop the appropriate settings."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 40, writes To the Councilmen in All Cities in Germany that they Establish and Maintain Christian Schools on this date in 1524."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 7)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 42, becomes a father as Hans Luther II, named for Martin's father, is born to Martin and Katherine on this date in 1526."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 10)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, begins writing The Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation on this date in 1520."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 11)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, writes The Papacy in Rome on this date in 1520."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 12)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 32, refuses, for what would be the first of three times in his life, to leave Wittenberg in the face of plague which strikes the town on this date in 1516. Luther's friends encourage him to leave the city, but he will not abandon his duties there."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 13)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, marries former nun Katherine von Bora, age 26, on this date in 1525. They take up residence in the Black Cloister, the former Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg. The formal celebration of their marriage would be delayed until slightly more than a week later, on June 27th."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 15)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, has a bull of excommunication issued against him by Pope Leo X entitled Exsurge Domine (Arise, Lord, and defend thine own vineyard against the wild beast that is devouring it) on this date in 1520. Three months later, in September 1520, Johann Eck posts it throughout Saxony. Luther is given 60 days to recant."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 18)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 40, writes Letters to the Princes of Saxony Concerning the Rebellious Spirit on this date in 1524."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 20)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 46, is not in Augsburg (because of his father's death a month earlier) for the first meeting of the Diet of Augsburg on this date in 1530. The meeting had been delayed because the Holy Roman emperor Charles V had not been able to reach Augsburg in time for the convocation."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 25)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 46, is not in Augsburg (because of his father's death a month earlier) as Philip Melanchthon's Augsburg Confession is read before the imperial Diet of Augsburg on this date in 1530. The work is a deliberately moderate Lutheran confession of faith containing both doctrine and a list of ecclesiastical abuses that demand remedy. Over the course of the next three months, Roman theologians issue a refutation entitled Confutatio Pontificia."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 27)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, along with Andreas Karlstadt, debates Johann Eck in Leipzig on this date in 1519. At the heart of the debate is the issue of indulgences and the unique authority of the pope and the Roman church."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 27)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, enjoys, on this date in 1525, the formal celebration of his marriage to former nun Katherine von Bora, age 26. The actual marriage ceremony had been slightly more than a week earlier, on June 13th."); if ((month == 5) && (date == 29)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 44, encourages Protestant rulers to banish, rather than execute, Anabaptists in their territory, on this date in 1528."); // July if ((month == 6) && (date == 1)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 39, would soon learn that the first Protestant martyrs are burned in Brussels on this date in 1523."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 18, has no idea yet that Wittenberg University, founded on this date in 1502 by Elector Frekerick the Wise, will play such a important role in his life, or in the history of man."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 21, is caught in a bad thunderstorm on his way back to Erfurt from parents' house on this date in 1505. Thrown to the ground by the air pressure from a nearby lightning strike, Luther vows he will become a monk if St. Anne will save him. To his father's disgust, Luther will quit law school and honor that vow."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 9)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 21, quits law school so he can enter a monastery, to his father's deep disappointment, on this date in 1505."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 10)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, is tried in absentia by the papal court in Rome on charges of heresy on this date in 1518."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 11)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 40, has his teachings cited as the authority for peasants rise up in southwest Germany on this date in 1524. Led by, among others, Thomas Müntzer, a Wittenberg-trained theologian, the peasants demand more just economic conditions, and they are ready to overthrow the authorities if necessary."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 12)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 52, helps reorganize the Wittenberg University curriculum on this date in 1536."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 13)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 43, writes the hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God on this date in 1527. He is also suffering from depression and continued ill health. He feels powerless to help those of his followers who are suffering for their faith and may be suffering from survivor's guilt."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 14)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, finishes his debate with Johann Eck in Leipzig on this date in 1519. Luther was convinced that Eck won, but as a result of the debate the impact of the Luther-Rome dispute begins to grow, and Luther and his ideas become unignorable."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 15)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 49, helps reform the theology faculty at the University of Wittenberg on this date in 1533."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 17)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 21, enters the Black Monastery in Erfurt, joining the Augustinian Hermits, on this date in 1505."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 18)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 59, growing increasingly ill and no longer able to produce his formerly-prolific volume of work, publishes the Genesis Commentary on this date in 1543."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 20)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, finishes his Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation on this date in 1520."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 24)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, writes Open Letter Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants on this date in 1525."); if ((month == 6) && (date == 28)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 61, tells wife, Katherine, to sell their goods on this date in 1545. Luther is angry and disillusioned with Wittenberg and wants to move, but the university, friend and collegue Philip Melanchthon, and the burgomaster persuade him to stay."); // August 7 if ((month == 7) && (date == 1)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, writes Let Your Sins Be Strong, a letter to Philip Melanchthon, on this date in 1521."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 43, refuses, for the second time in his life, to leave Wittenberg in the face of plague, on this date in 1527. He chose, instead, to stay and minister to the sick even though Elector John the Steadfast orders Wittenburg's evacuation to Jena. Luther's son, Hans, contracts the disease, but lives. In November of that year, Luther will write Whether one May Flee from a Deadly Plague."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 4)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 38, writes, on this date in 1522, the neither subtle nor tactful Contra Henricum Regem Anglicum, a response to King Henry VIII of England's Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum (Defense of the Seven Sacraments), which ultimately cost Luther most of his support in England. Had this not happened, the face of the Church of England might be very different today."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 5)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, is denounced a heretic by Emperor Maximilian on this date in 1518."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 6)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 40, writes his To Several Nuns on this date in 1524. It instructs them on the possibility of their leaving the convent."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 7)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, is summoned to Rome within sixty days to answer charges against him on this date in 1518."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 8)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 48, will soon be pleased to learn of the Religious Peace of Nürnberg which, on this date in 1532, grants German Protestants free exercise of religion until further notice."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 9)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 22, takes his monastic vows on this date in 1506."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 10)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 55, writes On the Councils and Churches on this date in 1539."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 14)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 42, would soon learn that the First Imperial Diet of Speyer suspends Emperor Charles V's Edict of Worms, and makes Protestant reforms legal, on this date in 1526. Especially in Saxony and Hesse, new forms of church organization -- the beginnings of a true Lutheran church -- begin to emerge."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 16)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 29, begins lecturing on the Psalms at University of Wittenberg on this date in 1513."); if ((month == 7) && (date == 19)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 50, publishes the first edition of his complete bible in German on this date in 1534. He would revise it several times until the end of his life."); // September if ((month == 8) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 18, takes the baccalaureate exams and finishes 30th in a group of 57."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 8)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 46, publishes An Open Letter on Translating on this date in 1530."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 13)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 51, publishes his Commentary on Galatians on this date in 1531."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 14)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 57, writes Lord Keep us Steadfast in Thy Word on this date in 1541."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 17)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, learns, on this date in 1520, about the bull of excommunication issued against him by Pope Leo X the previous June. Luther learns about it when a copy of the bull is posted throughout Saxony by Johann Eck."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 18)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 52, on this date in 1536, allows for the possibility of executing Anabaptists who disrupt the public order and refuse to stay in banishment."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 19)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 22, becomes a sub-deacon on this date in 1506."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 20)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 58, is devastated by the death of his third child (his second daughter), 13-year-old Magdalena, on this date in 1542. With this loss, two of Luther's three daughters -- first infant Elizabeth in 1528, and now Magdalena -- and the second of six children in all, were dead. He became deeply depressed."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 21)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 38, publishes his German New Testament on this date in 1522. His introduction to the book of Romans includes the classicly-Lutheran definition of faith."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 23)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 54, begins, on this date in 1538, to become noticeably, nay, dramatically, slowed -- both physically, and in terms of the thinking and work he is able to perform -- by his mounting health problems. Some 458 years later, in 1996, O.H. Iversen, a reasearcher at Institutt for patologi, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, wrote that from Luther's own writings, as well as those from others, he deduced that Luther suffered, variously, from varicose ulcer, angina pectoris with anxiety, obesity, hypertension arterialis, Meniere's disease with vertigo, tinnitus and fainting fits, gastralgia, constipation with anal ulcers and haemorrhoids with bleeding, urolithiasis, arthritis urica, manic depression with a tendancy to emotional lability, Roemheld's syndrome, and a cataract in one eye."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 24)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 57, begins, on this date in 1541, to become quite seriously ill. The ulcer on his leg reopens. He has throat and ear infections, and continues to have problems with uric acid stones, arthritis, heart problems, and digestive disorders. Luther's polemical writing grows increasingly coarse, sometimes even vulgar. Some 455 years later, in 1996, O.H. Iversen, a reasearcher at Institutt for patologi, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, wrote that from Luther's own writings, as well as those from others, he deduced that Luther suffered, variously, from varicose ulcer, angina pectoris with anxiety, obesity, hypertension arterialis, Meniere's disease with vertigo, tinnitus and fainting fits, gastralgia, constipation with anal ulcers and haemorrhoids with bleeding, urolithiasis, arthritis urica, manic depression with a tendancy to emotional lability, Roemheld's syndrome, and a cataract in one eye."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 25)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 60, writes Short Confession of the Holy Sacrament on this date in 1544."); if ((month == 8) && (date == 29)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 18, receives his Baccalaureate degree and begins studying for his Masters on this date in 1502."); // October if ((month == 9) && (date == 1)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 45, meets with Anabaptist Ulrich Zwingli at the four-day-long Marburg Colloquy on this date in 1529. At the colloquy, German and Swiss theologians try to hammer out a theological statement they both can agree on, hoping for unity between the Protestants."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 46, having returned to Augsburg after attending to matters subsequent to his fathers death a few months earlier, meets, along with Philip Melanchthon, with political leaders in Torgau on this date in 1530. The electoral advisors persuade Luther to leave the question of armed revolt against the emperor to political leaders. Luther begins to rethink his views on the relationship of church and state."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 4)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, receives a copy of Jan Hus' The Church from Prague on this date in 1519. Luther declares himself to be in fundamental agreement. Some argue, today, that Hus, who died many years before Luther, was the true first reformer of the church."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 5)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, begins three years of lectures on the Psalms at Wittenberg University, on this date in 1518."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 6)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, writes The Babylonian Captivity on this date in 1520. It attacks the denial of the cup to laity, the mass as a sacrifice, and the seven (as opposed to just two) sacraments, thereby setting Luther irrevocably against Rome."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 9)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 40, stops wearing the religious habit on this date in 1524."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 10)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, finally receives his official copy of the papal bull of excommunication issued the previous June by Pope Leo X on this date in 1520. Luther first learned of it, however, in late September, when copies of the bull were posted throughout Saxony by Johann Eck."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 12)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, begins, in lieu of going to Rome to answer charges, his interview with Cardinal Cajetan in Augsburg on this date in 1518. Cajetan tells Luther to recant, return to the heart of the church and stop his disruption of church life."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 14)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, ends his interview with Cardinal Cajetan on this date in 1518. Luther refused to recant, and a few days later he would flee Augsburg in fear for his life."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 15)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, writes A Sermon on Preparing to Die on this date in 1519."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 16)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, would soon be heartened to learn that university officials took no action against students at the University of Erfurt after they ripped-up a copy of the papal bull which excommunicated Luther and threw it into the water on this date in 1520."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 17)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, revises his Exposition of the Lord's Prayer, originally completed the previous April, on this date in 1519. In it, Luther maintains that prayer should be internal, not merely rote."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 19)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 28, is awarded his Doctor of Theology (DTh) degree on this date in 1512."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 20)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, flees from Augsburg, heading back to Wittenberg, in fear of his life on this date in 1518."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 22)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 28, is admitted the senate of the theology faculty at the University of Wittenberg on this date in 1512."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 25)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, begins a series of sermons on the sacraments on this date in 1519."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 27)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 32, begins a year of lectures on Galatians at the University of Wittenberg on this date in 1516."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 30)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, arrives back in Wittenberg and places himself under the protection of Elector Frederick III (Frederick the Wise) of Saxony on this date in 1518."); if ((month == 9) && (date == 31)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 33, intent on causing debate, is said to have posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church on this date in 1517... and by so doing, he inadvertently begins The Reformation and the eventual birth of Protestantism and the Lutheran Church. He also sends copies to a few bishops and some friends. Remarkably, there is very little interest or response... at least not at first. Some 444 years later, in 1961, Luther researcher, Erwin Iserloh, makes a convincing argument that the event never happened, and that, instead, Luther sent a letter on that date to his superiors in which he denounced the sale of indulgences and asked for repayment and removal of the misunderstandings. Luther's inclusion of the 95 Theses with that letter was simply to be as a basis for discussion on the matter."); // November if ((month == 10) && (date == 1)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 55, is saddened by his wife Katherine's miscarriage on this date in 1539. He spends as much times as possible beside her bed as people all over the Lutheran world are praying for her."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 6)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 43, writes Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague on this date in 1527. It was inspired by his having stayed in Wittenberg in the face of plague, for a second time in his life, a few months earlier."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 7)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 51, negotiates with nuncio Pietro Vergerio at Wittenberg Castle about Protestant participation in the papal council, on this date in 1535."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 8)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, is contradicted by Pope Leo X when the pope isses Cum Postquam, outlining the church's doctrine of indulgences on this date in 1518."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 9)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 47, becomes a father for the fourth time as his second son, Martin, Jr., is born to him and his wife, Katherine, on this date in 1531."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 10)) document.write("

Martin Luther is born in Eisleben, to parents Hans and Margaretta Luther, on this date in 1483."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 11)) document.write("

Martin Luther, just one day old, is baptized in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul on this date in 1483."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 12)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, would soon be saddened to learn that his books are burned in Cologne on this date in 1520, and that burning of his books in other cities follow shortly thereafter."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 13)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 35, begins a second, almost two-year-long, round of lectures on Psalms at the University of Wittenberg on this date in 1519."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 14)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 60, sensing the coming end of his days, publishes a book of his sermons, for posterity, on this date in 1544."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 19)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 46, is disappointed, but unsurprised, that by the Diet of Augsburg's end on this date in 1530, the participants are unable to reach any compromise. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V gives the Protestants until April of 1531 to submit to his and the Catholic Church's authority, and he then declares that the Protestants have been defeated. But the Augsburg Confession, first read to the Diet, becomes -- and remains, to this day -- an authoritative profession of Lutheran faith."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 20)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, writes Freedom of the Christian Man and publishes it along with an open letter to Pope Leo X on this date in 1520. In the letter Luther apologizes to the pope personally, but continues to denounce what he sees as false doctrine and corruption. In the treatise he speak of the freedom a Christian gains with justification."); if ((month == 10) && (date == 21)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 26, leaves with a traveling companion on a journey to Rome to handle some of his order's political affairs on this date in 1510."); // December if ((month == 11) && (date == 1)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 43, becomes a father for the second time as daughter Elizabeth is born to him and his wife Katherine on this date in 1527. Sadly, Elizabeth is born sickly, possibly because of Katherine's exposure to the plague while pregnant a few months earlier."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 1)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 52, publishes the Schmalkaldic Articles, but doesn't yet declare them a statement of Lutheran doctrine, on this date in 1536."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 2)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 58, remains deeply depressed over his daughter, Magdalena's death in September. Seeing, also, the plague sweeping through Wittenberg for the third time in his life, and believing the faithlessness of his fellow Germans is a sign of the End Days, he writes his will and contemplates his own death. His polemical writing also grow increasingly coarse, sometimes vulgar, probably on account of his depression and increasingly bad physical health."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 3)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, takes the risk of leaving his hiding place at Wartburg to dash home to Wittenberg, then back to Wartburg, surreptitiously, on this date in 1521."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 6)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, publishes De Servo Arbitrio (Bound Will), which answers Erasmus' De Libero Arbit (Free Will) on this date in 1525. Luther maintains that sin hinders human ability to work out their own salvation."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 9)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, while in hiding at Wartburg, begins work on his German New Testament, on this date in 1521."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 10)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 36, burns Exsurge Domine, the papal bull of his excommunication, and other papal documents, books of church law, and books written by his enemies, under a large oak outside the walls of the city on this date in 1520."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 10)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 55, along with Philip Melanchthon, issues a theological opinion on the impending second marriage of Philip the Magnanimous on this date in 1539. Magnanimous is already married and has no intention of divorcing his first wife before marrying the second. Luther and Melanchthon write that though bigamy ought not to be law or general principle, it is permitted in the Mosaic law and not explicitly forbidden in the Gospel. The marriage takes place in March 1540."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 12)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 32, publishes the Theologia Germanica, a manuscript by the Friends of God on this date in 1516. He adds his own preface and claims he learned more from this manuscript than any other source save the Bible and Augustine."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 13)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 33, is intrigued to read Johann Tetzel's two sets of counter-theses to Luther's 95 Theses, which Tetzel wrote and published, with the help of some Dominican friends, on this date in 1517."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 14)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 37, begins work on Sermon Postils, a collection of sermons, and on the German New Testament, on this date in 1521. This, despite the fact that a ban has just been issued against Luther and his followers."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 17)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 50, becomes a father for the sixth time as his third daughter, Margarethe, is born to him and his wife, Katherine, on this date in 1534. All living descendants of Martin Luther, today, are through Margarete's familial line."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 18)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 34, prepares to go into exile, but Elector Frederick the Wise decides not to banish him, despite requests by the pope, via his representative Carl von Miltitz, to do so, on this date in 1518."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 20)) document.write("

Katherine von Bora, age 53, wife of Martin Luther, dies on this date in 1552, just six years after her husband's death. She dies in Torgau, where she had fled to escape the plague in Wittenberg. It was her exposure to the plague 25 years earlier, von Bora believed, while she was pregnant with daughter Elizabeth, which caused Elizabeth to be born sickly, and to die as an infant in 1528."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 24)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 43, prepares to celebrate Christmas in a Saxony that is, finally, on this date in 1527, nearly entirely Protestant and adherent to the developing tradition of what will eventually be known as the Lutheran denomination."); if ((month == 11) && (date == 25)) document.write("

Martin Luther, age 41, first uses a complately German mass on this date in 1525."); // UN-SET/RESET FONT CHARACTERISTICS document.write('') // END