Katharina von Bora

Life events

1. Born — 1499

   Born on 29 January 1499, most commonly assigned to Lippendorf in Saxony, though contemporary documents do not confirm this; a competing tradition places her birth at Hirschfeld to Hans von Bora and Anna von Haugwitz.

2. Educated — 1504

   At approximately five years of age, her father placed her in a Benedictine convent at Brehna for her education, according to a 1531 letter from Laurentius Zoch to Martin Luther.

3. Tonsured — 1509

   Around age nine she entered the Cistercian community of Nimbschen Abbey — Marienthron ('Mary's Throne') near Grimma — where her maternal aunt was a nun; her presence is documented in the abbey's financial accounts of 1509/10.

4. Exiled — 1523

   On 4 April 1523 (Holy Saturday), she and a group of fellow nuns escaped Nimbschen Abbey hidden in the covered wagon of merchant Leonhard Koppe, who delivered herring to the convent, and fled to Wittenberg after contacting Luther to request help.

5. Other — 1525

   On 13 June 1525, the 26-year-old von Bora married 41-year-old Martin Luther before witnesses including Justus Jonas, Johannes Bugenhagen, and Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife Barbara; a public ceremony followed on 27 June, presided over by Bugenhagen.

6. Exiled — 1546

   Following Luther's death in 1546, she was left without his salary and forced to flee the Black Cloister at the outbreak of the Schmalkaldic War, taking refuge first in Magdeburg and then in Braunschweig before returning to Wittenberg in July 1547.

7. Died — 1552

   She died on 20 December 1552 in Torgau at the age of 53, after being thrown from her cart into a ditch near the city gates while fleeing a plague outbreak; she was buried at Torgau's Saint Mary's Church, distant from Luther's grave in Wittenberg.

Relationships

Documented claims

• The couple lived in the former Augustinian 'Black Monastery' in Wittenberg, gifted by John, Elector of Saxony; von Bora managed its brewery, cattle operation, student boarding house, and during epidemics ran a hospital with nurses. (likely)
• Luther called her 'Herr Käthe', 'boss of Zulsdorf' (after their farm), and 'morning star of Wittenberg' (for her habit of rising at 4 a.m.); she consistently addressed him as 'Herr Doktor'. (likely)
• She bore six children with Luther: Hans (1526-1575), Elisabeth (1527-1528), Magdalena (1529-1542), Martin (1531-1565), Paul (1533-1593), and Margarete (1534-1570); she also suffered a miscarriage on 1 November 1539 and the couple raised four orphaned children including her nephew Fabian. (likely)
• On her deathbed in Torgau she is reported to have said, 'I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.' (plausible)
• She is commemorated on 20 December in the calendar of some Lutheran churches in the United States; in 2022 the Episcopal Church officially added her feast on 20 December to its liturgical calendar. (certain)