An original account of Luther's death, recently discovered in the Krauth memorial library, Mount Airy

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A. Spaeth

An Original Account
of
Luther' s Death

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BR 325 .S62 1910
Spaeth, Adolph, 1839-1910.
Original account of Luthers
death

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Division
Section ■■

AN ORIGINAL ACCOUNT OF LUTHER'S DEATH.

RECENTLY DISCOVERED IN THE KRAUTH MEMORIAL
LIBRARY, MOUNT AIRY.

A few months ago my friend, Mr. Jacob Rommel, of
Philadelphia, sent me, for our Seminary library, a volume of
Luther's writings, formerly in possession of his mother-in-
law, the late Mrs. L. Bremer, nee Scheuermann. It proved to
be the "Auslegung der Episteln und Evangelien von Ostern
bis Advent, D. Mar. Lut. Aufs neu zugerichtet. Wittenberg.
Gedruckt durch Hans Lufift. MDj:.IIII, dem Fuersten ^^V
Georg von Anhalt, etc. Von Casp. Creutziger D.," contain-
ing Luther's sermons on the Epistles and Gospels from Easter
to the 26th Sunday after Trinity, "revised and enlarged by my
good friend, Doct. Casp. Creutziger," as Luther himself states
in a preface of his own.

On examining the large folio volume, which is in its orig-
inal binding and very well preserved, I was surprised and de-
lighted to find on the fly leaf at the end of the book, and partly
on the back cover, a full account of the death of Martin
Luther, written in a clear and legible hand and somewhat or-
namental chirography, together with a brief report of the
funeral service held in Eisleben, on February 19, 1546, and
the sermon preached by Dr. Jonas.

The following is a fac-simile copy of that interesting
record, procured through the kindness of the Rev. Luth. D.
Reed, the director of the library, with an exact transcription
of the German text, together with an English translation.

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TRANSCRIPT OF THE GERMAN ORIGINAL.
Anno. 1. 5. 4. 6. den 17 February,
Mithwochens nach Valentin!
Auff denn abenth nach essens umb vly vhr wyrth der Herr Doctor -X[[[
Martinus Luther schwach, beclaget sich vmb die Brust, Als mahn
yhnen aber, mit warmen tucheren gerieben, vnd zwen loffel vohl
weyus darynnen von Eynhorn eyngeschabet, welche Curdi vonn
Wolff Ramsdorff, zuuorn, ehr der Doctor tranck, eynen loeffel vohl
eynnahm, zutrinken gegebenen. Schlieff ehr ihn der
stubenn, yhm faulbette, bey anderthalbe stunde, das der seyger
10 schlug, Do bracht mahn yhnen zubette, schlieff bys vmb
eyn vhr, Do weckte ehr seynen famulum
Ambrosium Ruthfelt, vonn Oelitz, das ehr yhme die stuben
heyssen solt, Als aber dieselbige schonn warm gehaltenn
wartt, steyg ehr aus dem bette vnnd sagt Doctor Jona, Ich
bin ssehr schwach, Ich sorge ich werde zw Eysslebenn bleyben,
vnd gieng ihn der stubenn, ejmmal oder zwey hin vnd wydder
Legt sich dornach auff das faulbettlein, vnd clagte ess druckte
yhnen vmb die brust sehr hartt, Aber doch schonet es ihm (ihne)
noch des hertzens, Alsso rieb mahn ihn mit tuchern
vnd wermette kussen. vnd pfuel auff yhnen, Sprach ess
hulffe yhnen, das mahn yhnen warm hieltte, Ehr hette aber
Fehr geschwytzt, des trostet yhnen her Michael Coelius,
welcher benebenen Doctor Jonas bey ihm wahr. Item Joannes Aurl-
fober, und sein famulus, Aber der Doctor sprach, Jha,
ess ist eyn kaltter todtes schweys, Ich werde mejTi geist auff-

gebenn, dan die krankheitt mehret sich. Do schickte

malm eylents vnd lies beyde ertzte hoeleun, Aber do wyr

yhnen yhn des, mit Aqua vitae, Lauendel wasser, rossen

Essig, vnd andere sterkung, welcher wasser vnser g. g. Graff Albrecht

vnd s. g. geniahl, mit brachten, x* bestrichen, fieng ehr ahn

also zuredende.

Ich dancke dyr hergott, hymlischer vatter, das dw myr deynen

liebenn sohn offenbaret bast, ihn den ich geglaubet, den icb be-

kant, vnd geprediget babe, den ich geliebet, vnd gelobet, Aber

die gottlossen yhnen schenden, lestern, vnd schmehen, Ich bytt

dich, 0 herre Jesu Christe, las dyr meyne ssele befolenn ssein

0 himlischer vatter, Ich weys ob ich schoen diessen leyb lassen

muss, das ich bey dyr ewyg leben werde, Et dixit, Sic deus

dilexit mundum, ut filium suum unigenitum daret, vt omnis

qui credit in eum non pereat, sad habeat vitam aeternam, Deus

qui saluos facis sperantes in te, Et reducis ex morte,

Wolan, sprach ehr ich fhar dahin, vnd sprach 3niahl, Pater

in manus tuas commendo tibi spiritum meum.

Darauff schweyg ehr stylle, vnd mahn rutteltte, vnd kultte, vnd

ryff yhm, Aber ehr anthwortt nicht. Do streich mahn yhme

Aqua vitae vohr die nase, vnd ryff lautt bey seynem nahmen

Doctor Jonas, vnd her Michel, Doctor Martine, Reuerende pater

Wollet yhr auch auff Cristum, vnd die lehr, sso ihr ihn seynem

nahmen gethann, sterbenn, Sprach ehr das mahns deut-

lich hoerenn konth. Jha. Alsso want ehr sich auff

die rechte seyttenn, vnd fieng ahnn zuschlaffen, bys auf eyn

guette halbe vyrttel stunde, das mahn der besserung hoffte

Aber ihn des thet ehr eyn schnarchen, mit tyffem hoelenn, des

atthams, vnd entschlieff, zwuschen 2 und 3 vhren vohr Mit-

tage, yhm herren seuberlich, mit grosser gedult, Gott wolle

vns alien, genediglichen helffenn. Amen.

D. M. L.

Wyr konnen nicht thuen, was eyn Eyderman wyll.
Wyr konnen aber thuen, was wyr wollenn.
Diesse wortt hatt. D. Martinus Lutther, ahn die wanth ge-
schriebenn 13 tage vohr seynem todtte.

Auff den Freitag den 19 February, nach 2 vhr nach Mittag
hatt mahn Doctor Martinum. L. zw Eysleben zw S. Andres
ihn die Kirchen getragen, yhm Kohr nyddergesetz, seynt yhme
Furst Wolff vonn Anhalt, Graff Heinrich von Schwartzburgk
sein sohnn Sychardt, Graff Gebhardt, Albrecht, Philips, Vulradt,
Jorge, Hans, vnd andere Junge herren, Auch Graff Gebhardts
vnd Albrechts frauen Zymmer, vnd hatt Doctor Jonas, eynne

♦A letter stricken out.

schoene pred'.gte gethan, was Doctor Martinus gewesen, wye ehr
geschrieben, vnd was ehr geschrieben, Auch wye ehr seynn Ende
hatt beschlossenn, vnd enlschlaffenn, Vnd zum drytten die
wortt Pauli ausgelegt, und seynh bey sso vnd ihn solcber predigte
mebr dan 4000 menschen gewesen, Gott bescher vns auch
eyn sseliges Ende. Amen.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION.

Anno 1546, February the 17th, on Wednesday after Val-
entine's day, toward evening, after supper, about seven Mf^
o'clock. Doctor Martinus Luther became sick (weak) and
complained of pains in his chest. But after he had been rub-
bed with warm towels and had taken two spoons full of wine,
with shavings of Einhorn in it, of which Curdi von Wolf
.Ramsdorf had first tasted a spoon full, before the doctor, he
slept in the (sitting) room, on the lounge for an hour and a
half. When the clock struck ten he was put to bed and slept
until one o'clock. Then he wakened his servant (famulus)
Ambrosius Rutfelt of Oelitz and told him to make fire in the
room. But as the room was already warm, he rose from the
bed and said: "Doctor Jonas, I am very weak; I fear I shall
never leave Eisleben." He then walked up and down in the
room once or twice. After this he lay down on the lounge
and complained of great oppression on the chest, though,
thus far, the heart w^as not afifected. When he was rubbed
with towels and his pillows and covers were warmed he said,
it was a relief to be kept warm, but that he was in a great
sweat. The by-standers, Michael Coelius, Doctor Jonas,
Johannes Aurifaber and his servant comforted him, saying,
that was a good sign. But the Doctor said, this is a cold
death-sweat, I am going to give up the ghost, for I am get-
ting worse. Thereupon both physicians were hurriedly sum-
moned. But when we had meanwhile rubbed him with Aqua
Vitae, lavender water, aromatic vinegar and other stimulants,
which our gracious Count Albrecht and his wife had brought,
he began to speak thus :

'T thank Thee, Lord God, heavenly Father, that Thou
hast revealed unto me Thy dear Son, in whom I believed,
whom I confessed and preached, whom I loved and lauded,

but whom the godless dishonour, blaspheme and revile. I
pray Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, let my soul be commended to
Thee. O heavenly Father, I know, though I must give up
this body, that I shall liv.e forever with Thee. Et dixit. Sic
Deus dilexit mundum, ut filium suum unigenitum daret, ut
omnis qui credit in eum„ non pereat, sed habeat vitam aeter-
nam, Deus, qui salvos facis sperantes in Te et reducis ex
morte. I am ready to depart." Then he said three times,
"Pater, in manus tuas commendo' tibi spiritum meum." After
this he w^as silent. When they shook him and called him, he
did not answer. They then applied Aqua Vitae to his nos-
trils and called him loudly by name. Doctor Jonas and
Michael (Coehus) asked him: "Doctor Martine, Reverende
pater, are you now ready to die in the faith
of Christ and the doctrine which you preached
in His name?" Thereupon he said, so that it could
be heard distinctly, "Yes." Then he turned on his right side
and slept for some minutes (eine gute halbe viertel Stunde),
so that we hoped he was getting better. Then came the
death-rattle, a deep drawn breath, and he was gone. Thus
he departed peacefully and patiently in the Lord between two
and three o'clock a. m. God be merciful unto us all and help
us. Amen.

D. M. L.

We cannot do what every one wills

But we can do what we will.

These words were written on the wall by Doctor Mar-
tinus Luther thirteen days before his death.

On Friday, February 19th, 2 p. m. Doctor Martinus L.
was taken to St. Andrew's Church, in Eisleben. The coffin
was placed in the chancel. There were present Prince Wolf
von Anhalt, Count Pleinrich von Schwarzburg, his son
Sychardt, Count Gebhardt, Albrecht, Phihps, Vulradt, Jorge,
Hans and other young gentlemen also the ladies of Count
Gebhardt and Albrecht. Doctor Jonas preached a beautiful
sermon, showing what Doctor Martinus had been, how and
what he wrote, and how at last he departed in peace. In his

8

third part he explained and applied the words of Paul. There
were more than 4,000 people present at this sermon. May
God grant unto us also to depart in peace. Amen.

A close examination of this account convinced me that
it must have been written not only by a cotemporary, but,
evidently, by an eye-witness. Being anxious to ascertain, if
possible, the personality of the writer, but not sufficiently ac-
quainted with the autographs of men, that might have to be
considered in this connection, I secured a photographic re-
production of the whole record, made by Mr. A. T. Michler,
one of our students, and my friend Mr. Fr.ederik Hassold, of
Mount Airy. This photograph I sent to Prof. Dr. Theol. W.
Walther, of Rostock, a well-known specialist on Luther and
his writings, requesting him to examine the matter thorough-
ly and to give me his opinion concerning the probable writer
and the value of the whole record.

Dr. Walther at once took a lively interest in the matter
and proved himself a most helpful and generous assistant in
clearing up the mystery. He wrote to me, December 19,
1909: "This record is of the highest interest. Its contents
confirm throughout the other accounts of Luther's death,
which were known thus far. But its form shows, that these
statements are not based on any of the other accounts known
to us, but are entirely original and independent. Its import-
a,nce is increased by the fact that this record was evidently
not intended for publication or for any outsider, but is simply
an entry in a postil, a book written by Luther himself, and
printed two years before. It is also manifest that it never oc-
curred to the writer that any one should be bent on spreading
false rumours concerning Luther's death.

Tlie first entry which deals with Luther's death, was
probably written in the very night of Luther's departure, or
on the day following, for it ends with a certain sign, which
indicates a conclusion. The same sign (looking somewhat
like a capital C in Latin script. A. S.), appears also at the end
of the whole entry. Later on, after the funeral service in
Eisleben, there follows an addition, dealing with that service.

As nothing is said on the removal of the body (to Wittenberg.
A. S.) we must suppose that the addition was made immediate-
ly after the service in Eisleben, and that the writer was not
present at the famous service in Wittenberg, inasmuch as
nothing is added on this point.

That the writer was an eye-witness must b.e inferred
from his statements concerning the funeral service, as he gives
the number of attendants, the names of certain persons, and
the contents of the sermon of Justus Jonas, in a form which
can only be explained from hearing that discourse and not
from reading it after it was printed. But the writer was also
present at the death of Luther, as he states : 'when we had
meanwhile rubbed him with Aqua Vitae.' And he was a sub-
ject of the Count of Mansfeld, as we read : 'which our gracious
Count Albrecht, etc., had brought along.'

I do not know the hand-writing. But its character (der
Ductus) seems to indicate, that the writer was not a scholar
but a professional clerk. Now the following citizens of
Mansfeld were present at Luther's death : Aurifaber, Coelius,
the two physicians, the druggist, Count Albrecht and wife, and
the town clerk, Hans Albrecht. The account was not written
by Aurifaber or Coelius, nor by Count Albrecht and wife as
they are mentioned by name in the record. Nor was it writ-
ten by one of the physicians or the druggist, inasmuch as the
word 'we' is used before they entered the house, where Luth-
er died. Consequently the town clerk in whose house in
Eisleben Luther lived and died, is the writer of this account.

In the hope that some one might recognize the handwrit-
ing I sent the photographs to G. Buchwald in Leipzig, and he
forwarded them to G. Kawerau in Berlin. Neither of them
knows the handwriting. But Kawerau insists that the words
'we' and 'our' show the writer to have been a Mansfelder, and
that only Hans Albrecht could have been the writer.

Consequently we have here a new record of an eyewit-
ness who, while writing without any special design, fully con-
firms the narrative of other eyewitnesses. We also learn from
him some minor details, such as an utterance of Luther's,
written on the wall in Albrecht's house.

lO

Dr. Buchwald asks to have the photographs returned to
him, so that he may have a fac-simile prepared for the next
Luther Almanac."

So far Dr. Wahher's letter. In the "Deutsche Luther-
aner" (Jan. 20, 1910) I published a short statement concern-
ing our discovery, with part of Dr. Walther's letter. There-
upon I received a communication from the Rev. H. Rembe,
Hamilton, Ont., recommending Professor Dr. H. Groessler,
of Eisleben, as an authority on the local history of Mansfeki
and quite familiar with the archives of Eisleben. It was hoped
that there he might find other documents from the hand gf
the town clerk, Hans Albrecht, and thus be able to prove his
authorship. I at once addressed a letter to that gentleman,
accompanied by a copy of the photographs, and begged for
his co-operation in the matter. Unfortunately Dr. Groessler
had just died when my letter reached its address.

Dr. Walther has since published an article on our dis-
covery in the Allgemeine Lutherische Kirchenzeitung of Feb-
ruary 18, 1910, which contains a somewhat fuller statement of
the points made in his letter of December 19, 1909, and dwells
particularly on the importance of this document over against
the malicious slanders spread by Romanists with reference to
Luther's death. He says : "This discovery would have been
of still greater importance, if it had occurred twenty years ago,
at the time when the former editor of the Germania (a violent
Romanist periodical, A. S.) sent forth his book on Luther's
death, in which he charged that Luther ended by suicide."

It is wnth reference to this particular point that we wish
to add a few words to the statements of Dr. Walther which
really cover the whole ground. In 1889 there appeared in
Mayence a pamphlet entitled: "Luther's Lebensende. Eine
historische Untersuchung von Paul Majunke," which claimed
to have been written not for the people, but only for scholars
(fuer wissenschaftliche Kreise). In the preface to the second
edition (January, 1890) the author contends, that even the
most hostile reviewer of his pamphlet had been "unable to
disprove the genuineness of the documents referred to and
the credibility of the facts narrated." The whole pamphlet of

II

82 pages consists of the following parts : i. "The fabricated
report on Luther's death" (Der verabredete Bericht ueber
Luther's Tod). 2. "The rumors concerning Luther's death."
Majunke charges the Lutherans themselves with being the
authors of certain awful rumors concerning the death of
Luther. In evidence he offers the following proof to his
"scholarly readers": Christopher Longolius, a theologian,
highly recommended by Erasmus, published an Oratio ad
Lutheranos, Cologne, 1546, in which he says: "Nostis, homi-
nem altero crure claudum, humero strumosum, oculo captum,
ac morbo turn commitiali, turn eo, qui libidinem ejus ob-
scoenis pustulis indicet, foede misereque confectum." Inas-
much as this statement is addressed to Lutherans, and as ne
says, Nostis, you know, it is evident that the Lutherans must
have been perfectly familiar with the circumstances. Quod
erat demonstrandum!

3. "The first authentic report on Luther's death." This,
according to Majunke, was published by Henricus Sedulius,
in his Praescriptiones adversus haereses, Antwerpiae, 1606,
sixty years after Luther's death. It says that a servant of
Luther, who in later years returned to the Church of Rome,
whose name no one ever knew, had found Luther on the
morning of February 18, 1546, "Juxta lectum suum pensilem
et misere strangulatum." Dr. Walther in his article for the
Allg. Luth. Kirchenzeitung, shows conclusively, that Coch-
laeus himself, one of the most violent adversaries of Luther,
completely demolishes this statement, when, in the later edi-
tions of his work "De actis et scriptis Lutheri" he published
the report of a loyal Roman Catholic, the Eisleben druggist,
who had been called in to give an enema to the dying man.

4. "Luther's state of mind toward the close of his life.,"
which according to the opinions commonly in vogue among
Romanists, was one of utter despair and demoralization.

In an appendix are given the "Historia vom christlichen
Abschied des ehrwuerdigen Herm Dr. Mart. Lutheri," the
ofificial report on Luther's death, written by Jonas, Coelius
and Aurifaber; the funeral sermon preached by Coelius in
Eisleben, Febr. 20, 1546; the complete statement of Sedulius

12

in his Praescriptiones adversus haereses, Antwerp, 1606; and
some utterances of Roman Catholic writers of the nineteenth
century concerning Luther's death, among them Moehler,
JDoelHnger, Janssen, not one of whom stultifies himself by
even a remote reference to the legend which Majunke has
undertaken to resuscitate.

His whole publication is, in reality, hardly worthy of a
respectful consideration and a serious refutation. But the
fact that a pamphlet of this character could be written and
printed at the close of the nineteenth century of our Chris-
tian era, and that^ within one month of its first appearance, a
second edition should be found necessary, proves that the
document discovered in the volume of Luther's Summer-
Postill has an important and providential mission, even
though it comes twenty years after Majunke's unscrupulous
slanders. It overthrows the very foundation of Majunke's
whole fabrication, viz., the claim that the official report on
Luther's death was not a statement of simple historical facts,
but an artfully constructed document, prepared for the pur-
pose of hushing up and contradicting certain unpleasant ru-
mors that had been in circulation concerning the death of
the great reformer. We know that even before the "His-
toria" was written, Justus Jonas, only about an hour after
Luther's death, had sent to the Elector a full account of the
last days and the dying hours of Luther, which he dictated to
the secretary of Count Albrecht adding in an autograph post-
script, that "none of them had been able in their great sorrow,
to write in his own hand." (See : Des seligen Zeugen Gottes,
Dr. Martin Luther's merkwuerdige Lebensumstaende, etc.
von Friedrich Siegemund Keil. Dritter Theil. Leipzig 1754.
pp. 270-273.)

But even though this letter and the official "Historia"
afterwards prepared by Jonas, Coelius and Aurifaber should
have been influenced by a natural desire to represent the dy-
ing scene in the most favorable and edifying form for the pub-
lic eye, no such design can possibly be charged to this ac-
count of the town clerk of Eisleb.en. It was written under
the first, vivid impression of the solemn scenes at Luther's

13

death bed which the writer had been privileged to witness. It
was written for no other eyes, except his own, or possibly the
members of his family. It is from beginning- to end charac-
terized by a striking simphcity, even naivete. There is no
careful choosing of words, no posing whatsoever. The man
who had been pres.ent at the last hours of that illustrious ser-
vant of God and who had listened to his last words of prayer
and confession felt himself irresistibly compelled to fix the
memorable scene on paper. So he sat down, probably in the
early morning hours of the i8th of February, and entered in-
to a book of Luther's own sermons, which had often refresh-
ed his soul, this simple-hearted artless account of the hero's
death, which will henceforth stand as an original and unas-
sailable record, confirming all the essential features of the
later official accounts, and utterly demolishing the diaboHcal
slanders of the Romanists of the seventeenth as well as the
nineteenth century.

Adolph Spaeth.
Mount Airy, March, 199^'/^.

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