Martin Luther

1483 CE–1546 CE · Erfurt

Martin Luther (1483–1546) was a German Augustinian friar, theologian, and university professor whose 1517 circulation of the Ninety-Five Theses at Wittenberg ignited the Protestant Reformation. Born in Eisleben and educated at Mansfeld, Magdeburg, Eisenach, and Erfurt, he was ordained and professed as an Augustinian friar before being summoned to defend his views before the Diet of Worms in 1521. Placed under imperial ban, he sheltered at Wartburg Castle, where he translated the New Testament into German; he returned to Wittenberg, where he taught, preached, and led the Reformation movement until his death in Eisleben in 1546.

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Stop 2 of 61501–1511University & Novitiate

ErfurtארפורטThuringia (Germany)

What they did here

Luther earned his B.A. and M.A. at the University of Erfurt, entered the Augustinian friary (Augustinerkloster) there in 1505, and was ordained a priest in 1507. He made two stints at Wittenberg (1508–09 and from 1511 onward) with returns to Erfurt between them; 1511 marks his permanent departure for Wittenberg.

Erfurt in this era

Under the Holy Roman Empire, Erfurt was where Martin Luther studied at its prestigious university (1501–1505), entered the Augustinian monastery as a novice in 1505 and professed his monastic vows in 1506, and was ordained a priest in Erfurt Cathedral in 1507 — making the city the cradle of the Reformer's spiritual formation.

About Erfurt

Erfurt, a city in Thuringia in central Germany, had a Jewish community from the late eleventh century that was annihilated in the massacre of 1349 during the Black Death persecutions. Its rich medieval heritage survives in one of Europe's oldest synagogue buildings, the buried 'Erfurt Treasure,' and an important collection of Hebrew manuscripts.

See other sages who lived in Erfurt→

In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Martin Luther’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

Across the traditions

Sforno· Rome

In the same tradition

Pope Paul III, Pope Leo X, Pope Paul IV, Philip Melanchthon

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Martin Luther’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Hindu world

Jewish world

Buddhist world

Islamic world

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