The Roman party was
triumphant; the new heresy had lost what so far had made it powerful.
Luther's life and his doctrine seemed alike near their end.
Then Luther determined to marry. For two years Catherine von Bora had
lived in the house of Reichenbach, the city clerk, afterward mayor of
Wittenberg. A healthy, good looking girl, she was, like many others,
the abandoned daughter of a family of the country gentry of Meissen.
Twice Luther had tried to find her a husband, as in fatherly care he
had done for several of her companions. Finally Catherine declared
that she would marry no one but Luther himself, or his friend Amsdorf.
Luther was surprised, but he reached a decision quickly. Accompanied
by Lucas Kranach, he asked for her hand and married her on the spot.
Then he invited his friends to the wedding feast, asked at Court for
the venison which the Prince was accustomed to present to his
professors when they married, and received the table wine as a present
from the city of Wittenberg. How things stood in Luther's soul at that
time we should be glad to know. His whole being was under the highest
tension. The savage vigor of his nature struck out in all directions.
He was deeply shocked at the misery which arose about him from burned
villages and murdered men. If he had been a fanatic in his ideas, he
would probably have perished now in despair; but above the stormy
restlessness which could be perceived in him up to his marriage, there
shone now, like a clear light, the conviction that he was the guardian
of divine right among the Germans, and that to protect civil order and
morality, he must lead public opinion, not follow it.
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