Luther was born on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben in what today is East Germany. During Luther's lifetime great advances were being made throughout the world. Columbus first set foot in the New World when Luther was eight years old. In the year Luther was called before the Diet of Worms, Magellan's crew sailed around the world for the first time in man's history.

Luther, like Hus, was born a peasant. His forefathers had been peasants for generations. Some of the roots of the Reformation can be found in families like his. Although Luther also gained much from those who had preceded him in standing for the truth,

...his parents had a strong Christian influence on his life.

his parents had a strong Christian influence on his life. Hans and Margarethe Luther were genuine Christians. In the home they taught their son many of the evangelical truths that he would later thunder from the pulpit at Wittenberg. So there was something of the Lord among the common people in spite of the dominating religious system and professional theology of the time.

Before the age of five, Luther began his education at a nearby school with the “three R's” and a little Latin, the latter being Europe's international language for the study of theology, law, medicine, and diplomacy. “Without it, you were doomed to ignorance; with it, the world was open to you.” [3] Hence it was crucial that Luther master this language.

One author gives the following description of the education of those days:

The schoolmasters were a poor set of creatures, and their scholars experienced more of the pains than of the pleasures of learning. Luther said that his master treated the boys as the public executioner did thieves; he himself was flogged fifteen times one morning because he could not repeat declensions which he had never been taught. [4]

At the age of fourteen Luther, for a short time, went to Magdeburg to attend the school of the Brethren of the Common Life. He later recalled this as a positive experience, but little is known of what occurred there. However, Luther was deeply impressed by an altar-piece which he saw in a cathedral in the town:

...the picture of a ship, “wherein was no layman, not even a king nor a prince; there were none but the pope, with his cardinals and bishops, at the prow, with the Holy Ghost hovering over them, the priests and the monks with their oars by the sides; and thus they went sailing heavenward. The laymen were swimming along in the water around the ship. Some of them were drowning, some were drawing themselves up to the ship by ropes which the monks, moved by pity and making over their own good works, cast out to them, to keep them from drowning, and to enable them to cleave to the vessel and go with it to heaven. There was no cardinal nor bishop nor monk nor priest in the water, but laymen only.” [5]

The memory of such a scene may have contributed to Luther's later becoming a monk and a priest.

I myself have been such a beggar pupil, and have sung for bread before houses.

Although it may not have been typical, still this picture was found in one of the cathedrals emphasizing the Roman Catholic concept of salvation: There is little hope of salvation for the layman.

In Eisenach Luther continued his schooling, but in a state of poverty. Here he was forced to beg in order to maintain himself. Many years later he said the following:

Do not despise the boys who beg from door to door, saying, “A little bread for the love of God”; and when groups of poor people sing before your house, think that ye hear great princes and lords. I myself have been such a beggar pupil, and have sung for bread before houses, especially in the dear town of Eisenach, though afterwards my beloved father supported me at the University of Erfurt, with all love and self-sacrifice, and by the sweat of his brow helped me to the position which I now occupy. Still for a time I was a “poverty student,” and I have risen by the pen to a position which I would not exchange for that of the Sultan of Turkey, taking his wealth and giving up my learning. [6]

So Luther sang for donations of money and food until Frau Cotta, a lady of noble birth, and her husband took him in as one of their family.

By the time he had finished school, a certain degree of prosperity had come through the hard labors of Luther's parents. Hence, his father was able to send him to the University of Erfurt, and Luther was able to give his full attention to his studies.

Luther was a level-headed, practical student who earned the respect of his professors.

This was the most respected university in Germany at the time he enrolled. “He who would study well must go to Erfurt,” was a common saying. Luther was a level-headed, practical student who earned the respect of his professors. He finished his bachelor's degree in October 1502, not yet having reached the age of nineteen. When he obtained his master's degree in 1505, he ranked second among the seventeen successful candidates. Melanchthon, a friend and later a co-worker of Luther's, reported that Luther's ability had been noticed throughout the university.