In May of 1521, young knight moved into the Castle Wartburg, in a small apartment normally used to house noble prisoners. He was cared for by two young squires and was well cared for by the warden of the castle, who became his friend. From time to time, he would venture out into the town nearby. Once he went hunting with other nobles, but didn’t seem to enjoy the sport. Known as Junker Jörg, (Knight George), he was not the minor noble that he seemed. Lucas Cranach the Younger, renaissance artist, painted his portrait. He was in fact Martin Luther.
Luther lived in the Wartburg for ten months while the politics of Germany settled down in the wake of the Edict of Worms. The secret was well-kept. Even the brother of Elector Frederick, who would be Luther’s ruler in a few years, did not know the reformer was there until he visited the castle in September. Before too long, his friend knew he was alive and well. Luther wrote an amazing number of letters to support and advise them. These letters went from Luther to the Elector’s chancellor and his good friend George Spalatin, who sent them on. Without the duties of a professor, pastor and leader of a movement, Luther was able concentrate on writing and write he did. Excluding the letters, his Wartburg writings fill two full volumes of the Weimar Edition of his works.
Although he eventually became used to life in the Wartburg, Luther was not suited to life as a noble. He went from being a monastic with a frugal diet to the rich foods of the court. He got much less exercise and was cut off from the all the interaction with people. He was ill suited to that kind of life. It would be only a matter of time before he would have to return to Wittenberg publically.
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