Not knowing Katharina von Bora is a key to knowing her. Understanding is sometimes found in obscurity. What we do know of her comes largely through her husband’s writings, thus seeing her in his reflection. Or perhaps knowing her as we know black holes—not by seeing them, but by knowing their effects on nearby matter. So it is with Katie. We see her primarily through her husband’s reflections and by her effects on others. And as such we do see her. We see her, albeit “through a glass darkly,” to quote the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV).
A valid question might be this: Can one write a biography of a black hole? Of a person seen only through a glass darkly? “A real biography of Katharina von Bora could hardly be written even in the future,” writes Martin Treu. “The base of sources is too small. Her eight extant letters, none of them in her own hand, are all concerned with economic projects.”1
Treu’s last two words—“economic projects”—are a dead giveaway. What we know about Katie relates largely to her business dealings, primarily gleaned from Luther’s letters to her and to others. And this is the key to knowing Katie. As the wife of Martin Luther, she was certainly known by her contemporaries and particularly Luther’s colleagues and students. Why then, we wonder, does she not surface significantly in contemporary sources? Why would she be relegated to the black hole of history?
Was gender the primary factor? Unlikely. In fact, if Katie were just a successful businessman in Wittenberg, we could easily understand the invisibility. But as Martin Luther’s most intimate partner and lover, her gender was a requisite—the very reason for her significance. So we conclude the issue was not wrong gender. Rather, wrong personality and pursuits—and those two combined with her lack of piety.
Imagine a runaway nun, wretched and impoverished, arriving in Wittenberg in 1523, known for good works and devotion, standing strong for the evangelical gospel, leading women’s prayer and Bible study groups, gaining a reputation for godliness, bearing babies who grow up to follow in their father’s footsteps. Then we would have all the sources needed for a full biography of the wife of the celebrated Martin Luther. But alas, it would not be Katie.
The most recognizable name of the Reformation was Martin Luther. There were other brand names, but his outranked them all. Brand Luther, according to Andrew Pettegree, incorporated many things, not the least of which was an evangelical gospel drawn directly from Paul’s epistles. And Brand Luther also stood for “The Nation’s Pastor” (a chapter title in Pettegree’s book, Brand Luther). Luther was known, not only as the courageous Reformer who had stood strong against the powerful Catholic Church, but also as a counselor and friend who refused to become rich peddling the gospel: “he preferred to make no money from his books, written always in God’s cause, and to give no further ammunition to his enemies by profiteering from God’s work.”2
This was all Brand Luther, and Brand Luther sold—every spoken and written word—whether or not he profited.
Brand Bora did not. This is a critical factor in understanding Katharina. Pettegree further observes (in relation to Luther’s refusal to take profits from his books) that “he could now well afford this high-mindedness, thanks partly to his businesswoman wife, who kept the household well provided for and brought in considerable extra income from her various business ventures.”3
Brand Bora did not sell. Her brand was resented by many, including Luther’s closest colleagues. Brand Bora stood for businesswoman. Indeed, Katie was branded—branded as an independent, driven, and secular woman. If Martin’s brand was in part the nation’s pastor, hers was not the nation’s pastor’s wife. Then, as now, that role came with unwritten requirements. Had she been deeply devout, known primarily for piety and unswerving support of her husband’s evangelical reform, might Brand Bora sources be plentiful? Might the biographer’s task be easier?
As it was, her husband’s contemporaries and his followers in the next generation essentially branded her into obscurity. Take her out of the equation, however, and we would be looking at a very different Reformation. Take away her profound influence on her husband, and Brand Luther would have been seriously diminished.