Martin Luther: Hero or villain?

Martin Luther (1483-1546) is widely known as the father of the Lutheran Reformation and indeed the broader Protestant movement as a whole.

For many in his own day and some still today, he was a hero: the man who stood up against the might of Pope and Emperor; the man who gave the German people scripture in their own tongue; and the man who harnessed the power of the new-fangled printing press to bring revolution on a scale never seen before.

Yet there is another side to Martin Luther. His views on women - that their chief place was in the household- restricted female lives for centuries, and the ferocity of his language in the peasants sparked warfare and mass slaughter. Most notoriously of all, Luther’s comments on the Jews were so vicious and condemnatory that they were seized upon by the Nazis and used in their propaganda in the 1930s.

This masterclass will explore these very contrasting sides of a particularly complex and influential historical figure. We will consider how reputations can change over time; how the past can be used (and abused) by the present; and why the skills of the historian are critical in helping distinguish fact from fiction.  

*Note that the talk will make reference to anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery from the sixteenth and twentieth centuries.

This event is part of our Masterclasses series and is open to students in Years 11-13 interested in history. It will include material of interest to students looking at Nazi Germany.