Book ReportMartin Luther the Great ReformerBy: JA MorrisonOn November 10, 1483, Martin Luther was born. His parents were Hans and Margaret Luther. Martin came from a poor family. The Luthers were Germans. They lived in the Thuringian mountains near Eisleben. Martin Luther was still a child when his parents moved from Eisleben to Mansfeld, where his father found work in the mines. Martin, his brother and his three sisters did not have an easy childhood to grow up with. Their parents taught them religion. Luther's parents were devout Catholics and believed that strenuous and even ruthless discipline of their children was best for the children's well-being. So when Martin or his brothers did something wrong, they were beaten as punishment. Hans Luther wanted to give his children a better education than he himself had received as a child. They started teaching Martin as soon as they could. Even though he was at home he was always learning. But at school, because the teachers were ignorant, one morning at school he received fifteen lashes. Martin referred the name "school" to "hell and purgatory." By the time the Mansfeld teachers had finished hammering the Latin into Luther with a stick, he was preparing to go to school in Magdeburg. Since Luther was so poor that he had no money for his own expenses, Luther had to sing in the streets. It was common for Luther to see other poor students like himself in front of the homes of wealthy citizens. Sometimes they were invited in for something to eat. He remained in Magdeburg for about a year before moving to Eisenach and attending a school known as The School Of St. George. Ursula Cotta heard Luther singing on the street for money. So she and her husband Conrad invited Luther to come into their beautiful home and share its comforts with them. Then, around May 1501, Luther enrolled as a student in Erfurt. Then, in 1502, he took the title of Bachelor of Arts and three years later that of Master of Arts. Luther had been haunted by the fear that God's wrath would heap up against him. Luther did not look to the Bible for an answer to his burning question.