Elisabeth Cruciger (c. 1500 in Meseritz in Hinterpommern - 2 May 1535 in Wittenberg) was the first female poet and hymnwriter of the Protestant Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 and a friend of Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

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Life

She was born into a noble family in Pomerania

Pomerania

Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...

 and while still a child entered Marienbusch Abbey, a Premonstratensian

Premonstratensian

The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...

 house in Treptow an der Rega

Trzebiatów

Trzebiatów is a town in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. As of June 2007, it has 10,196 inhabitants.It was in Pomerania, Germany until 1945.Trzebiatów's Day of the Cereal is a celebration during the first week of August...

. She got to know the ideas of the Reformation through Johannes Bugenhagen

Johannes Bugenhagen

Johannes Bugenhagen , also called Doctor Pomeranus by Martin Luther, introduced the Protestant Reformation in the Duchy of Pomerania and Denmark in the 16th century. Among his major accomplishments was organization of Lutheran churches in Northern Germany and Scandinavia...

, converted to Lutheranism

Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

 and in 1522 left the abbey to move to Wittenberg, where she lived in Bugenhagen's household. Then, in 1524, she married the theologian Caspar Cruciger the Elder, a student and assistant of Luther - they had one daughter, Elisabeth Cruciger the Younger (who married rector Kegel and then, on his death, to Luther's son Hans in Eisleben), and one son, Caspar Cruciger the Younger

Caspar Cruciger the Younger

Caspar Cruciger the Younger was a German theologian.Born in Wittenberg, he was the son of Caspar Cruciger the Elder and his wife, the hymnwriter and former nun Elisabeth von Meseritz. He was Melanchthon's successor at the University of Wittenberg...

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Works

• For Epiphany - Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn im Evangelischen Gesangbuch (EG) Nr. 67 (originally known as Eyn Lobsanck vom Christo, first published in Erfurt 1524 in Ein Enchiridion oder Handbüchlein, the second oldest Protestant hymnal)

External links