“First: I bequeth my soule to Almighty God my Creator, and to all the Company of Hevyn; and my body to be buried in the Chauncel of Laughton.
“Item: I bequeth vi. l. xiii s. ii d. for twenty sermons to be preached in Laughton, and in the parishes thereabouts.
“Item: I will that my three sonnes, William, Francis, and Edwarde, shall have twenty poundes sterlinge by the yere during their lvyes, owte of my lands, to be divided equally between them into three parts, and my wyffe to have the same, twenty poundes, every yere during the tyme of their nonage, towards their fyndinge, forthwith after my deth.
“Item: I bequeth a thousande marks sterlinge to be levyed upon my woods, to the marriage of my fyve daughters, that is to say: Bryget, Margaret, Mary, Anne, and Jane, and to be equally between them.
“Item: I bequeth to John Devynyshe, my best geldinge.
“The residue of all my goodes, debts, stuffe, and substance, I geve unto Mary my wyffe, whom I make myn executrix of this my last will.
“These being witnesses, Mary my wiffe, Nicholas my sonne and his wyffe, John Devynyshe, gentilman, Sir Robert Fourde Preest, with many other.”
Will of Martin Luther
(1542)
There seems to be considerable obscurity about the authenticity of this document. The learned Dutchman, M. Van Proet (who gives as his authority the Dutch translation of the “History of the Reformation”), says that “the will of Luther is to be found in its entirety in the eighth volume of the works of Luther (Altenburg edition); that the original, on parchment, was formerly in the hands of Carpzovius, and that that original, signed by Melancthon, Crucigerus, and Bugenhagenius (or Pomeranus) differed in some places from the printed copy.”
Seckendorff of Bâle, in his Commentary, lib. iii. sects. 36 and 135, p. 651, speaks thus of it, and it will be seen that Luther does not err on the side of modesty: