The Formative Years 1483 - 1516

1483 Age 1	November - Luther is born at roughly 11:00 p.m. in Eisleben to Hans and Margaretta Luther.
1484 Age 1	Hans Luther, disappointed with business prospects in Eisleben, moves to Mansfeld, hoping to make a living in the copper mines there.	Hans Luther
1491 Age 7	Hans Luther leases a smelter from the count of Mansfeld. The family's financial security improves. March 12 - Luther begins school at the Mansfeld Lateinschule.
1497 Age 13	Luther begins boarding school in Magdeburg. He boards with the Brethren of the Common Life.
1498 Age 14	Luther begins attending the parish school of St. George in Eisenach. Initially, he stays with relatives.
1499 Age 15	Luther moves in with Heinrich Schalbe, one of the leading men of the city and father of one of Luther's classmates.
1501 Age 17	Luther moves to Erfurt and begins studying liberal arts at the University of Erfurt, one of the best universities at the time. His father picked the school and paid the tuition.
1502 Age 18	July 2 - Elector Frederick the Wise founds Wittenberg University. September - Luther takes the baccalaureate exams and finishes 30th in a group of 57. September 29 - Luther receives his Baccalaureate degree and begins studying for his Masters.
1505 Age 21	January - Luther receives his Masters degree. His father gives him a copy of Corpus Iuris and arranges for his entry into law school. May 19 - Luther begins law school at University of Erfurt. He is required to teach philosophy for the Liberal Arts program and to begin his studies by memorizing the titles of laws. July 2 - Luther, on his way back to Erfurt from parents' house, is caught in a bad thunderstorm. He is nearly struck by lightening and thrown to the ground. He vows he will become a monk if St. Anne will save him. (St. Anne was the patron saint of miners, i.e. most of the men Luther grew up around.) July 17 - Luther enters the Black Monastery in Erfurt, joining the Augustinian Hermits, a strict but not terribly austere order of mendicant monks.	Luther as a young monk
1506 Age 22	August - Luther takes his monastic vows. September 19 - Luther becomes a subdeacon.
1507 Age 23	Luther begins to study theology at the University of Erfurt. February 27 - Luther is ordained a deacon. April 3 - Luther is ordained to the priesthood. May 2 - Luther celebrates his first mass.
1508 Age 24	Luther teaches during winter semester at the new Wittenberg University.
1509 Age 25	March 9 - Luther becomes Baccalaureus Biblicus, one of the mileposts on the way to the doctorate. October 1 - Luther returns to Erfurt from Wittenberg.
1510 Age26	November - Luther leaves on a journey to Rome. He and a traveling companion are charged with handling some of his order's political affairs.
1511 Age27	April- Luther returns to Erfurt from Rome. Luther is transferred to Wittenberg. He moves into the newly constructed (Augustinian) Black Cloister.
1512 Age 28	Fall - Luther begins teaching again at the University of Wittenberg. October 19 - Luther receives the degree of Doctor of Theology. October 22 - Luther is admitted to the senate of the theology faculty at the University of Wittenberg.
1513 Age 29	August 16 - Luther begins lecturing on the Psalms.
1514 Age 30	Luther becomes priest for Wittenberg's city church in addition to his duties at the university.
1515 Age 31	May - Luther is appointed the Augustinian vicar for Meissen and Thuringia. This appointment gives him charge over eleven Augustinian monasteries in his area. He becomes increasingly busy and often finds he is behind on his saying of the daily office. June - Luther begins a year of lectures on the Epistle to the Romans. In his studies he comes to the personal conviction that the just shall live by faith. [Luther's account of his conversion]
1516 Age 32	Summar - A plague strikes Wittenberg. Luther's friends encourage him to leave the city, but Luther will not abandon his duties. October 27 - Luther begins a year of lectures on Galatians. December - Luther publishes the Theologia Germanica, a manuscript by the Friends of God. He adds his own preface and claims he learned more from this manuscript than any other source save the Bible and Augustine.