Martin Luther: bookwurm or depressed soul?

Was Martin Luther a quiet bookworm, engrossed in his Bible study, or a controversial angry man?

In our vault is manuscript 494, the 1527 Groningen Luther bible. It has been there for centuries, so we have become accustomed to its presence. Therefore, we no longer realize how special it is as a historical object or how it is a marker of the end of the Middle Ages. To understand its importance, we must first know who Luther was.

Wim Braakman, employee of the Special Collections department, immersed himself in the life of this Luder (as his family name actually was). He paints a picture of a troubled person, the son of a violent father and superstitious mother. In the end, it is all too understandable to the reader that this Luther wrote many angry comments in Erasmus' translation of the Bible....