ABSTRACT
The funeral of the Reformer Martin Luther was a blending of the new and the traditional, of the religious and the secular. The traditional 'Mass of the Souls' had been abolished in the newly reformed churches. Lutheran and Calvinist churches in Germany followed this funeral ritual, creating a large body of printed testimonials of faith as well as biographies of rulers, nobility, well-to-do burghers, men, women and children. Divorce was an option in Lutheran territories, but rarely practiced. Divorce, one of the main reasons for blended families nowadays, was rare, even in Protestant territories where it was allowed in certain circumstances. The funeral sermons give the personal and community reactions as to how good and bad times, happy and sad occurrences affected the individuals and families who lived through them, thus providing a glimpse into one more facet of familial life in early modern Europe.
