Anna von Mansfeld (mother’s surname Honstein-Klettenberg) was born in 1490 [or 1492] in Klettenberg. Klettenberg is today called Thuringia. In 1518 Anna married Count Albrecht VII. Together they had 14 children, of whom 6 died (other sources say that Anna had 11 children). Sadly, the eldest daughter died at the age of 17.
A noteworthy fact is Anna Honstein-Klettenberg’s participation in the treatment of Martin Luther, that is, in the efforts to prolong the reformer’s life. In the documents about Luther’s death, Anna’s name is not mentioned even once; she is referred to abstractly as the Gräfin or Gemahl, whereas the name of her husband, Count Albrecht VII, is to be found in the documents. Nevertheless, it is known that, despite the very narrow circle of people who were beside Luther in the last days of his life, Count Albrecht had also brought his wife Anna, who had various medicinal remedies with her. It is also known that Anna personally rubbed medicinal substances into Luther’s skin, as well as under his nose, and anointed his lips with rose water and lavender water.
On the one hand, what is at issue here is the extraordinarily great trust between Luther and those close to him and, on the other hand, Anna’s courage and even a certain taking on of a health risk to herself, for it is known that medieval physicians did not even touch their patients. In any case, this event reveals that the noblewoman was regarded among those around her as a serious expert in medicinal herbs and a physician.
In the time of the medieval Roman Empire, high-ranking women were known for their privileges in obtaining medicinal herbs, and often these noblewomen themselves practised pharmacy in order to prepare medicines for their loved ones.[1]
In the painting Anna is depicted with the Mansfeld coat of arms in the background. Image: painter Mariana Lepadus
http://www.lepadus-kunst.de/kursevortraege.htm
Read about other women of the Reformation in our articles below:
Argula von Grumbach: the first woman reformer, Bible scholar
Women of the Reformation in Central Germany, Part I
Women of the Reformation in Central Germany, Part II
Women of the Reformation in Central Germany, Part III
Women of the Reformation in Central Germany, Part IV
[1] Susan C. Karant-Nunn, The Personal Luther: Essays on the Reformer from a Cultural Historical Perspective, (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 186.