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How did Martin Luther die?

Martin Luther, the important figure in the Protestant Reformation (not to be confused with Martin Luther King, Jr., the American civil rights leader) died of natural causes.  He was 62 years old at the time and had been in poor health for a while.  He most likely died of a heart attack.  His death occurred in Eisleben, the same city in which he had been born, on February 18, 1546.


In the 1500s, health care was not very advanced and people who reached what is now middle age would often have various health problems that were relatively serious.  Luther definitely fell into this category.  He had arthritis and kidney stones and heart problems.  Not long before his death, he wrote a letter in which he mentioned various heart problems he was having and blamed them on his age.  From accounts of his death, it appears that he died of a heart attack, though of course medical knowledge was too limited for his death to have been accurately diagnosed.  At any rate, Luther clearly died of natural causes brought on by his age and the poor understanding of health and medicine that prevailed in his time.

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