Martin Luther 1483 – 1546 – digital handwriting font library

Bring History to Life with Our Authentic Martin Luther Handwriting Font.

Experience the influential words of Martin Luther as they appeared in his original handwriting. Meticulously crafted from 16th-century manuscripts, this font captures the reformer’s calligraphic style. Various features preserve the characteristics of handwritten text, so you’ll feel as if you’re holding history in your hands. Add historical authenticity to your creative projects, whether writing a history paper or exploring theology. With this thoroughly documented font, you can immerse yourself in the Reformation period of the 16th century. It is suitable for both personal and academic use.

Created with the support of 491 Backers from 32 countries on ¹

Features of the Font

Pick the letter you like.

Choose any letter to explore different character shapes, giving you precise control over the appearance of each glyph, as shown here in Adobe InDesign.

Altering mechanism

Letters automatically alternate as you type, creating natural handwriting variation — shown here in Microsoft Word.

Multi-Platform Support

This font operates seamlessly on Windows, Mac, iOS (iPhone and iPad), Linux, and virtually any platform that supports OpenType fonts (PostScript). While we aim to support Android, please be aware that functionality is currently somewhat limited.

Quick Start Documents

Begin right away with ready-to-use Quick Start files for Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, Adobe InDesign, and OpenOffice/LibreOffice. These templates come preconfigured with Luther’s authentic font size and line spacing settings, allowing you to create historically accurate documents instantly.

Switch between “Contemporary” and “Historic” script by pressing Ctrl/Cmd + I.

The digital font features two styles: Regular and “Historic Version”. The key distinctions are found in specific characters such as ‘s’ and ‘h.’ The regular style prefers letters that are closer to our writing style today, while maintaining Luther’s unique penmanship in both styles. However, if you wish to render a less contemporary and a more historic style you have a choice.
Users can switch between these styles using Cmd/Ctrl + I.

The letter h for example was written with a loop at the bottom, not at the top as we write it today with a loop at the top. The video showcases the creation of the letter used in the “more regular” or “contemporary” style.

Getting

This font is part of the paid-library. Interested in trying it yourself? Join the Handwriting Font Library for instant access to our entire collection, for only €2/month.

What does Martin Luther’s handwriting actually look like?

The font comes with a PDF documentation, which includes an extensive chapter by Prof. Bubenheimer describing in detail the characteristics of Luther’s handwriting from a paleographers point of view. Here you find shortened examples to give you an introduction.

Gothic vs. Humanist cursive

In his German and Latin writings Luther used two distinctive scripts, namely a German and Latin one. His German texts are written predominantly in gothic cursive, his Latin texts predominantly in humanist cursive.

We are used to thinking of ‘o’ as a round letter, but in Luther’s gothic script it can be angular.

In line 13 of Luther’s draft the ‘o’ in the word ‘gott(es) is in the form of an upside-down triangle, in which the pen stroke is repeatedly fractured. Sometimes also the loops in b and l are triangular in shape (‘endlich bleybe’, line 11). These letter forms may reflect a partial influence of the so-called Bastarda, a more calligraphic version of the gothic cursive.

Another typical example of fracture is Luther’s writing of minuscule ‘g’ (‘gottes’, line 2)

He begins with an oblique downstroke, continues with a sharp angle and an upstroke, and then makes a further sharp angle into a downward loop, which curls up and eventually runs out along the ‘roof’ of the ‘g’. In the minuscule ‘d’ (‘vnnd’, line 1), fracture can also be seen in the lower part of the letter.

Image Source

Luther’s draft of a speech
intended to be given before
Emperor Charles V.
Landesarchiv Thüringen,
Hauptstaatsarchiv Weimar:
Ernestinisches Gesamtarchiv,
Reg. E 81, fol. 1r.

In Luther’s draft speech, individual letters occur which are clearly from his Latin cursive script.

It is particularly with majuscules (capital letters) that, even in his German texts, Luther prefers the clear, humanist forms – in this text the letters ‘A’, ‘M’, ‘H’, and ‘V’ (lines 1, 3, 9, 12, and 18), which are often easier to write than the loopier, squigglier gothic forms.

The “&“
For ‘et’ Luther employs the conventional humanist cursive sign corresponding to our ‘&’, with a peculiarity which was not, in fact, unique among those around him, in that he generally writes the grapheme in two parts, with an alpha shape underneath and a small circle (rather than a loop) on top, although sometimes both parts are written in a single stroke.

Image Source

Luther’s letter to Emperor Charles V, Friedberg, 28 April 1521, first page.
Lutherhaus Wittenberg: s 166/1387, fol. 1r.

→ See “comparing handwriting and font“ below for additional details.

Quality Check — ✔︎ Comparing handwriting and font.

Creating an authentic handwriting font requires a careful and thorough process of comparing the digital version to the original to ensure accuracy and capture the author’s unique style. Here you see the original manuscript compared with the same text set in the font. These comparing documents are an essential feedback tool used in development process.

The development is not always a straightforward process. Often, there is a going back and forth to make improvements. The original analog version serves as a benchmark to measure progress.

Resources on Martin Luther’s Handwriting

If you’re interested in learning more about Martin Luther’s handwriting, here are some sources I compiled

1. View Martin Luther’s handwriting in Augmented Reality. (experimental)

Project an original size reproduction of Martin Luther’s draft of a speech at home through the magic of augmented reality. Use the green buttons to view a transcript and translation of the text.

The best experience is with a modern iPhone or iPad. We are working on a functional Android version.

View in AR on iOS

The best experience is with a modern iPhone or iPad.
We are working on a functional Android version.

2. A Book the font and Luther’s handwriting:
What does Martin Luther’s handwriting look like? And how can we use it today? (Dual language edition: All texts are in English and German)

This book is an documentation of the creation process and extensive introduction to Luther’s handwriting.

The book is available as a PDF file to all members in the → download section, or can be bought as → Softcover or → Hardcover Edition on Amazon.

Download PDF

Order on Amazon

International Orders

Sample Pages

The book explains in detail how the font was created, outlining the specific process and techniques used to replicate Martin Luther’s handwriting.

Font Updates

Creating a font based on Martin Luther’s 500 year old handwritten letters. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2108133360/martin-luther-handwriting-font-here-i-write/description ↩︎