Argula von Grumbach

Argula von Grumbach, née von Stauff, was Europe's first woman reformer. Like other members of her aristocratic family she was drawn at an early stage into the evangelical movement. Her outrage at the persecution of a young student by the Ingolstadt theologians led her to challenge them to a disputation. The pamphlet embodying this unprecedented intervention went into 16 editions and was followed by seven other pamphlets. She was personally known to Luther, and actively engaged in the Reichstag of Augsburg (1530). She created a network of supporters and founded Lutheran congregations in Franconia. This, the first scholarly biography of this theologically and socially fascinating woman, is based on previously unknown sources.