Elisabeth Cruciger

; née von Meseritz) (c. 1500 – 2 May 1535), a German writer, was the first female poet and hymnwriter of the Protestant Reformation[1] and a friend of Martin Luther.

While still a child, she became a nun at the Marienbusch Abbey, a Premonstratensian cloister in Treptow an der Rega.

At the cloisters, she learnt of the religious ideas of the Reformation through Johannes Bugenhagen, one of the influential figures in Lutheranism.

Together they had two children: a daughter, Elisabeth, who married Andreas Kegel, the rector of Luther's hometown Eisleben, and then—on Kegel's death—Luther's son Johannes; and a son, Caspar Cruciger the Younger, who succeeded in Philip Melanchthon's post as professorship at Wittenburg.

[4][5] In 2022, Elisabeth Cruciger was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day on 3 May.

The hymn Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn by Elisabeth Cruciger from Martin Luther's Erfurt Enchiridion , 1524
Workshop of Lucas Cranach the younger: Christ blessing the Children, w. Caspar Cruciger in black, next to Elisabeth and second wife Apollonia Günterode in background [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
Ruins of Marienbusch Abbey