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Essay Name       : 1286.txt 
Uploader         : Beth Ellis
Email Address    : 
Language         : English
Subject          : History
Title            : Lost Family
Grade            : 90
School System    : College
Country          : USA
Author Comments  : This is a paper concerning the positive aspects of two lives in a midevil time.
Teacher Comments : Didn't really write any->kind of a prick
Date             : 10/96
Site found at    : Friend
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                                                                                                                 Ellis 1
 Lost Family

     In Steven Ozment’s Magdalena and Balthasar, one is able to understand the life of a 

unique merchant family in sixteenth-century Europe.  Magdalena and Balthasar are a 

humble couple with extraordinary styles of living.  The two are separated due to business 

related professions; however, they communicate mainly through letters.  Through these 

letters they release their beliefs about marriage, parenting, and religion.  These beliefs 

caught from their letters also allow an in depth look at the customs of their time.

     As lovers separated by months at a time due to Balthasar’s work as a merchant, 

Magdalena and Balthasar wrote letters to retain their relationship.  Taking pieces from 

these letters, one can formulate their thoughts and their feelings toward each other.  Their 

relationship was one of respect, love, and compromise.  Magdalena and Balthasar’s 

relationship might have been so strong due to their similar backgrounds.  Both were very 

close to the other members in their families, involved in private and business aspects.  

Both had an impressive pedigree as well.  Some family members held various positions on 

councils, and their families came from a line of successful merchants in Nuremberg.  

Despite Magdalena and Balthasar’s ancestry, they were extraordinarily different.  They 

were not rich, or in high positions; however, they had enough to satisfy their needs.  In 

comparison to the rest of Nuremberg, Magdalena and Balthasar were an average middle 

class merchant family.
Ellis 2

     When one looks at Magdalena and Balthasar’s marriage, he or she will realize it is 

anything but below average.  With their present day society, the husband is the dominant 

figure and the wife is left with the household duties and children.  However, Magdalena 

and Balthasar had a relationship based on mutuality.  This bond will bring equal 

understanding and equal responsibility to both, which will in turn make their love grow.  

This growing love is mentioned and expressed in every letter written.  Magdalena 

expresses her love for Balthasar by adding sentimental materials in her letters.  An 

example is when “she folds flowers from their garden into her letters to him...and on one 

occasion she included a string for Balthasar to bind about his wrist as a token of their 

friendly bond”(28).  Balthasar expresses his love for Magdalena primarily through prose.  

Every letter he writes to Magdalena, he address her as his “honest, good, true, friendly, 

dearest, closest bride”(28).  These words may sound subtle; however, these words are 

very passionate and sentimental in their time. 

     Along with love, Magdalena and Balthasar had a strong foundation of trust.  Since 

Balthasar was away from home due to his career, Magdalena was to take care of the 

affairs at home.  In order for Balthasar to have his affairs taken care of, he must trust 

someone to do them for him.  “Balthasar respected and regularly sought Magdalena’s 

business judgment”(75).  It is normal for a woman to take care of her husbands affairs 

when he is away on business, but it still requires a significant amount of trust.  The trust 

and love Balthasar had toward his wife is vast; however, he does not totally give himself.  

Balthasar retains an amount of authority for himself, and tends to disagree occasionally.  


Ellis 3

“When they disagree, they tend to compromise, but on the terms that favored the 

father”(95).  Magdalena knew that she was somewhat inferior and not totally equal when 

she says, “Of course, in this matter it is yours to do as you please”(79).  The balance 

between trust and compromise that Magdalena and Balthasar display, is unique to their 

relationship and unique to their present day.  This balance will prove to be unique in 

relationships in the future, even in twentieth-century society.

     In the methods of parenting is where one will find the greatest contrast and similarities 

between Magdalena and Balthasar.  The difference in parenting mainly comes from their 

choice of style.  Magdalena is the comforting and understanding parent, while Balthasar 

was the strict and disciplinary parent.  When Balthasar would leave, he would instruct 

Magdalena to “tell little Balthasar to be good, for the time being, otherwise I will bring 

him nothing”(94).  Little Balthasar knew that his father had that strict personality, and 

understood his fathers demands because “little Balthasar also knew his father to be a man 

who demanded of others almost as much as he was capable of giving...”(92).  Magdalena 

understands the difficulty of Balthasar’s demands and sympathizes with her son, showing 

her protective and motherly instincts.  “Magdalena is advocate and sentinel for her son, 

reminding the absent father of the boy’s worthiness and encouraging paternal recognition 

and praise”(92).  The most similar parenting style between the two is their love for their 

son.  The love and support from both Magdalena and Balthasar is extraordinary and adds 

to their uniqueness.  They provided their son a good education, food, a home, and support 

to his needs.  Sadly, their son died; however, it had nothing to do with parenting.  They 


Ellis 4

turned to each other for support and comfort in depressing times.  This common love and 

loss for their son is very unique for their time, and proves to be unique even in twentieth-

century life.

     Religion is a very important aspect of sixteenth-century life and proves to be another 

unique characteristic of Magdalena and Balthasar.  Magdalena and Balthasar believe God 

is involved in everyday life and is in absolute control.  “They think of God as  an 

absolutely omnipotent being, who controls human destiny on earth and into  

eternity...”(144).  If someone loses a business deal, gets infected by an illness, or 

experiences the death of an only child, Magdalena and Balthasar believe it is “an obvious 

punishment of God”(144).    Religion is an essential part of life for Magdalena and 

Balthasar and following his control is necessary for their prosperity.  “They are true 

believers who constantly find God at the boundary between success and failure, sickness 

and health, life and death-and they hold him responsible for all”(143).  

     Through Magdalena and Balthasar’s beliefs and actions in marriage, parenting, and 

religion, they are truly ahead of their time.  Having this collection of letters illustrates the 

life of a sixteenth-century family and portrays the hardships of a medieval time period.  

Many can read Magdalena and Balthasar and learn what it takes to love one another, raise 

a child, and have religion as a central part of life.  This may seem common; however, one 

must realize that the letters are from a time when these actions were uncommon.  

Magdalena and Balthasar are a twentieth-century family living in a medieval time.  These 

letters were collected because of that fact and should be read with admiration and 

astonishment.



 
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