Magdeburg, which had become a member of the Hanseatic League, in the thirteenth century, is one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire, with more than twenty thousand inhabitants.

The town has an active maritime commerce on the west (towards Flanders), with the countries of the North Sea, and maintains traffic and communication with the interior (for example Brunswick).

The citizens constantly struggle against the archbishop, becoming nearly independent from him by the end of the fifteenth century.

In about Easter 1497, the then twelve-year-old Martin Luther had attended school in Magdeburg, where he was exposed to the teachings of the Brethren of the Common Life.

In 1524, he was called to Magdeburg, where he preaches and causes the city's defection from Catholicism.