In the beginning of the year 1548, she travelled with Melanchthon to Leipzig, in order to solicit from the imperial assessor some diminution of the oppressive war tax. Melanchthon also wrote to the King of Denmark, entreating him to continue the annual contribution which he made during Luther’s lifetime. Bugenhagen wrote similar letters to his Majesty, begging him, for Luther’s sake, to come to the help of “the poor widow and her children.” But as these repeated appeals were fruitless, she herself wrote to him, October 6, 1550. In this letter, she calls to his mind the services which her illustrious husband had rendered to the cause of Christianity, and his Majesty’s former liberality to him. In pathetic terms she represents her destitute condition and the severity of the times, occasioned by the existing wars. She says, “Your Imperial Majesty is the only king on earth to whom we poor Christians can fly for protection, and God will doubtless richly reward your Majesty for the kindness you have bestowed on poor Christian preachers and their widows and children.” This letter did not immediately produce the desired result. Two years afterwards, when most sorely pressed by want, she repeated her entreaty, and wrote again. In this letter she complains of her forsaken condition, and declares that she had been more unkindly treated by professed friends than enemies. She writes in a deeply desponding tone, and seems to be on the brink of despair. Bugenhagen seconded this appeal to the King, and it was successful; a contribution was received which relieved her immediate wants and comforted her desponding heart. Luther’s exalted merits were not always recognized, at least, not in the way in which they should have been. The widow of the man who conferred favors on thousands at the expense of extraordinary self-sacrifice, often pined in misery, and paid the severe penalty of his disinterestedness and liberality. With much truth could it be said in a discourse commemorative of her virtues: “During the war she wandered from place to place with her orphan children, enduring the most trying privations and perils, and, besides the numerous trials of her widowhood, she also encountered much ingratitude from many, and she was often shamefully deceived by those even from whom she had a right to expect kindnesses on account of the inappreciable services of her husband to the Church.” After the peace of Passau (July 31, 1552), security was re-established for the Protestants, and the former elector of Saxony was restored to liberty.