All monks were required to pray the canonical hours. ... Everyone else prayed their prayers together and the prayers always included twenty-five "Our Fathers" ... By my count that means at least 175 "Our Fathers" ... a day. ... Monks were also encouraged to pray the Psalter. Sometimes they were made to pray the Psalter as punishment for infractions within the order.
Any knowledgeable Catholic and practically any Orthodox Christian will look at this, furrow his or her brow, then burst out laughing.
The canonical hours ARE the Psalter. All of the hours include Psalms and prose Scripture readings, they were not and never have been the recitation of 175 Our Fathers in a day. This was as true in Luther's time as it is today, an d it's as true in the East as in the West.
He managed to get a few things right. Compline traditionally ends with the singing of the Salve Regina.
This is what I mean about this gentleman having no feel or understanding of his subject matter.
Newadvent states that the canonical hours have changed over the centuries. NOW they include just the Psalms and prose Scripture reading. At other times throughout history they contained much more.
It is unclear what Luther was force to recite. It appears from newadvent that although there are guidelines on the canonical hours, interpretations can be made. I would suspect this order that Luther was involved in required much more than others.
This is all speculation on yours and my part. They were consider obligatory and failure to do them could result in excommunication. We can only take Luther at his word that he had a lot of reciting and memorizing to do.