For a long time Jerome of Prague stood in the shadow of Jan Hus. One year after Hus, he was burned as a heretic at the Council of Constance in 1416. While Hus worked as a priest, preacher and church reformer, especially in Bohemia, Jerome travelled all over Europe as a layman and astute philosopher to reform not only the Church but the human spirit. Thus he appeared as a threat to the authority of the Church - by his rebellious behaviour, but also by his metaphysical positions. He fought against nominalism and proclaimed the direct access of human reason to the divine archetypes. Thus he became an "iconoclast" against earthly representations.

Hieronymus remained largely unknown outside Czech research. Thomas Fudge is the first to present an English biography, here translated into German. On the basis of Latin and Czech sources and research literature, he reconstructs the eventful life of Jerome until his trial and tragic end. In this way, he gives access to this fascinating personality, who is closely connected with the intellectual history of the late Middle Ages. The Italian humanist Poggio Bracciolini, who left a testimony about the last hours of Jerome, predicted: "This man will be remembered!"

About the author: Thomas A. Fudge is Professor of Medieval History at the University of New England in Australia. He is an acknowledged expert on the history of the Hussite movement.