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John Amos Comenius was born on 28 March 1592. He was the youngest of five children of Martin Komenský and his wife Anna. He worked as a teacher and a priest of the Unity of the Brethren, and from 1628 until 1670 he lived in exile.[1]
Childhood
His birthplace is not established with certainty; Uherský Brod and Nivnice are both considered. The family came from Komňa, from which it derived its name. His parents died shortly after one another in 1604 in Uherský Brod, and the twelve-year-old orphan was taken in by an aunt, Zuzana Nohálová of Strážnice. In 1605 he attended the Brethren schools in Strážnice. When Strážnice was burned down by the troops of Stephen Bocskay, he lost his second home as well as part of the property he had inherited in a suburb of Uherský Brod, which was likewise destroyed. He was then taken into the care of the guardians Kozák and Urban Mravenec in Nivnice.[1]
Studies
In 1608 he was sent to the Brethren school in Přerov, which was supported by Charles the Elder of Žerotín. Under the teacher Tomáš Dubin he acquired there above all a knowledge of Latin and with it the prerequisites for university study. In Přerov he first met the teaching of the Polish Socinians, who rejected the Trinity, and later he conducted most of his religious disputes with them. Thanks to his good results he won the favour of Bishop Jan Lánecký and of Žerotín and was sent to German Reformed schools, first to Herborn, to the Nassau academy (1611–1613), then to the University of Heidelberg (1613–1614). He concluded his studies at Heidelberg with a theological disputation. He returned from the journey on foot via Nuremberg and Prague to Moravia, carrying the manuscript of Copernicus's work On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.[1]
Activity in Moravia
After his return he became head of the school in Přerov, where he had formerly been a pupil. He concentrated on improving the schooling of the time and collected material for the first Czech encyclopedia, Divadlo veškerenstva věcí. He was ordained a priest at a synod of the Unity of the Brethren in Žeravice in 1616.[1] In 1618–1621 he worked in Fulnek. The uprising of the estates, begun by the Defenestration of Prague on 23 May 1618, opened the way to the Thirty Years' War, which had tragic consequences for the Czech nation.[1]
Overview of life stages
The Muzeum Jana Amose Komenského in Uherský Brod divides his life into the following periods: childhood and studies (1592–1614), Přerov (1614–1617), Fulnek (1618–1621), then hiding in Moravia (1621–1623) and a stay in eastern Bohemia, specifically in Brandýs nad Orlicí, Bílá Třemešná and Horní Branná (1623–1627). His exile lasted from 1628 to 1670. During it Comenius lived in Leszno (1628–1641, 1648–1650 and 1654–1656), in London (1641–1642), in Amsterdam (1642 and 1656–1670), in Stockholm (1642), in Elbląg (1642–1648) and in Sárospatak (1650–1654).[1]