John Amos Comenius

John Amos Comenius (Jan Amos Komenský, 1592–1670) was a Czech theologian and pedagogue born in Moravia, the last bishop of the Unity of the Brethren. Ordained in 1616, he became a pastor four years later.

Religious war in 1621 cost him his property and writings; persecuted by the Habsburgs, he led the Brethren into exile in Poland in 1628. His Janua linguarum reserata of 1631 made him famous, and Didactica Magna laid out universal education.

He later settled in Amsterdam, where in 1658 he published Orbis Pictus, the first widely used illustrated textbook. He died there in November 1670, remembered as the Teacher of Nations.