Around 1380 Johannes Nider was born as the son of a cobbler in Isny, Swabia. After schooling he joined the Dominican convent in Colmar in Alsace. This was followed by studies in Colmar and Cologne. Here Nider became ordained priest and started to work as a preacher and pastor. Johannes Nider studied at the Wiener Universität which he finished in 1425 as Magister theologiae. In 1429 Nider became prior of the Basel convent. He returned to Vienna in 1423 where he started working as the dean of the local theogical faculty. Johannes Nider died on 13 August 1438, on his way back from Colmar where he had participated in reforming a convent. He was buried in Nuremberg.