Excerpt from The Christian Traveller: Or a Sure Guide to Salvation; Being a Series of Devout Treatises Thomas, commonly called "a Kempis," was born about the year of Christ, 1380, at Kempen, a little town in the territory of Cologn, upon the confines between the duchies of Cleves and Juliers; to the former of which it is said to have anciently belonged. His parents were of the meaner sort; but are recorded to have been persons of great piety. His father's name was John and his mother's Gertrude. The surname derived to him from his father was Hammerkin, or Hammerlein, (in English, Hammer, or Little Hammer). When ho was arrived to the age of thirteen, his parents sent him to Deventer, an university, and chief city of the province of Overyssel, where he studied in the house of the Clerks, under the inspection of the rector Florentius, by whom he was extremely beloved. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."