# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/thomas-a-kempis
# Generated: 2026-08-31T14:42:05.401Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/thomas-a-kempis"
name: "Thomas à Kempis"
slug: "thomas-a-kempis"
description: "A German-Dutch canon who wrote The Imitation of Christ, one of the most widely read Christian devotional books ever produced—centuries of readers have turned to it for guidance on the inner life."
tagline: "German canon regular"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Portret_van_Thomas_%C3%A0_Kempis%2C_RP-P-OB-26.661.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Germany"
  isoCode: "DE"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "1380"
deathDate: "1471-07-25"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           59
  momentum:             0
  historical:           24.070448
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Religious Figures"
    slug: "religious-figures"
  - name: "Writer / Author"
    slug: "writer-author"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Philosophy"
    slug: "philosophy"
  - name: "Poetry"
    slug: "poetry"
  - name: "Religion"
    slug: "religion"
  - name: "Medieval Era"
    slug: "medieval-era"
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    title: "Wikidata"
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    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
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    title: "Фама Кемпійскі"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Thomas a Kempis"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Tomàs de Kempis"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Tomáš Kempenský"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Thomas à Kempis"
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    title: "Θωμάς ο εκ Κέμπης"
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    title: "Tomás de Kempis"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Tomas Kempiskoa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Tuomas Kempiläinen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Thomas a Kempis"
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    title: "Tomas fan Kempen"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Kempis Tamás"
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    title: "Thomas à Kempis"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Tomas de Kempen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Tommaso da Kempis"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%88%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B1%E3%83%B3%E3%83%94%E3%82%B9"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "თომას კემპენელი"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Thomas à Kempis was born around 1380 in Kempen, Germany, and became a Catholic canon regular of the Augustinians. He joined the Congregation of Windesheim, an offshoot of the Brethren of the Common Life and part of the Modern Devotion, a reform movement that swept through the late medieval Church. There he followed the teachings of Geert Groote and Florens Radewyns, the movement's founders. Somewhere in those cloistered years he produced The Imitation of Christ, a work of devotional instruction that outlived its century by miles. He died on 1 May 1471, leaving behind a book that never quite went out of print.