This book is a thorough examination of the life and thought of Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert (1522-90), the Dutch notary, artist, poet, playwright, translator, and controversialist who defended freedom of conscience and toleration. Coornhert's individualism made him eschew any restrictions on personal religious choice. His spiritualist beliefs are revealed in his writings on toleration and show him as a man who saw himself as 'God's battering ram against the prison of men's conscience'.