Born at Basel, he entered the Augustinian order and received the degree of master of theology at the University of Paris in 1371.
He again held this post in 1379, being general procurator in the intervening period.
At the outbreak of the Great Western Schism, he sided with Pope Clement VI, who made him general prior of the order in September 1379.
After his elevation to the see of Lombez in 1380 he remained Clement's confidential man on the Upper Rhine and continued to work at Freiburg for the curia of the Avignon Papacy.
Together with others, he is praised as a peak of Augustinian scholarship in the Middle Ages.