Hieronimus Justesen Ranch is usually judged to be the best author of drama in Denmark before Ludvig Holberg, who began writing for the stage in 1722. Ranch's reputation primarily rests on the play Karrig Niding (Nithing the Niggard, 1664), written in the late 1590s.

Hieronimus Justesen Ranch was born to Just Lauridsen Ranch and Karen Jacobsdatter Ranch in a small village near the cathedral town of Viborg in 1539. His father served as a parson outside the town. Hieronimus attended the Latin School at the cathedral in Viborg and probably went on to Copenhagen in order to initiate his studies at the university there. From 1563 he was enrolled at the university in Martin Luther's hometown, Wittenberg, as "Hieronimus Ranch, Cymber" (that is, a Cimbrian from Northern Jutland). After he had acquired his master's degree, he returned to Viborg, where he became a parson at the Grey Friars' Church in 1572 and married...