Michel de Montaigne

28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592

Michel de Montaigne was a French Renaissance philosopher and writer who established the essay as a literary genre with his Essais, first published in 1580. A magistrate and later mayor of Bordeaux, he retired to his château tower to write skeptical, candid explorations of human nature that influenced thinkers from Shakespeare's contemporaries to modern philosophy.

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Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Michel de Montaigne.

Life events

Born at the Château de Montaigne
28 February 1533

Montaigne was born on 28 February 1533 at his family's estate in the Périgord region near Bordeaux.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Educated at the Collège de Guyenne in Bordeaux
c. 1539

Raised speaking Latin as his first language by his father's design, Montaigne entered the prestigious Collège de Guyenne around 1539.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Became a counselor in the Parlement of Bordeaux
1557

In 1557 Montaigne took up a magistrate's post as counselor in the Parlement of Bordeaux.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Friendship with Étienne de La Boétie
c. 1558 – 18 August 1563

Around 1558 Montaigne began his celebrated friendship with fellow magistrate Étienne de La Boétie, whose death in 1563 deeply marked him and inspired his essay On Friendship.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Married Françoise de la Chassaigne
23 September 1565

Montaigne married Françoise de la Chassaigne, daughter of a fellow Bordeaux parliamentarian, on 23 September 1565.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Retired to the tower of his château to write
28 February 1571

On his thirty-eighth birthday, 28 February 1571, Montaigne withdrew from public life to the tower library of the Château de Montaigne to devote himself to reading and writing.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published the first edition of the Essais
March 1580

The first two books of Montaigne's Essais were published in Bordeaux in 1580, inaugurating the essay as a literary form.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Traveled through France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy
June 1580 – November 1581

From 1580 to 1581 Montaigne journeyed across Europe to Rome, partly seeking relief from kidney stones, recording his observations in a travel journal.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Served as mayor of Bordeaux
1581 – 1585

Montaigne was elected mayor of Bordeaux in 1581 while still in Italy and served two two-year terms until 1585.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died at the Château de Montaigne
13 September 1592

Montaigne died at his château on 13 September 1592, reportedly of complications from quinsy, while still revising the Essais.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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