Michel de Montaigne
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Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) was a French writer and statesman, born at the Château de Montaigne in the Périgord, near Bordeaux, into a wealthy merchant family that had recently acquired noble status. His father had him brought up with Latin as his first language. He studied law and served for some years as a counsellor in the Parlement of Bordeaux, where he formed a deep friendship with the writer Étienne de La Boétie, whose early death in 1563 marked him for life. In 1571, aged thirty-eight, he retired to his estate to read and write, and in 1580 published the first two books of his Essays. While travelling in Germany, Switzerland and Italy he was elected mayor of Bordeaux, and served two terms. During France’s Wars of Religion he acted at times as a go-between for the rival Catholic and Protestant leaders. He died at his château in 1592.
