Michel de Montaigne

Max Gauna (University of Sheffield)

Ed. by David Williams, University of Sheffield
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.02: French Writing and Culture in the Renaissance, 1400-1600.
Vol. editors: Robert J. Hudson (Brigham Young University), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), Phillip John Usher (New York University), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 28 Feb 1533
Died 13 Sep 1592
Activity 1563-1592

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Essayist
Translator

Other

Autobiographer
Political writer

Resources

Montaigne's Works

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In 1477 Raymond Eyquem, a well-off merchant of Bordeaux who had made his fortune by dealing in wine, salt fish, and woad, as well as by marrying an heiress, purchased the noble property of Montaigne, which took its name from the adjoining village situated on a little hill. His immediate descendants continued his business and increased the family fortune to the extent that Pierre, grandson of Raymond, and the first Eyquem to be born in the Château de Montaigne, was able to devote his life mainly to the properly noble occupation of arms, seeing service in various campaigns, notably in Italy, as well as serving his city of Bordeaux, first as a

jurat

– a councillor – and then as Mayor. At the age of thirty-three he married Antoinette Louppes de Villeneuve, daughter of a rich bourgeois…

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3617 words

Citation: Gauna, Max. "Michel de Montaigne". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 May 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3160, accessed 24 November 2024.]