Michel de Montaigne

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne was born in 1533 at the Château de Montaigne, near Bordeaux, France, into a wealthy family of merchants who had recently become nobles. His father had him raised with Latin as his first language, by a German tutor. He studied at the Collège de Guyenne in Bordeaux and then law, and became a magistrate in the parlement of Bordeaux, where he formed a close friendship with Étienne de La Boétie; his essay 'On Friendship' describes their bond and La Boétie's early death in 1563. In 1571 he retired to his estate and his library tower and began writing the Essays, short prose pieces on subjects ranging from cannibals, cruelty and education to sleep and thumbs, in which he examined his own thoughts and experiences; the French word essai means an attempt or trial. His motto was 'What do I know?' The first two books appeared in 1580. He traveled through Germany and Italy, served two terms as mayor of Bordeaux, and tried to mediate in France's religious wars between Catholics and Protestants. He died at his château in 1592.

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Faith: Remained a Catholic during the wars of religion, although several members of his family converted to Protestantism. Source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy