Michel eyquem montaigne biography of christopher cross

Pierre, Montaigne's father, was the first of his family to "live nobly," that is, give up commerce, and Montaigne himself was the first to follow the aristocratic practice of adopting the name of the estate as his own. Pierre had married, in , Antoinette de Louppes Lopez , from a family of converso Spanish Jews , and Michel was the eldest of their surviving children.

Montaigne's father took a great interest in the new humanist learning, and thus had Michel raised in the company of a tutor who spoke only Latin to him, so that Latin, rather than French, was his first language.

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He went on to study law, in preparation for a career of public service. By the late s he was a member of the Parlement of Bordeaux, a position he retained until He finished the translation in time to present it to his father before the latter's death in , and it was printed in In , Montaigne sold his parliamentary office, and officially retired from public service, out of he said a desire to devote the remainder of his days to study, writing, and contemplation.

His "retirement" was, however, not complete. Himself a moderate Catholic, he was trusted by both Catholics and Protestants, and often played an important role in negotiations between them in France 's Wars of Religion , work for which he was honored by both sides. He was at the same time working on the Essais, whose first edition, in two books, was published in In the same year, he embarked on a leisurely trip through central Europe to Italy, visiting various spas in search of relief from the kidney stones that had begun to plague him two years earlier.

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This trip resulted in the Journal de voyage, not rediscovered and published until While still in Italy, Montaigne was informed that he had been elected mayor of Bordeaux. He was initially reluctant to accept the office, and it was only at King Henry III 's insistence that he returned home in late to take up his none-too-onerous duties.

He continued work on the Essais during this time, revising and adding to the essays of the first two books while writing the thirteen essays of the third book.