Francois Rabelais

François Rabelais (c. 1494–1553) was a French Renaissance writer and humanist, as well as a physician and cleric. He is best known for the novel cycle “Gargantua and Pantagruel,” a satirical parody of chivalric romance. Because of its criticism of religious and social institutions, his work was condemned by, among others, the Sorbonne. Rabelais initially became a monk, later served as a secular priest, and worked as a physician, including in Lyon and as personal doctor to a church dignitary.