Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) was a French Renaissance philosopher, humanist, writer, and lawyer. After a humanist education and studying law, he served as a legal and parliamentary councillor and later became mayor of Bordeaux. At the age of 38, he largely withdrew from public life and devoted himself to writing. His major work, the Essais, occupied him for many years. In them, he examined human beings as complex and contradictory and helped establish the essay as a literary form.