Читать книгу Essays - Michel de Montaigne - Страница 22

 Born in 1533, the son of Dordogne landowner Pierre Eyquem, and Antoinette de Louppes. Her family is Christian but descended from Sephardic Jews.

 Receives excellent education at the College de Guyenne in Bordeaux. Well-versed in Latin by age 7. In his teens studies at the Universities of Bordeaux and Toulouse.

 At age 20, follows his father in becoming a councilor at the Bordeaux parliament, where he meets friend and mentor Étienne de la Boétie. Period working at the court of Charles IX.

 1565: marries Françoise de La Chassaigne. The marriage is arranged; she is mentioned a handful of times in the Essays.

 1568: father dies and he inherits family estate including chateau in Perigord. Works in a library in a circular tower above the estate buildings. Writes: “Miserable, to my mind, is the man who has no place in his house where he can be alone, where he can privately attend to his needs, where he can conceal himself!”

 1569: publishes in Paris a French translation of Raymond Sebond's Theologia Naturalis.

 1570: daughter Toinette is born. Dies three months later.

 1571: daughter Léonor is born, the only one of several daughters to survive into adulthood.

 1572–4: France is in civil war. Montaigne joins the royalist side and works on its behalf in Bordeaux.

 1577: has his first attack of “the stone” – a hereditary kidney disease.

 1580: the Essays are published. Montaigne presents a copy to Henry III.

 1580–81: journeys around Europe, going from one spa to another seeking a cure. Has audience with Pope Gregory XIII. Recalled home when elected (against his will) mayor of Bordeaux, a position previously held by his father.

 1582: second edition of the Essays published.

 1583: heir to the throne Henry de Navarre visits Montaigne and stays in his chateau. Re-elected mayor of Bordeaux.

 1588: third edition of the Essays published, including the new Book III. Arrested and taken to the Bastille as a hostage but released the same day.

 1592: Montaigne dies. His wife and Marie de Gournay, a writer and translator who had become close to Montaigne, arrange for the publication of a final 1595 edition of the Essays.

 1613: first English translation of the Essays published, by John Florio.

Château de Montaigne, by Jean-Jérôme Baugean, c. 1800, with Montaigne's tower in the foreground. It still exists as a Monument historique and can be visited.