Michel De Montaigne Michel de Montaigne was a French philosopher who lived from February 28, 1533, to September 13, 1592. He was also known as the Lord of Montaigne. He is known for making the essay a well-known type of writing. People like his work because it combines ersonal stories and autobiography with deep thinking. Montaigne directly influenced many Western writers, and his huge book Essais has some of the most important essays ever written. Montaigne worked on the first translation of the Catalan monk Raymond Sebond's book Theologia naturalis, which he published a year after his father died in 1568. In 1595, Sebond's Prologue was put on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum because it said that the Bible is not the only source of revealed truth. Montaigne also put out a collection of his friend Boétie's works after he had died. In 1588, he wrote the third book of the series and met another writer, Marie de Gournay, who liked his work so much that she later edited and published it. Read More Read Less