the biblical stories of the creation of the
world and the fall of man. Milton’s vivid
and powerful imagination was a strong
match to the ancient, familiar themes of
his subject; his poetry inspired generations
of later English writers, who most admired
his Satan as a complex, fascinating, and
dramatic rebel—an icon for the age of Ro-
mantic poetry in the nineteenth century.
Milton later published a sequel,Paradise
Regained, about the temptation of Christ
by Satan, and the way to ultimately tri-
umph through humility and faith. Along
with this work Milton published a drama
entitledSamson Agonistes, telling a biblical
story in the form of an ancient Greek trag-
edy.
Montaigne, Michel de ......................
(1533–1592)
French writer whose very personal
thoughts and confessions—in the form of
essaisor “tries”—have remained influential
in modern times. Born into a wealthy fam-
ily that owned estates in the Aquitaine re-
gion of southern France, Montaigne was
the son of Pierre Eyquem, a mercenary
soldier and one-time mayor of Bordeaux.
Montaigne was given a humanist educa-
tion and a thorough training in the use of
Latin as both written and spoken language.
Trained as a lawyer in Toulouse, he be-
came counselor to the Parlement court in
Bordeaux in 1557. He entered the service
of King Charles IX in 1561.
Montaigne took a much greater inter-
est in letters and poetry than the study
and practice of law. The politics and rival-
ries of the royal court, and the demands
of public service, left him yearning for pri-
vacy, solitude, and enough time to read,
study, and work out a personal philosophy
of life and how it should be lived. In 1569
he published a translation ofNatural The-
ology, a work of the Spanish monk Ray-
mond Sebond. In 1570, he retired as a law-
yer and moved to the family estate, known
as the Chateau de Montaigne. There he
began work on a series of short writings,
in which he expressed his private views on
politics, society, literature, family life,
childhood, and many aspects of the com-
mon human experience that had never
been considered suitable material for a se-
rious writer. Working for ten years in iso-
lation, he brought out his book ofEssais
in 1580, to widespread puzzlement and
disdain on the part of serious writers,
scholars, and philosophers. Gradually, as
the writing of personal experience and
confession grew in popularity, Montaigne’s
work won widespread acceptance.
Seeking a cure for poor health and
painful kidney stones, Montaigne set out
on a journey across Europe in 1580. From
this experience he wrote a series of travel
essays that were eventually published in
the late eighteenth century as theTravel
Journal. In the meantime, the citizens of
Bordeaux elected him mayor, in honor of
his capable statesmanship during the vio-
lent Wars of Religion between Protestants
and Catholics. After his term as mayor
ended in 1585, he returned to his country
estate, where he died in 1592.
Montaigne’s book ofEssaysis one of
the most important and original literary
works of the Renaissance. In these short
works, all literary pretense and artificiality
is dropped, and the author reveals his own
thoughts and emotions directly to the
reader. Montaigne’s work created a foun-
dation for the confessional literature that
remains a popular literary genre to the
present day.Montefeltro, Federigo da .................
(1422–1482)
The Duke of Urbino, a skilled condottiere,
and a renowned patron of Renaissance artMontefeltro, Federigo da