Michel de Montaigne Character Analysis

Michel de Montaigne was a famous Renaissance French writer who coined the term “essay” (French for “to try”) in regard to his short writings on various moral and philosophical topics. Like Jean de Coras and Guillaume Le Sueur, Montaigne also witnessed the trial of Martin Guerre at Toulouse. He later wrote about the case in his essay “Of the Lame,” in which he argued that people should not be condemned to death when there is a lack of decisive evidence. For example, witches should not be burned because it is impossible to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that someone is a witch. To prove his point, he cited the trial of Martin Guerre, a case in which it was very difficult to prove that one of the men was the “true” Martin. Montaigne thought that the case “far-exceeded…our knowledge,” demonstrating his intellectual humility and skepticism.