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The Château de Montaigne is a
castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
mansion situated on the borders of
Périgord Périgord ( , ; ; oc, Peiregòrd / ) is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is div ...
and Bordelais, near Bergerac and
Saint-Émilion Saint-Émilion (; Gascon: ''Sent Milion'') is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. In 2016, it had a population of 1,938. In the heart of the country of ''Libournais'' (the area around Libourne), in ...
, in the small ''
commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
'' of
Saint-Michel-de-Montaigne Saint-Michel-de-Montaigne (; oc, Sent Miquèu de Montanha) is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The Château de Montaigne, where philosopher Michel de Montaigne lived in the 16th century, is sit ...
in the
Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...
''département'' of France. The structure originated in the 14th century and was the family residence of the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
philosopher and thinker
Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...
.


History

Built in the heart of a majestic park, whose layout was designed by the philosopher himself, the residence was acquired in 1477 by the great-grandfather of Michel, Ramon Eyquem, a
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
trader, who thus acquired the hereditary title of ''Seigneur de Montaigne'' ("Lord of Montaigne"). Michel's father, Pierre Eyquem, settled in the castle with his family, and there Michel spent a studious childhood—he is said to have spoken Latin until the age of six—before leaving to continue his studies in French at the
college of Guienne The College of Guienne (french: Collège de Guyenne) was a school founded in 1533 in Bordeaux. The ''collège'' became renowned for the teaching of liberal arts between the years 1537 and 1571, attracting students such as Michel de Montaigne. Histo ...
in Bordeaux. In 1584, Montaigne entertained in his castle the king of Navarre, Henri de Bourbon, the future Henry IV, and thus became a close royal friend at the same time as Condé,
de Rohan The House of Rohan ( br, Roc'han) is a Breton family of viscounts, later dukes and princes in the French nobility, coming from the locality of Rohan in Brittany. Their line descends from the viscounts of Porhoët and is said to trace back to ...
and
Turenne Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne (11 September 161127 July 1675), commonly known as Turenne , was a French general and one of only six Marshals to have been promoted Marshal General of France. The most illustrious member of the ...
. Henry IV had already named him ''gentleman of the chamber'' (french: link=no, gentilhomme de sa chambre) by ''letters patent'' in 1577. From 1571 until his death in 1592, Michel de Montaigne wrote his famous ''
Essays An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...
'' (french: link=no, Essais), major works of humanism of the renaissance, and fruits of a lifetime of reflection and reading. After Montaigne's death, his widow
Françoise de La Chassaigne Françoise () is a French feminine given name (equivalent to the Italian Francesca) and may refer to: * Anne Françoise Elizabeth Lange (1772–1816), French actress * Claudine Françoise Mignot (1624–1711), French adventuress * Françoise Adn ...
continued to reside in the castle. She entertained there
Marie de Gournay Marie de Gournay (; 6 October 1565, Paris – 13 July 1645) was a French writer, who wrote a novel and a number of other literary compositions, including ''The Equality of Men and Women'' (''Égalité des hommes et des femmes'', 1622) and ' ...
, whom he had befriended in 1588 during a voyage to Paris, and to whom he had sent an annotated copy of the ''Essays'' requesting that she take care of its publication (which did not happen until fifteen months later). In 1860,
Pierre Magne Pierre Magne (3 December 1806 – 17 February 1879) was a lawyer and French politician. He was a member of parliament from 1843 to 1848, a senator in the Second French Empire, and a representative and then senator in the French Third Republic. He ...
, minister of
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
, bought the castle. He withdrew there after the 16 May 1877 crisis and became generally distant from the meetings of the Senate. He died of disease on 17 February 1879. The castle was completely rebuilt after a fire that seriously damaged it in 1885.


Architecture

The architecture of the extant chateau has a neo-renaissance flavour. After crossing the gate, one arrives in a square court surrounded by ramparts. The round
tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
of the library is the only vestige of the 16th century and is a popular location for visitors of the castle. It is said that Michel de Montaigne composed his ''
Essays An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...
'' here. Since 2009, Château de Montaigne has been listed as a ''
monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
'' by the
French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, ...
.


See also

*
List of castles in France This is a list of castles in France, arranged by Region and Department. ;Notes: # The French word ''château'' has a wider meaning than the English ''castle'': it includes architectural entities that are properly called palaces, mansions or vine ...


References

* Composed by the priest of Saint-Michel-de-Montaigne. *


External links


The official site of the Château de Montaigne


* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montaigne, Chateau de Castles in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Châteaux in Dordogne Monuments historiques of Dordogne Maisons des Illustres