Michel de Montaigne 1533 92 is principally known today as a literary figure the inventor of the modern essay and the pioneer of autobiographical self exploration who retired from politics in midlife to write his private philosophical and apolitical Essais But as Biancamaria Fontana argues in Montaigne s Politics a novel vivid account of the political meaning of the Essais in the context of Montaigne s life and times his retirement from the Bordeaux parliament in 1570 could be said to have marked the beginning rather than the end of his public career He later served as mayor of Bordeaux and advisor to King Henry of Navarre and as Fontana argues Montaigne s Essais very much reflect his ongoing involvement and preoccupation with contemporary politics particularly the politics of France s civil wars between Catholics and Protestants Fontana shows that the Essais although written as a record of Montaigne s personal experiences do nothing less than set forth the first major critique of France s ancien regime anticipating the main themes of Enlightenment writers such as Voltaire and Diderot Challenging the views that Montaigne was politically aloof or evasive or that he was a conservative skeptic and supporter of absolute monarchy Fontana explores many of the central political issues in Montaigne s work the reform of legal institutions the prospects of religious toleration the role of public opinion and the legitimacy of political regimes