Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- PROLOGUE -- INTRODUCTION -- Questions of Method and the Politics of a Book -- PART ONE—AMBITIONS -- CHAPTER 1 THE EYQUEMS’ SOCIAL ASCENSION -- A Family Matter -- “Nobilibus parentibus” -- Living Nobly -- “We Latinized Ourselves” -- The Balance Sheet of a Humanist Education -- CHAPTER 2 A FIRST CAREER AS A MAGISTRATE (1556–1570) -- Parlementary Habitus -- From the Cour des Aides in Périgueux to the Parlement in Bordeaux -- Michel de Montaigne, Royal Councillor -- The Religious Question -- CHAPTER 3 LA BOÉTIE AND MONTAIGNE: DISCOURSE ON SERVITUDE AND ESSAY OF ALLEGIANCE -- The Letter about La Boétie’s Death -- La Boétie’s Political Treatises: The Memorandum and the Discourse -- Voluntary Servitude and Allegiance -- The Politics of a Friendship -- CHAPTER 4 “WITNESS MY CANNIBALS”: THE ENCOUNTER WITH THE INDIANS OF THE NEW WORLD -- Tupinambas and Tabajaras -- From Rouen to Bordeaux -- “Their Warfare Is Wholly Noble and Generous” -- A “Simulacrum of the Truth” -- CHAPTER 5 THE MAKING OF A GENTLEMAN (1570–1580) -- The Break with the Parlement -- Montaigne as Editor of La Boétie’s Works -- Dedicatees Influential at the Court -- An Inconvenient Publication -- An Influential Neighbor: The Marquis of Trans -- Honorific Rewards and Clientelism -- Montaigne at Work -- CHAPTER 6 THE ESSAIS OF 1580: MORAL, POLITICAL, AND MILITARY DISCOURSES -- “A Discourse on My Life and Actions” -- The First Reader of the Essais -- “Of the Battle of Gods” -- An Apology for Sebond or a Justification of Montaigne? -- A Skeleton in the Closet -- A Royal Audience and a Military Siege -- PART TWO—PRACTICES -- CHAPTER 7 THE CALL OF ROME, OR HOW MONTAIGNE NEVER BECAME AN AMBASSADOR (1580–1581) -- On Territory “Subject to the Emperor” -- The Ambassador’s Trade -- A Montaigne in Spain -- Montaigne in Rome -- Paul de Foix and the Suspicion of Heresy -- Roman Citizen -- The Essais “Castigated and Brought into Harmony with the Opinions of the Monkish Doctors” -- The Sociability of the Baths -- The Travel Journal and the Secretary -- CHAPTER 8 “MESSIEURS OF BORDEAUX ELECTED ME MAYOR OF THEIR CITY” (1581–1585) -- The Mayor’s Book -- Bordeaux and Its Administration -- The Public Welfare -- A Contested Reelection -- Manager of the City and “Tender Negotiator” -- An “Administration ... without a Mark or a Trace”? -- CHAPTER 9 “BENIGNITY OF THE GREAT” AND “PUBLIC RUIN” (1585–1588) -- “Through an Extraordinarily Ticklish Part of the Country” -- Secret Mission -- “I Buy Printers in Guienne, Elsewhere They Buy Me” -- Imprisoned in the Bastille -- “A Girl in Picardy” -- Observer at the Estates General of Blois -- “Actum est de Gallia” -- CHAPTER 10 THE MARGINALIZATION OF MONTAIGNE (1588–1592) -- A Tranquil Life -- “The Only Book in the World of Its Kind” -- From History to the Essay: Commynes and Tacitus -- Socrates or Political Suicide -- Montaigne’s Death -- PART THREE—POST MORTEM -- CHAPTER 11 MONTAIGNE’S POLITICAL POSTERITY -- Political Appropriations -- Censure and Morality -- EPILOGUE -- ABBREVIATIONS -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- TRANSLATIONS CITED -- INDEX -- .
