Clement Marot (1496-1544), a poet of distinction, is a unique witness to the effect of the Bible on French-speaking courts. He was admired by Francis I, protected by Margaret of Navarre, and by Renee,
For the true bibliophile and design-savvy book lover, here is the next set of Penguin's celebrated Great Ideas series by some of history's most innovative thinkers. Acclaimed for their striking and el
Michel de Montaigne was the originator of the modern essay form; in these diverse pieces he expresses his views on relationships, contemplates the idea that man is no different from any animal, argues
The dazzling and exuberant comic 'Chronicles' of Rabelais (c. 1483-1552) are a feast of wisdom and laughter. Realism intertwines with carnivalesque fantasy, Renaissance learning with obscene humour to
In 1572 Montaigne retired from public life and began the reading and writing which were to develop into "assays" of his thoughts and opinions. Nobody in Western civilization had ever tried to do what
Warden Richard Mocket's Doctrina et Politia Ecclesiae Anglicanae is a Summa of Anglican doctrine and organisation compiled by a chaplain of George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury. It includes (anonymo
Montaigne (1533-1592), the personification of philosophical calm, had to struggle to become the wise Renaissance humanist we know. His balanced temperament, sanguine and melancholic, promised genius b
