French writer Charles Montesquieu: a brief biography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Charles Montesquieu is a French writer, thinker and lawyer, whose name is deeply rooted in the history of the formation of state legal doctrines. He gained fame thanks to the theory of the separation of powers, which owes its existence to the French philosopher. However, the story of his life goes far beyond this one concept.

Childhood

What Charles-Louis de Seconda, better known as Charles Montesquieu, did on his way. His biography begins in the family castle of Labred, not far from Bordeaux, in 1689. His father, Jacques, was rather harsh, and little Charles was brought up in patriarchal conditions. Little is known about the mother, besides the fact that her dowry included the aforementioned castle of La Brede, and she herself was distinguished by a special religiosity and a penchant for mysticism. She died when the boy was 7 years old, and 3 years later his father sent him to a college at the Julie monastery, founded by the Oratorians. Despite the fact that it was a religious school, he received a secular education. It was there that he studied ancient literature and became interested inphilosophy, with which his whole later life was connected.

Study Law

Montesquieu was lucky to be born in the Enlightenment, when the dominance of thought and reason was established everywhere. In 1705, he returned from college to his native home, where he began to devote all his free time to the development of jurisprudence. It was more of a forced necessity than a true passion, and the law in those days was considered extremely difficult to understand. The need to study the laws was dictated by the fact that Charles Montesquieu in the future was to take a parliamentary post, which would pass to him by inheritance. In 1713, Charles's father dies, and he remains in the care of his uncle.

Legacy of the Baron de Seconda

Even during his lifetime, my uncle made great efforts to marry his nephew. Jeanne Lartigue became his venerable chosen one. This choice was by no means based on love and not even on the external data of the girl, but solely on the size of her dowry. The conclusion of the marriage promised several difficulties related to religious issues, but they were overcome thanks to Charles's legal education. The wedding took place in 1715. A year later, his uncle dies, and after his death, the young man inherits the title of baron. From now on, he is Montesquieu Charles Louis de Seconda. In addition, a large fortune and the post of chairman of the Parliament of Bordeaux become his property. For the most part, he served as a judge there, in which he already had experience, having previously served as an adviser and was a vice president inCity Court.

Career

Charles Montesquieu never really took a great interest in the law, but for ten years he responsibly approached the performance of his duties in Parliament. In 1726, he sold his position, as was widespread in those days, and moved to Paris. Despite the fact that this work was not Montesquieu's life vocation, he gained invaluable experience that will be useful to him in writing future works. Thus, after the move, his active writing activity begins. He publishes many works and essays on various topics. In addition, he becomes a member of the Antresol political club, where world news, daily events and the work of the participants were actively discussed. Around the same time, he visits the French Academy, and at the same time continues to write.

Main works

Even during his lifetime in his native Bordeaux, Charles Montesque wrote many essays and compositions on the subject of the natural sciences. Among them are such as "On the causes of the echo", "On the appointment of the renal glands", "On the tides of the sea." Membership in the Academy of Bordeaux helped him in this, where he conducted many experiments. Natural science is another area that aroused the interest of the writer, but his main works still concerned the state, law and politics. In 1721, his novel en titled "Persian Letters" was published, which immediately caused a storm of discussion. Unfortunately he wasbanned, but this only had a beneficial effect on his success, because the author very successfully brought out the images of the society of that time.

But the key work in his bibliography, about which, probably, everyone has heard a lot, was the treatise "On the Spirit of Laws". Work on it took many years, during which Charles traveled almost all of Europe, studying the political structure, customs, customs and law of Germany, England, Italy and Holland. In each of the countries, he collected a lot of useful information that was useful to him in writing the main book of life. In 1731, his travels come to an end, and Montesquieu returns to his homeland, where he spends all subsequent years in painstaking work and reflections on two volumes of "On the Spirit of the Laws", which are printed in 1748.

Philosophy and main ideas

The ideas set forth in the book "On the Spirit of Laws" have become extremely significant in the development of statehood not only in France, but throughout the world. He talks about the division of power into 3 branches: executive, legislative and judicial. He also notes that their merger can lead to lawlessness, and such a model should exist in all states, regardless of their form of government. The term "theory of separation of powers" was first mentioned and interpreted in his work by Charles Montesquieu. The philosopher and thinker John Locke was also involved in the development of the main provisions of this theory, but it was the French writer who finalized and improved it.

One of the most important themes in his work is the correlation of laws and the life of everyoneseparate society. He talks a lot about the relationship of customs, mores and religion with legislation, which is characteristic of individual forms of government. In this he was greatly helped by the knowledge that he acquired over the years of travel. Subsequently, many of the ideas embodied in the work "On the Spirit of the Laws" became fundamental to the US Constitution and other significant legal acts.

Private life and death

It is difficult to answer the question of what kind of person Charles Montesquieu was. A short biography, rather, reveals his contribution to the history of political and legal thought, but is silent about character traits. It is known that he was not a faithful spouse, but he treated his wife with respect. She became the mother of two beautiful girls and a boy, whom Charles, of course, loved. He devoted almost his entire life to science, reading and reflection. He worked mostly in the library, where his great works were born.

It is said that he was a reserved person, spent almost all his free time alone, and opened up exclusively to close friends. He rarely went out into the world, most often in salons, where he did not communicate with anyone, but only watched the society gathered there. In 1754, Montesquieu traveled to Paris to provide legal assistance to his friend, Professor La Beaumel. There he contracted pneumonia and died on February 10, 1755. However, his works are still considered cult and have gained eternal life.