Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)

Abstract

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was the most important representative of French Humanism in the sixteenth century. Fragmentarily scattered throughout his "essais" and in chronological order in the diary of his spa journeys to Italy, he extensively describes his suffering from kidney stones, which accompanied him from the age of 45 years up to his death. This urological self-report achieves additional weight due to the extraordinary personality of the patient, who reflects on his urolithiasis and the effect on his own life not only from a subjective viewpoint but also makes his disease experience a starting point for critical thoughts on the value and limitations of the medical possibilities in his epoch. With a clear knowledge of the difficulty of medical practice, he postulates a rational approach supported by experience. Particularly interesting is Montaigne's stance towards contemporary physicians. He sees the benefits of physician consultations for himself and for patients generally, as being rarely substantiated but, despite sometimes strong antimedical invectives, accuses the doctors themselves less than the, although rationally structured but still mostly speculative, medical teaching structure influenced by Hippocrates and Galenism.