Legitimacy and Resistance: What Happened in Montaigne’s Library and Why Should Philosophers Care?

Harvard FAS

Political Legitimacy and Resistance: What Happened in Montaigne’s Library on the Night of October 23, 1587, and Why Should Political Philosophers Care?After Henri of Navarre’s brilliant defeat of a Catholic army at the Battle of Coutras, the presumptive but contested Protestant heir to the French throne spent the night at the chateau of Michel de Montaigne, the great essayist and political advisor. Navarre then baffled expectations by not pressing his military advantage—he instead journeyed…