Which French writer authored the 'Essays'?

Michel de Montaigne authored the Essays. Written in Middle French, the work began appearing in 1580 and eventually grew into three books containing 107 chapters. Montaigne continued revising and expanding it for the rest of his life, making the text both a literary work and a record of his changing thoughts.

The Essays range widely across philosophy, history, education, medicine, friendship, travel, politics, and everyday experience. Montaigne often begins with a classical quotation or a practical question, then uses it to examine his own habits and uncertainties. His recurring attention to personal experience helped establish the modern literary essay as a flexible form of inquiry.

A common mix-up is to treat the Essays as a conventional autobiography. Montaigne does write extensively about himself, but his larger subject is human judgment: how people form opinions, misunderstand one another, and mistake confidence for knowledge. The work influenced later writers and thinkers across French and English literature.