Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet was born in Paris on the 21st of November 1694. He entered the world as the youngest child of a minor treasury official and a woman from the lowest rank of French nobility. Two of his older brothers died in infancy, leaving him with only two surviving siblings who were nine and seven years older than he. His family called him Zozo, but this nickname would soon be replaced by something far more dangerous to his reputation. In 1713, he fell in love with a Protestant refugee named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer. Their affair caused a scandal that forced him back to France by the end of that year.
His troubles escalated quickly when satirical verses accused the Regent of incest with his daughter. This single piece of writing resulted in an eleven-month imprisonment inside the Bastille prison. He spent time there from the 16th of May 1717 until the 15th of April 1718 within a windowless cell featuring ten-foot-thick walls. The experience transformed him completely. Upon his release, he adopted the name Voltaire, which remains his identity today. The origin of this new name is unclear, though it functions as an anagram of his birth surname and suggests speed and daring. Arouet was no longer fit for his growing reputation, so he chose a name that reversed the syllables of Airvault, his family's home town.
In 1733, Voltaire met Émilie du Châtelet, a mathematician who was twelve years younger than him and already married with three children. They began an affair that would last sixteen years at her husband's château located on the borders of Champagne and Lorraine. To avoid arrest after publishing controversial essays, Voltaire took refuge here while her husband sometimes stayed at the estate alongside them. Together they collected approximately twenty-one thousand books, an enormous number for that era.
They studied these texts and performed scientific experiments at Cirey, including attempts to determine the nature of fire. Voltaire had learned Newton's theories from his niece in London and brought them back to France. He strongly believed in Newton's ideas and performed experiments in optics at the château. Émilie translated Newton's Latin Principia into French, creating the definitive version used until the twenty-first century. Both partners also explored philosophy regarding God and the soul, analyzing the Bible and concluding much of its content was dubious. Their collaboration produced works like Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, which made the great scientist accessible to a far greater public.
Frederick the Great invited Voltaire to Potsdam in mid-1750, making him a chamberlain in his household. The Prussian king appointed him to the Order of Merit and provided a salary of twenty-thousand French livres annually. Voltaire received rooms at Sanssouci and Charlottenburg Palace where life initially went well. However, his relationship with Frederick deteriorated after he was accused of theft and forgery by a Jewish financier named Abraham Hirschel. This accusation occurred while Frederick was involved in sensitive diplomatic negotiations with Saxony.
Further difficulties arose when an argument with Maupertuis, president of the Berlin Academy of Science, provoked Voltaire's Diatribe du docteur Akakia. This text satirized some theories of Maupertuis and his persecutions of a mutual acquaintance named Johann Samuel König. Frederick ordered all copies burned, angering the philosopher greatly. On the 1st of January 1752, Voltaire offered to resign as chamberlain and return his insignia. Frederick eventually permitted him to leave in March. During a slow journey back to France, Voltaire stayed at Leipzig and Gotha for a month each before arriving at Frankfurt on May 31st. His luggage was ransacked there, and valuable items were taken by Frederick's agents.
Voltaire bought a large estate called Les Délices near Geneva in early 1755, but Calvinist laws banning theatrical performances soured his relationship with the city. In late 1758, he purchased an even larger estate at Ferney on the French side of the border. The town adopted his name, calling itself Ferney-Voltaire, which became its official designation in 1878. He remained here for most of the remaining twenty years of his life, frequently entertaining distinguished guests like James Boswell and Adam Smith.
In 1762, he began championing unjustly persecuted individuals, most famously Jean Calas. Calas had been tortured to death in 1763, supposedly because he murdered his eldest son for wanting to convert to Catholicism. His possessions were confiscated, and his two daughters were taken from their widow and forced into Catholic convents. Voltaire viewed this as clear religious persecution and managed to overturn the conviction in 1765. This campaign established him as an unmatched intellectual celebrity who used his fame to fight injustice against ordinary people facing state power.
Guillaume de Syon argues that Voltaire's best-known histories include History of Charles XII published in 1731, The Age of Louis XIV released in 1751, and Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of Nations appearing in 1756. He broke from tradition by narrating diplomatic events less and emphasizing customs instead. He focused on social history and achievements in arts and sciences rather than just military campaigns.
His Essay on Customs traced world civilization progress within a universal context while rejecting nationalism and traditional Christian frameworks. Influenced by Bossuet's Discourse on Universal History, he became the first scholar to seriously attempt a global history eliminating theological frames. He emphasized economics, culture, and political history treating Europe as a whole unit. He was also the first to emphasize medieval debt to Middle Eastern civilization though remaining weak on the Middle Ages themselves. His works imposed Enlightenment values on the past while freeing historiography from antiquarianism and Eurocentrism.
Voltaire challenged orthodoxy by asking what faith truly meant if it required believing evident things. He stated clearly that reason proved existence of a necessary eternal supreme intelligent being without needing faith itself. In a 1763 essay supporting toleration of other religions, he declared all men brothers regardless of whether they were Turks or Chinese. Yet his views on specific faiths varied significantly across decades of writing.
He described Christianity as propagandistic in parts of his Philosophical Dictionary which created myths about early Church gospels. Voltaire promoted theories that Hypatia was murdered by minions of Bishop Cyril of Alexandria to bolster anti-Catholic tracts. His opinion of Islam remained generally negative despite finding some aspects admirable in later years. He called Muhammad a sublime charlatan yet acknowledged removing almost all Asia from idolatry through his religion. These complex positions allowed him to attack religious dogma while sometimes praising the moral simplicity found in other traditions like Confucianism.
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Common questions
When and where was François-Marie Arouet born?
François-Marie Arouet was born in Paris on the 21st of November 1694. He entered the world as the youngest child of a minor treasury official and a woman from the lowest rank of French nobility.
Why did François-Marie Arouet change his name to Voltaire?
Arouet changed his name to Voltaire after spending time in the Bastille prison from the 16th of May 1717 until the 15th of April 1718. The new name functions as an anagram of his birth surname and suggests speed and daring while reversing the syllables of Airvault, his family's home town.
What role did Émilie du Châtelet play in Voltaire's life at Cirey?
Émilie du Châtelet lived with Voltaire for sixteen years at her husband's château located on the borders of Champagne and Lorraine starting in 1733. She translated Newton's Latin Principia into French creating the definitive version used until the twenty-first century and collaborated with him on scientific experiments.
How did Frederick the Great treat Voltaire during their time together in Potsdam?
Frederick the Great invited Voltaire to Potsdam in mid-1750 making him a chamberlain who received a salary of twenty-thousand French livres annually. Their relationship deteriorated when Voltaire was accused of theft by Abraham Hirschel and later when Frederick ordered all copies of Diatribe du docteur Akakia burned.
When did Voltaire purchase the estate that became Ferney-Voltaire?
Voltaire purchased the large estate called Les Délices near Geneva in early 1755 before buying an even larger estate at Ferney on the French side of the border in late 1758. The town adopted his name calling itself Ferney-Voltaire which became its official designation in 1878.
What historical works did Guillaume de Syon identify as Voltaire's best-known histories?
Guillaume de Syon argues that Voltaire's best-known histories include History of Charles XII published in 1731, The Age of Louis XIV released in 1751, and Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of Nations appearing in 1756. These works broke from tradition by emphasizing customs social history and achievements in arts and sciences rather than just military campaigns.