Early Life Franois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, was
born on the 21 st of November 1694, to Franois Arouet, a minor
treasury official, and Marie Marguerite d'Aumart, a woman from a
noble family in the Poitou Province. At the age of 12 Voltaire
enrolled in the Collge Louis- le-Grand, a Jesuit secondary school
in Paris. This was known as one of the most demanding schools in
France.
Slide 3
From the moment he stepped out of college, Voltaire knew he
wanted to be a writer. However, his father wanted him to be a
lawyer. Voltaire spent much time in Paris, posing as the assistant
to a lawyer, writing satirical poetry. His father found him out and
sent him to study law in the provinces, but this did not stop
Voltaire from writing, producing essays and historical studies.
Some of his satirical writings became popular among the
aristocrats.
Slide 4
Voltaire them moved to the Netherlands, where his father had
found him a job as a secretary for the French Ambassador. it was
there where Voltaire met Catherine Olympe Dunoyer, with whom he
fell in love. They eloped, which caused his father to have him
returned to France.
Slide 5
From the beginning of his career Voltaire had trouble with the
authorities and the Catholic Church. As a result, he was imprisoned
and exiled several times. In 1717, he was involved in the Cellamore
conspiracy of Giulio Alberoli against the Duke of Orleans, Philippe
II, the regent for Louis XV of France. Allegedly, he wrote
satirical verses about the aristocracy and one of his pieces about
the Regent led him to be imprisoned for 11 months, during which he
wrote his famous play Oedipe.
Slide 6
In 1726, Voltaire insulted the powerful young nobleman,
Chevalier De Rohan, and was given the 2 options of imprisonment or
exile. He chose exile, and lived in England from 1726 until 1729.
While in England Voltaire was attracted by John Lockes philosophies
and the ideas of Sir Isaac Newton. He went on to study Englands
Constitutional Monarchy and its religious tolerance. On return to
Paris, Voltaire write a book praising England for its customs and
institutions. The French authorities took this as a criticism of
France and exiled him again in 1734.
Slide 7
Voltaire was invited to join Marquise du Chatelet at her estate
in Luneville in Eastern France. They studied there for several
years, focusing on the natural sciences. In 1746, Voltaire was
voted into the Academie Francaise. In 1749, Marquise du Chatelet
died, and Voltaire was invited by the King of Prussia to move to
Potsdam. He lived there for 4 years and thn loved back to
France.
Slide 8
In 1759, Voltaire bought and loved to an estate near the
French-Swiss border, named Ferney. Ferney became the intellectual
capital of France. It was from here that Voltaire wrote and
produced many of his books, plays and other publications. At the
age of 83 he travelled to Europe where he was welcomed as a hero.
The trip was too much for him to handle and he died there in Paris.
Because of his opposition to the church and criticism of religious
intolerance and persecution, he was denied a burial on church
grounds. He was buried at an abbey in Champange and then in 1791
his remains were moved to a resting place at the Pantheon in
Paris.