Montaigne’s tomb.

Montaigne's cenotaph in the Museum of Aquitaine

Montaigne died on 13 September 1592. The cause of his death is not known, but nowadays scientists think that he died of a cerebral haemorrhage. Montaigne was first temporarily buried in the church opposite the entrance to his castle. His heart is still there. His wife had a very beautiful cenotaph made for him. When that was done after a year, Montaigne's body was transferred to what should become his final resting place: The Church of the Convent of the Feuillants in Bordeaux. In 1789 the French Revolution broke out and the monastery was confiscated by the state. The former monastery was now used for housing the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the University of Bordeaux. In 1871, the old monastery building was destroyed by a fire and a new building for the faculty was constructed. The remains of Montaigne were temporarily transferred to the Chartreuse cemetery in Bordeaux and later they were transferred to the new building of the faculty and buried in the basement. All the while, Montaigne’s cenotaph remained in the same place, so first in the monastery church and then in the faculty building. In 1987 the building was repurposed and the Museum of Aquitaine was established there. The faculty moved out but Montaigne’s cenotaph was left behind and got a special room in the museum. In 2017, the cenotaph was restored and the hall where it was exhibited also got a new look.

This is a summary of what was known about Montaigne’s grave in 2018. It was known that there was a wall in the basement with apparently closed spaces. The coffin with the remains of Montaigne should still be there. But was it? Nobody really knew and how to find out? Then the director of the museum, Laurent Védrine, got the idea that it might be possible to peep into the spaces with modern means. A team of scientists, led by archaeoanthropologist Hélène Réveillas, was formed. With a micro-camera, they peeped through a hole in the wall into the space where Montaigne probably had been buried. What they saw surpassed all expectations: A wooden coffin with the inscription “Montaigne”. To make a long story short, the space was opened, the coffin was taken out and a few months later, after careful preparation, the coffin was opened, on 18 November 2019. The coffin appeared to contain a lead sarcophagus. The sarcophagus contained “a well-preserved skeleton, a skull with almost all its teeth, as yet undetermined organic matter, tissue remains, pollen and insects. … A paper contained in a flask encased in a metallic capsule, found next to the wooden coffin, turned out to be the municipal record of re-burial of the philosopher’s body in 1886.” (source) All this was a clear indication that the remains found were Montaigne’s. But in order to find out whether they really were, more research had to be done, like carbon 14 dating, DNA research and comparing the found DNA with DNA of Montaigne’s family. And then the investigations had to be put on the back burner because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. But at last, a year ago, the results could be presented. As Hélène Réveillas summed up: “There is a bundle of clues, such as the dating of bones, funeral treatment (sarcophagus, embalming) testifying to a certain social rank. And the remains are from a man over 30 years old. The skeleton also revealed excellent dental hygiene, rare for the time, and a single missing tooth, mentioned by the philosopher in his writings.” All this confirmed that the man in the sarcophagus could be Montaigne. However, so Mme Réveillas, “some elements are not convincing enough. … Genealogical research of a possible descent of Montaigne to compare the traces of DNA found on the remains has not succeeded. Nor has research on hair or eye colour, for lack of existing sufficiently ‘reliable’ portraits. The 3D facial reconstruction is not more conclusive: The shape of the ears and skull do not agree with the face of the man lying on the cenotaph.” Therefore, the riddle who the man in the coffin actually is is not completely solved. Nevertheless, Mme Réveillas thinks that it is 80% certain that the man in the coffin in the basement of the Museum of Aquitaine really is Montaigne. (source)

During the years, I have written many blogs and essays about Montaigne and his Essays. I have visited places where he lived, such as his houses in Bordeaux and his castle in the Dordogne in France. I have followed Montaigne’s traces inside and outside France. I have also visited the room with his cenotaph at the Museum of Aquitaine. No wonder, that I wanted to visit his grave, too, if possible. But nobody knew where it was. But now we know, or at least we are nearly certain of it. I have visited the Museum of Aquitaine twice, so unknowingly, I have visited his grave already as well. Or almost.

Addendum
Video about the discovery of Montaigne’s remains (in French): https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8z7llg