Abstract:
Whilst Michel de Montaigne lavishes praise on his father, Pierre Eyquem de Montaigne, in his *Essays*, he makes no mention whatsoever of his mother, Antoinette de Louppes de Villeneuve (3.1.), whose surname is simply the French version of López de Villanueva. Did Michel de Montaigne wish to conceal a Spanish ancestry which, in his mother’s case, also pointed to Jewish origins? Was his mother not descended from the Paçagon family, a Jewish family from Calatayud (Aragon) who converted to Catholicism in the early 15th century? Did he also wish to erase bourgeois origins that were all too reminiscent of second-hand clothes and pastel colours? This is what the present article will seek to examine.
Keywords: Montaigne, Genealogy, Catholicism, Judaism, Spain.