Michel De Montaigne's On Cannibals

Michel de Montaigne was a French essayist and “skeptic” who wrote several pieces through his lifetime including, “On Cannibals” in 1570. The discovery of people in the “New World” shocked Montaigne for learning that people live and think so differently in a society that doesn’t follow Christianity. The news coerced Montaigne to compare the native’s culture to European’s culture in order to gain a new perspective on his culture. By looking at the lives of the ‘cannibals’ in the “New World”, Montaigne was able to use them as a means of criticizing the practices of the Church and political leaders of his own time.
Montaigne’s description of the native’s treatment of captured enemies was as a means of criticizing the methods of torture advocated

Montaigne compares the culture of the natives to the culture of the Europeans by stating, “"lie," "treason," "deception," "greed," "envy," "slander" and "forgiveness" is unknown” to the natives. The statement begins to explain the lack of corruption in the New World because the natives are “pure” unlike the Europeans. This criticism specifically refers to the corrupt practices of the Church during his lifetime. For example, the Church faced backlash in the sixteenth century for several corruptive practices including the sale of indulgences and simony, the selling of church offices. The Church advocated for the sale of Pope signed certificates that reduced the amount of time spent in purgatory. The main reason for the sale of indulgences was to fund the luxurious and corrupt spending habits of church officials. Montaigne distinguishes the difference between the natives and Europeans with the latter being driven by want for power or wealth. According to Montaigne, the natives only had noble motives and didn’t seek power therefore there were a lack of corruption in their society. The Church’s main objective was to gain wealth with advocators such as John Tetzel terrifying the crowds in 1518 with outcries of eternal damnation if they didn’t buy indulgences to support the