Francois Rabelais was born some time in the late 1400s. Some think as early as 1483 and some as late as 1494. In his early life he was a novice in the Franciscan order but he eventually found it too restrictive and left. He studied at a couple of universities and ended up studying in Lyons. He also practiced medicine and you can really tell that from his writings.
In 1532 he published 'Pantagruel' and later the prequel 'Gargantua'. Both were popular with the people but condemned by the Sorbonne and the Catholic church. However he received approval from the King himself and was allowed to keep publishing. He spent quite a bit of time outside of France, probably in hiding from those who had branded him a heretic.
He died in Paris in 1553 and had at least two different sets of last words attributed to him. He apparently wrote 'I have nothing, I owe a great deal, and the rest I leave to the poor' and said 'I go to seek a Great Perhaps'.
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