Person
Joseph de Maistre
Joseph de Maistre was a Savoyard lawyer, diplomat and political philosopher, remembered as one of the intellectual forefathers of modern conservatism. Born at Chambéry, a subject of the King of Piedmont-Sardinia, he was at first a liberal, but turned against the French Revolution after the August Decrees of 1789 and fled Chambéry when a French revolutionary army took it in 1792. As ambassador to the Russian Empire in Saint Petersburg he wrote his most influential works, and from 1817 he was minister of state in Turin. In Considerations on France (1796) he argued that the Revolution was divine punishment, and he defended monarchy and the ultimate authority of the Pope.
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- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Joseph de Maistre. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/joseph-de-maistre
- MLA
- “Joseph de Maistre.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/joseph-de-maistre. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Joseph de Maistre.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/joseph-de-maistre.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Joseph de Maistre’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/joseph-de-maistre (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻