Voltaire

Voltaire, the pen name of François-Marie Arouet, was a French writer and philosopher and the most famous figure of the Enlightenment. In plays, histories, satires such as Candide and polemics he attacked religious intolerance, the power of the Church and arbitrary government. He corresponded with rulers including Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia, and spent his last decades near the Swiss border at Ferney.