François-René de Chateaubriand

(1768 - 1848)

The youngest of ten children, François-René de Chateaubriand was raised in a castle in northwest France. Exiled from home during the French Revolution, he lived as an impoverished writer in London. He returned to France when the monarchy ascended once more, becoming a viscount and continuing to write the works, including Memoirs from Beyond the Grave, that would make him a founder of French Romanticism and muse to authors such as Lord Byron and Victor Hugo.