Joseph de Maistre
Portrait of Maistre by Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein around 1810.
Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre was born on the 1st April 1753 in Chambéry, in the Duchy of Savoy, which at that time was part of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, ruled by the House of Savoy. His family was of French origin. He was probably educated by the Jesuits. He would later become a Senator.
He supported Louis XVI decision to call the Estates General possibly seeking to join that institution as he himself was a landowner in France. He quickly turned against the Revolution after the August Decrees he also was deeply upset by the amalgamation of the three estates.
He fled his home when it was overrun by French Revolutionary armies in 1792 and headed to Switzerland. It was during this time period that he produced a great many of his counter revolutionary works. The French Revolution to him and the ensuing Terror were the logical conclusion of the Enlightenment. France had turned from its mission set by god unto the road of atheism. He was disturbed how institutions that he believed had been shaped by God throughout history were set aside to be replaced by bodies created by the will of the people which was far more temporary and temporal in its nature. His belief in the underpinning of society by religion and the monarchy became known as “throne and altar.”
Maistre returned in 1817 to Turin, and served there as magistrate and minister of state until his death. He died on 26 February 1821. His reputation as a key theorist of counter revolutionary theories outlived him.