Francois Marie Arouet, Voltaire's birth name, was born on the 21st of November in 1694, in Paris, France to a middle class family. Voltaire became familiar with the Bible after studying Greek and Latin in a Jesuit school. He believed in a God, but did not believe all things about God were true. He kept his Christian faith though, so that he would have a proper burial when he died. Voltaire was exiled to England were the English welcomed him. He soon learned English and three years later he was allowed back into France. Voltaire wrote about fifty to sixty tragedies and comedies throughout his lifetime. Many of his stories criticized the church. Some of the works that he wrote were Historic de Charles XII, Zaire, Temple du Gout, Merope, and Poeme de Fonterary. Voltaire drove through Paris on March 30th, 1778 in a blue coach with golden starts on it. The crowd cheered as Voltaire was being honored. Two months later, in May of 1778, Voltaire died. In 1884, religious fundamentalists stole Voltaire's remains and dumped them into a pit of quicklime, a "burial" reserved for those hated by the church.
             Voltaire's Candide took place during The Enlightenment. "The Enlightenment" began in the seventeenth century and ended in the eighteenth century, as the French Revolution as the high point during this time. The Enlightenment was a period when there were many advances in medicine, science, and philosophy. Voltaire uses many of his own experiences in Candide. He wrote this novel during a three week time he spent in Schwetzingen, after the Lisbon earthquake in 1755. The Lisbon earthquake took place in the morning of November 1st, 1755 at about 9:20am. This was the largest earthquake in history, killing over 100,000 people. Following the deadly earthquake, a giant tsunami flooded througout Lisbon, and then a deadly fire raged throughout the city for another five days. Voltaire was very touched ...