Born sometime around 1483, in the west of France, Rabelais was a man of vast and profound learning. There were few areas in European society and culture that did not arouse Rabelais' interest, and he made his mark in areas as diverse as medicine, law, botany, and politics. Shortly after arriving in Paris, he became a secular priest, without the permission of church authorities, and had two children, Fran￯﾿ﾽois and Junie, with a widow. Rabelais went to study medicine in Montpelier, the foremost medical university in France, and even though he left for Lyons without having finished his medical studies, he was named doctor of one the largest hospitals in France in 1532. Always on the move and insatiably curious, Rabelais spent time in Italy before he died in 1553 in Paris.