1596
Born in La Haye (now Descartes) on 31 March, to Joachim Descartes, a counselor in the Parliament of Brittany, and Jeanne Brochard, who would die in childbirth the following year.
1607
Around Easter, he enrolls at the Jesuit college of La Flèche, where he remains until approximately 1615, following the traditional course of studies.
1616
On May 21, he enrolls at the University of Poitiers; on November 10, he obtains a baccalaureate and a license in canon and civil law by defending specialised theses on testamentary law (Theses ex utroque jure de testamentis ordinandis), preceded by an extensive Latin dedication to his maternal uncle, René Brochard.
1618
He enlists in the army of Maurice of Nassau, the Protestant stadtholder of the Dutch United Provinces, and resides in Breda from April. On November 10, he meets Isaac Beeckman, with whom he collaborates on various mathematical research projects and to whom he dedicates his first philosophical work, the Compendium Musicae.
1619
He begins traveling through Northern Europe. In the summer, he is in Frankfurt for the election of Emperor Ferdinand II. He possibly enlists in the troops of the Catholic Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, at war against the Protestant Elector Palatine, Frederick V, recently elected King of Bohemia. In November, he
1620
During the winter, he plans to write and publish a mathematical treatise and establishes contact with German mathematicians in Ulm, including Johann Faulhaber. However, by spring, he resumes traveling across Europe without yet publishing anything.
1621–1624
A period of travels, about which little is known. He resides in France from 1622 to 1623. By June 1624, he returns to his native region.
1625–1627
He travels to Italy in Spring 1625, then settles in Paris, participating in the circle of Marin Mersenne and forming relationships with, among others, Guez de Balzac, Silhon, Morin, and Gibieuf. In the autumn of 1627, he meets Cardinal Bérulle and other scholars and scientists of the time, who encourage him to continue and publish his research.
1628
He probably works on “Rules for the Direction of the Mind”, which he leaves unfinished. In autumn, he travels to Holland, where he settles in the following months and remains – except for three brief trips to France (1644, 1647, 1648) – until the year before his death, frequently changing places.
1629
In the first nine months of the year, he works on a “small metaphysical treatise,” now lost. Prompted by his Dutch friend Reneri, he begins studying the
1630
In spring, he begins a correspondence with Mersenne centred on the divine creation of eternal truths. He severs ties with Beeckman, who had disseminated the Compendium Musicae while claiming authorship of some doctrines contained in it. He begins systematically working on the physics treatise conceived the previous year: The World, or Treatise on Light.
1633
After the condemnation of Galileo by the Holy Office, he abandons plans to publish The World, of which the draft was nearly complete.
1637
He publishes Discourse on the Method, followed by three scientific essays: “Dioptrics”, “Meteors”, and “Geometry”. In May, Beeckman dies. Descartes receives objections and critiques from various philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians: Plemp, Froidmont, Fermat, and – the following year – Roberval and Morin.
1639
In November, he begins working on a metaphysical work, which occupies him until the following spring: the future Meditations.
1640
He sends the manuscript of the Meditations to Regius, his first Dutch follower, and then to the Scholastic theologian Caterus, who provides objections. In November, he sends Mersenne a copy of the text with Caterus’s objections and his replies, requesting circulation among philosophers and theologians.
1641
In the early months of the year, through Mersenne, he receives further objections to the Meditations – from Mersenne himself, Hobbes, Arnauld, and Gassendi – to which he responds meticulously. The Meditations on First Philosophy (Meditationes de prima philosophia), followed by six sets of Objections and Replies, are published in August in Paris, edited by Mersenne. Meanwhile, Regius begins distancing himself from Descartes in public disputes in Utrecht.
1642
He receives objections from the Jesuit Father Bourdin, which – along with Descartes’s replies – are included in the second edition of the Meditations, published in Holland in May under a slightly modified title. He probably drafts the unfinished manuscript The Search for Truth, published after his death.
1643
He begins an intense correspondence with Princess Elizabeth of the Palatinate on metaphysics, psychology, and ethics. Controversies sparked by Regius intensify; in Utrecht, Descartes is accused of scepticism and atheism by his adversaries Voetius and Schoock.
1644
From spring to autumn, he is in Paris, where he meets Claude Clerselier (his future posthumous editor) and Hector-Pierre Chanut (brother-in-law of the former and future French ambassador to Stockholm). In July, the Principles of Philosophy and a Latin translation of the Discourse on the Method and its accompanying essays (except “Geometry”) are published in Amsterdam. In November, he moves to Egmond-Binnen, near Alkmaar, his final Dutch home.
A trial against Descartes’s doctrines takes place in Groningen, but the verdict is favourable, exposing the machinations of Voetius and Schoock.
1646
The dispute with Regius continues as the latter publishes his Fundamenta Physices. Prompted by Elizabeth of the Palatinate, Descartes begins working on the Passions of the Soul, drafting an initial outline.
1647
New anti-Cartesian controversies arise in Leiden, and he travels to France in summer. French translations of the Meditations (by the Duke of Luynes for the main text and Clerselier for the Objections and Replies) and the Principles are published in Paris; the latter includes an important prefatory letter to the translator, Abbot Picot. He writes letters on morality to Elizabeth, Chanut, and Queen Christina of Sweden, while also working on Primae Cogitationes circa Generationem Animalium and the Description of the Human Body.
1648
He disavows Regius in Notae in Programma Quoddam, to which the former disciple promptly responds – the final act of their dispute. He meets theologian Frans Burman, who records their discussion (the text will be published posthumously as Conversation with Burman). He exchanges significant letters with Arnauld and, from December onwards, with Henry More. In summer, he returns to France for the last time. On September 1, Mersenne dies in Paris.
1649
He is persistently invited to Sweden by Queen Christina. After initial reluctance, he accepts, arriving in autumn. In his absence, the Passions of the Soul is published in Paris and Amsterdam. Meanwhile, in Stockholm, Descartes
1650
On February 1, he presents his final project: the statutes for an Academy of sciences to be founded in Stockholm. He falls ill with pneumonia and dies on February 11, comforted by a Catholic priest and his friend Chanut.