 Born in Le Havre on November 15, 1607, Madeleine de Scudéry was born into a minor Norman aristocratic family, often dismissed as bourgeois by her critics. Her later efforts to conquer the aristocratic and court society of Paris often appeared tied to insecurity concerning her familial rank. Orphaned at the age of six, Scudéry entered into the care of her uncle, an ecclesiastic who provided her with an extensive education. She studied reading, writing, drawing, painting, music, and dancing. She received instruction in the practical arts of medicine, agriculture, and domestic economy. Her most notable achievement was mastery of Spanish and Italian; the domestic library featured numerous volumes written in each language. A voracious reader, she discovered the epic serial novels which would become her preferred literary genre as an author. Scudéry also began her philosophical initiation with the reading of Montaigne, who would influence her later sympathy with skepticism, and Plutarch (in the French translation by Jacques Amyot), who introduced her to the Stoic philosophy of reason, will, and virtue.