François Rabelais was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, and humanist. Born between 1483 and 1494 in Seuilly, Touraine, France, Rabelais was a writer, physician, humanist, and Catholic priest. He is often regarded as the first great French prose author. A devoted humanist and a Greek scholar, Rabelais attracted opposition from prominent figures, including Protestant theologian John Calvin and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

In his era, Rabelais was known as a physician, scholar, diplomat, and priest, but he later became famous for his satirical writings, depicting grotesque scenes and larger-than-life characters. His works often embody the contradictory facets of his character: religious yet anticlerical, Christian yet a freethinker, and a doctor yet a bon vivant.

Caught in the religious and political upheavals of the Reformation, Rabelais addressed significant questions of his time in his novels. His legacy includes the early volumes on the childhoods of the giants Gargantua and Pantagruel, written in the bildungsroman style. His later works, such as The Third Book and The Fourth Book, take on a more erudite tone.

The term "Rabelaisian" is now used to describe something marked by robust humor, caricature extravagance, or bold naturalism.