The most influential writer and propagandist of the Enlightenment, Jean François Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire (1694–1778), contributed in a witty and readable manner to all forms of literature and intellectual discourse. He corresponded with most of his prominent contemporaries, including monarchs. Catherine II (r. 1762–96), who eventually purchased his library and brought it back to St. Petersburg, was one of his most frequent royal correspondents. Voltaire was actively engaged in the defense of victims of miscarriages of justice and religious discrimination. His denunciation of the abuses of Old Regime France made him an icon of the moderate revolutionaries of 1789.