 He was the second son of Anne Justine Caroline (née Fleuriot; 1793–1872) and Achille-Cléophas Flaubert (1784–1846), director and senior surgeon of the major hospital in Rouen.He began writing at an early age, as early as eight according to some sources.He was educated at the "Lycée Pierre-Corneille" in Rouen, and did not leave until 1840, when he went to Paris to study law.