Born in Brittany, Montigny was encouraged by the marquise de Guiche, a granddaughter of Pierre Séguier, chancellor of France.
He published some poetry (Le palais des plaisirs) and a Letter to Erastus in which he took up the defense of the unfortunate epic La Pucelle of Jean Chapelain.
He was appointed bishop of Laon—a post that would have made him a duke and peer of France—but en route to take up his episcopal duties he died of a stroke.
At the time of his unexpected death, Mme de Sevigné wrote that he was a luminary of philosophy and attributed the stroke of which he died to overwork.
The Abbé d'Olivet assessed his place in the contemporary literary world: "His prose is correct, elegant, sonorous ("nombreuse"): his versification flowing, noble, filled with images.