Estienne de La Boétie

Born in Sarlat in 1530, Étienne de La Boétie became a French writer, poet, and magistrate during the Renaissance. He is most often remembered for Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, a vivid meditation on why people submit to unjust rule and how power depends on consent.

La Boétie also served in the Parlement of Bordeaux, where he formed a famous friendship with Michel de Montaigne. Montaigne later helped preserve his reputation by writing warmly about him and by keeping his memory alive in print.

He died in 1563, only in his early thirties, but his work continued to travel far beyond his lifetime. Readers return to him for the clarity of his prose, the force of his political ideas, and the sense that he was asking questions that never really go away.