Étienne de La Boétie

Étienne or Estienne de La Boétie (French: [etjɛn də la bɔesi] ^ⓘ, also [bwati] or [bɔeti]; Occitan: Esteve de La Boetiá; 1 November 1530 – 18 August 1563) was a French magistrate, classicist, writer, poet and political theorist, best remembered for his friendship with essayist Michel de Montaigne. His early political treatise Discourse on Voluntary Servitude was posthumously adopted by the Huguenot movement and is sometimes seen as an early influence on modern anti-statist, utopian and civil disobedience thought.