# Maison de La Boétie Birthplace of Étienne de La Boétie - **Place**: Sarlat-la-Canéda - **Address**: Place du Peyrou, 24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda · Dordogne - **Period**: XVIᵉ siècle - **Type**: Private mansion - **Protection**: Listed historic monument - **Mérimée record**: PA00082964 - **Coordinates**: 44.8889, 1.2166 A Renaissance-style mansion built around 1520-1525 on the place du Peyrou, where the writer Étienne de La Boétie, the friend of Montaigne, was born in 1530. The house has been a Listed Monument Historique (France's national heritage listing) since 1889. ## History - **1520–1525 — Construction** Antoine de La Boétie, criminal lieutenant of the sénéchaussée of Sarlat, has the house built. - **1530 — The birth of Étienne de La Boétie** On 1 November 1530, the future writer is born in the family home. - **1889 — The listing** The house is Listed as a Monument Historique. - **2023 — The Loto du patrimoine** The house is selected by the Mission Patrimoine to represent the Dordogne - **2024 — The restoration** The restoration works begin in September 2024. ## Figures - **Étienne de La Boétie · 1530 – 1563 · Writer and magistrate** Born in this house on 1 November 1530, Étienne de La Boétie is the author of the Discours de la servitude volontaire (Discourse on Voluntary Servitude), a treatise on the obedience of peoples to tyrants. A counsellor at the parlement of Bordeaux, from 1558 he formed a celebrated friendship with Michel de Montaigne, who would pay tribute to him in his Essais. He died in 1563, aged 32. ## Places - **The vaulted passageway · The architectural innovation that structures the building** The building extends above a vaulted passageway leading to a rear courtyard, a device that the Fondation du Patrimoine identifies as the true architectural innovation of the La Boétie House. The entrance to the passage is composed of a segmental arch flanked by two large columns with capitals, in the decorative vocabulary of the Italian Renaissance. This choice also allowed a public route to be preserved through the heart of the block, characteristic of 16th-century Sarlat urban planning. - **Étienne's Room · The entire Discourse on Voluntary Servitude copied out onto the walls** On the first floor, an entire room was taken over in 2010 by contemporary artist Arno Fabre, in residence at Sarlat as part of the "Résidences de l'Art en Dordogne" programme. He copied by hand the complete Discourse on Voluntary Servitude by Étienne de La Boétie, in its original Middle French version drawn from the Manuscrit de Mesme. The work transforms the room into an immersive space where the text covers all the walls, echoing the political and still highly topical nature of the most famous work by Sarlat's most illustrious philosopher. ## Key facts - **1530 — A famous birth** Étienne de La Boétie, future author of the Discours de la servitude volontaire and the friend of Montaigne, was born in this house on 1 November. - **François Iᵉʳ — A fashionable façade** the façade was built around 1520-1525 in the style of the Italian Renaissance, brought into fashion in France under François I. Sarlat would soon receive a Florentine bishop, Niccolò Gaddi, a cousin of the Medici, appointed in 1533. - **2024 — A house under restoration** selected by the Mission Patrimoine (Loto du patrimoine 2023), the house is undergoing a restoration begun in September 2024. ## Frequently asked questions ### Who was Étienne de La Boétie? A magistrate and writer born in this house on 1 November 1530, author of the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude. A counsellor at the Bordeaux parliament, he was Montaigne's friend and died in 1563, aged thirty-two. ### Can you visit the maison de La Boétie? The house has been under restoration since September 2024, after being selected by the French heritage lottery in 2023. Its façade can be seen from the place du Peyrou, and the interior explored in the virtual tour on this page. ### Why does the façade look like an Italian palace? It was built around 1520-1525 in the vocabulary of the Italian Renaissance, brought into fashion in France under François I. The Périgord had close ties with Italy at the time, confirmed by the arrival of a Florentine bishop in Sarlat in 1533. ### What is written on the walls of the bedroom? In 2010, the artist Arno Fabre copied out by hand the whole of the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude in a first-floor room. The text, in its original Middle French, covers every wall. ## Links - Full page: https://opusheritage.com/en/villes/sarlat-la-caneda/maison-de-la-boetie - Town: https://opusheritage.com/en/villes/sarlat-la-caneda - Reference: https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/PA00082964 - Reference: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22988051 - Reference: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maison_de_La_Bo%C3%A9tie --- Source: OPUS Heritage, https://opusheritage.com/en/villes/sarlat-la-caneda/maison-de-la-boetie. Content published by the town of Sarlat-la-Canéda.