Slavery and Freedom in a Time of Civil War: La Boétie, L’Hospital, and Montaigne

Abstract

The modern ‘neo-Roman' or ‘republican' concept of freedom as liberty from the arbitrary will of another is the starting point for a discussion of three French Renaissance magistrates for whom freedom is paramount political question: La Boétie, L'Hospital, and Montaigne. The first of these sees freedom in ontological terms, the foundation of being as well as of any political system in the form of freedom of expression and amitié. The article shows that that these values are severely tested by the French Wars of Religion. L’Hospital claims that personal and collective liberty is compatible with monarchical rule and submission to the will of another. This attempt to reconcile domination and non-domination is then greatly refined by Montaigne who re-frames the premises of this debate in terms which develop the role of historical figures such as Socrates and Lucan in the defence of individual and civic freedom.