Markiz de Sad

Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, who entered history as the Marquis de Sade (Fr. marquis de Sade), was a French writer, aristocrat, and philosopher. He was a proponent of absolute freedom, one that would not be limited by morality, religion, or law, and he regarded the possibility of attaining the highest personal pleasure as the fundamental value of life.

From his name, sexual gratification obtained by causing pain or humiliation to another person received the name sadism (in the works of sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing; later the words sadism and sadist came to be used in a broader sense as well).

The de Sade family bore a comital title. Donatien’s grandfather was the first in this family to receive the title of marquis and to be called “Marquis de Sade,” although in official documents he is more often referred to as the Marquis de Mazan (marquis de Mazan); the writer’s father was styled “Count de Sade.” It is known that the de Sade family belonged to the noblesse d'épée (“nobility of the sword”), which made it possible to pass the father’s title to the son by inheritance. Despite this fact, the transfer of the marquis title to de Sade’s father and then to de Sade himself was never documented, which puts his title of marquis, rather than count, in doubt. Disputes about whether Donatien was indeed a marquis continue to this day. In some documents from his lifetime he is called the Marquis de Sade (including the 1772 parlement sentence and a number of letters), in others — count (including the death record). He entered literary history precisely as the Marquis de Sade, regardless of whether he had the legal right to use this title.

Donatien Alphonse François de Sade was born on 2 June 1740 in the Château de Condé in Paris. His father was Jean-Baptiste Joseph François, Count de Sade, who was a hereditary governor in the provinces of Bresse, Bugey, Valromey, and Gex. Before receiving his honorary title, he served as envoy at the