Marquis de Sade (1740 – 1814), full name Jean-Baptiste François Joseph de Sade, was a French aristocrat, philosopher, politician, and writer infamous for his sexual liaisons and erotic works. After first pursuing a military career and fighting in the Seven Years' War, he was later imprisoned and transferred to an insane asylum for nearly half of his life due to excessive reports of abuse of his servants and prostitutes, and due to his erotic publication, the novel Justine.