Annales historiques de la Révolution française nº391 (1/2018)
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This article offers a reflection on the relationship between illuminism, mesmerism, and mysticism within the circle of the Duchess of Bourbon in the last third of the Eighteenth Century. An analysis of the circle of the Petit Bourg reveals the changing relationship among these groups. The French Revolution was to stimulate the crossfertilization among these different groups. The Duchess of Bourbon welcomed to her home many members of the constitutional clergy, as well as the prophetess Suzette Labrouse. This revolutionary mysticism embraced the notion of animal magnetism and even contributed to spreading it. The international network that formed around illuminism, prophesy, and animal magnetism will also be examined in this article. The circle of Labrousse, itself, invites reflection about the religious dimension of contemporary thought among the second generation of Enlightenment thinkers.