GUYON, JEANNE MARIE BOUVIER DE LA MOTHE 7 I 7 ), French quietist writer, was born of good family at Montargis on April 13, 1648. She attended various convent schools, and in 1664 married a rich invalid of the name of Guyon, many years her senior. Twelve years later he died, leaving his widow with three small children and a considerable fortune.
Her attraction towards the mystical life was developed by her spiritual director, Father Lacombe, a Barnabite monk of weak character and unstable intellect, and from 1681 the two rambled about together in Savoy and the south-east of France, spreading their mystical ideas. At last they excited the suspicion of the authorities; in 1686 Lacombe was recalled to Paris, put under surveillance, and was finally sent to the Bastille in 1687. He was presently transferred to the castle of Lourdes, where he died in 1715.
Meanwhile Madame Guyon had been arrested in 1688, but was delivered in the following year by her old friend, the duchesse de Bethune, who had become a power in the devout court-circle presided over by Madame de Maintenon. Before long Madame Guyon herself was introduced into this pious assemblage where she displayed her charm and eloquence. She became friendly with Fenelon, now a rising young spiritual director. Between 1689 and 1693 they corresponded regularly.
Meanwhile similar reports had strained her relationship with Madame de Maintenon, and to clear her orthodoxy, Madame Guyon appealed to Bossuet, who decided that her books contained "much that was intolerable, alike in form and matter." Madame Guyon promised to "dogmatize no more," and disappeared into the country (1693) . In the next year she again petitioned for an inquiry, and was eventually sent to Bossuet's cathedral town of Meaux. She soon left without his leave, bearing with her a certificate of orthodoxy signed by him. Bossuet regarded this flight as an act of disobedience; in the winter Madame Guyon was arrested and shut up in the Bastille. There she remained till 1703. In that year she was liberated, on condition she would live on her son's estate near Blois, under the eye of a stern bishop. Here the rest of her life was spent in charitable and pious exercises; she died on June 9, 1717. In France she has often been reckoned an hysterical degenerate; in England and Germany she has as often roused enthusiastic admiration.