Antoinette Bourignon, a Flemish fanatic, born in Lille, Jan. 13, 1616, died at Franeker, Oct. 30, 1680. She was so ugly that at her birth it was proposed to kill her as a monster; nevertheless, being of a rich family, she received several offers of marriage, which she refused in order to devote herself to a religious life. In 1636 she fled from home in male disguise, to avoid marrying, and entered a convent at Cam-bray, where she pretended to inspiration and made a number of converts among the nuns. Attempting to escape with some of her disciples, she was expelled, and after the death of her father took charge of a hospital at Lille, whence she was also expelled. She then travelled extensively, and at Amsterdam abjured Roman Catholicism, and urged reforms in religion and politics. Thence she fled to Holstein to avoid arrest, and took up her residence in the island of Nordstrand, where she gave umbrage to the authorities by the clandestine publication of her mystical writings. She afterward wandered over various parts of Europe, claiming to be the medium of a new revelation supplementary to that of the Scriptures, making proselytes, but often persecuted as a witch.

Shortly before her death she was at the head of a hospital in East Friesland. La-coste, Peter Poiret, and Noels, the secretary of Jansen, were among her disciples. Her writings were published by Poiret (25 vols., Amsterdam, 1676-'84; new ed., 1717).