‘Un admirateur des philosophes modernes’: the networks of Swedish ambassador Gustav Philip Creutz in Paris, 1766-1783

Charlotta Wolff

This chapter analyses the social networks of the Swedish diplomat Count Gustav Philip Creutz (1731-1785) during his embassy to France. The main source is the Contrôle des étrangers series, which contains weekly police reports on the diplomat’s frequentations and whereabouts, allowing for a statistical study. The source shows an aristocratic and cosmopolitan network, where the radical circles close to the Encyclopédie nevertheless had a given place. As the analysis closes in on Creutz’s contacts with philosophers, writers and other intellectuals, the study also discusses the relationship between worldly sociability and philosophical engagement in the age of Enlightenment.