The
most flagrant and flamboyant charlatan of the 18th Century was a self-styled
magician named Cagliostro (1743-1795).
Born Joseph Balsamo in Sicily of poor parents, this
uneducated peasant boy rose from abject poverty to fabulous riches. Many times
a millionaire, Cagliostro's obsessive pursuit of fame and fortune, however,
brought him only to a final destination—a dank prison cell where he died in
agony.
The boy lived in the squalor of Palermo where he
learned the techniques of pickpocketing and burglary. An unaccountable
curiosity led him to read. He studied mysticism, ancient cults, and
supernatural powers. To make his fortune, he decided to become an alchemist.
Alchemy was then a process of treating common metals with chemicals that would,
it was claimed, change them into silver or gold.
By the time he was seventeen, Balsamo had, through
trickery and guile, gained a considerable reputation as a successful alchemist
and medium. He swindled considerable gold from a goldsmith and fled to Messina
where he adopted the title of Count Alessandro di Cagliostro.
With his stolen gold, Cagliostro toured Africa and Asia. In Egypt, he studied the pyramids and became knowledgeable in the history of secret sects and their rites. From this, he organized a loose brotherhood, which he labeled Egyptian Masonry. At age twenty-three, Cagliostro sailed to the Mediterranean island of Malta where he met the powerful Pinto, grand master of the Order of the Knights of Malta, an organization that stemmed from the crusaders of 800 years earlier and was now a Masonic sect of great political influence.
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| Cagliostro's wife, Lorenza, an inventive partner in his confidence games; they were tried, convicted and imprisoned by the Inquisition. |
Pinto was
impressed with the erudite and cunning Cagliostro, providing him with
considerable funds with which to travel to Italy as a sort of Masonic spy in
high places, sending back information to his mentor in Malta. In southern
Italy, Cagliostro established a lavish resort, which was little more than a
gambling casino. He traveled for some time, meeting the hypnotist, Franz Anton
Mesmer, creator of mesmerism, and learned how to hypnotize even the most
sophisticated person. (Mesmer, a charlatan of sorts himself, later denounced
Cagliostro as a fraud, a clear-cut case of the pot calling the kettle black.).
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| Queen Marie Antoinette of France, who welcomed Cagliostro to her court, until he was suspected of masterminding the "Affair of the Necklace." |
In Rome, Cagliostro met a beautiful young girl, Lorenza Feliciani.
They married and she joined him in his fabulous confidence swindles.
Establishing themselves in various Italian cities as nobles and renting huge
villas, Cagliostro and his wife cultivated the company of aristocrats and held
séances and demonstrations of his magical alchemy, where he supposedly changed
stones into rare gems and rope into strands of priceless silk. These
"miracles," of course, were nothing more than the magic tricks
Cagliostro had perfected over the years.
All during his travels through southern Europe, Cagliostro
continued to establish branches of his own sect of Egyptian Masonry and these
naive groups regularly sent him money to establish new chapters.
His ego bloated by his own impossible claims, Cagliostro insisted
that he could read into the future, perform acts of astounding wizardry, such
as bringing forth spirits. Cagliostro also claimed that he could heal all
manner of illnesses by laying his hands upon sick people and by pronouncing
secret oaths. Doubters were fearful of denouncing his frauds, however, since
they believed he might bring upon them death-enveloping curses.
"Remember," Cagliostro was fond of saying, "I can afflict as
well as heal!"
Enormous amounts of money began to flow into Cagliostro's coffers,
gifts, donations, and outright payments from the nobility for his cures, his
séances, his advice on matters of health, hygiene, and even sex. He became the
highest-paid oracle on earth. Coupled to this princely income were great gluts
of cash he received from the dozens of Masonic sects he had established in
Italy, Greece, Spain, and France.
He became a court favorite of King Louis XVI
and his tempestuous, beautiful queen, Marie Antoinette. In 1785, however, the
powerful Cagliostro was undone in the notorious Affair of the Diamond Necklace,
a colossal swindle that, ironically, had nothing to do with Cagliostro.
