Alessandro Cagliostro

Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (June 2, 1743 – August 26, 1795) was a traveller, occultist and Freemason. "Cagliostro" is widely held to have been an alias for the charlatan Giuseppe Balsamo, born to a poor family in Palermo, Sicily. Balsamo was a criminal who, in his most famous crime, claimed aptitude in alchemy to swindle a man out of his gold. The identification of Cagliostro with Giuseppe is not certain, however, being based mainly upon the untrustworthy testimony of the French spy and blackmailer Theveneau de Morande, and later upon his confession to the Inquisition, obtained through torture. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (931x923, 801 KB) Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (1743–1795), traveller, occultist and Freemason. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (931x923, 801 KB) Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (1743–1795), traveller, occultist and Freemason. ... June 2 is the 153rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (154th in leap years), with 212 days remaining. ... // Events February 14 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister February 21 - - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handels oratorio, Samson. ... August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses of this term, see occult (disambiguation). ... American Square & Compasses Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. ... A pseudonym (Greek pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons true name. ... Look up Charlatan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Palermo (disambiguation). ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... For other uses, see Alchemy (disambiguation). ... Charles Théveneau de Morande was a gutter journalist, blackmailer and French spy who lived in London in the 18th century. ... Inquisition (capitalized I) is broadly used, to refer to things related to judgment of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. ...

Cagliostro himself claimed to have been born of Christians of noble birth, but abandoned as an orphan upon the island of Malta. He claimed to have travelled as a child to Medina, Mecca, and Cairo, and upon return to Malta to have been initiated into the Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of Malta, with whom he studied alchemy, the Kabbalah and magic. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the city in Saudi Arabia. ... Nickname: Al Qahirah (The Triumphant City) Cairos location in Egypt Coordinates: Governor Dr. Abdul Azim Wazir Area    - City 210 km²  - Metro 1,492 km² Population (2005)  - City 7,438,376  - Density 35,420/km²  - Urban 10,834,495  - Metro 15,200,000 Time zone EET (UTC+2)  - Summer (DST... The Knights Hospitaller (also known as Knights of Rhodes, Knights of Malta, Cavaliers of Malta, and the Order of St. ... Kabbalah (Hebrew: ‎, Tiberian: , Qabbālāh, Israeli: Kabala) literally means receiving, in the sense of a received tradition, and is sometimes transliterated as Cabala, Kabbala, Qabalah, or other permutations. ... The Sorceress by John William Waterhouse Magic and sorcery are the influencing of events, objects, people and physical phenomena by mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. ...

Life and travels

What is known of Cagliostro is that he became well-known in Naples and later Rome, where he met and married his wife Lorenza Feliciani. They travelled together to London, where he was initiated into Freemasonry, possibly by the Comte de Saint-Germain. He adopted as his secret sign the symbol of Ouroboros; the snake that bites its own tail. He soon founded the Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry in The Hague, which initiated men and women in separate lodges and had an influence on the foundation of the masonic Rite of Misraim. He travelled throughout Russia, Germany, and later France, spreading the influence of the Egyptian Rite and also claiming to be a magnetic healer of great power. His fame grew to the point that he was even recommended as a physician to Benjamin Franklin during a stay in Paris. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Masonic Square and Compasses. ... The Count of St Germain († February 27, 1784) was a courtier, adventurer, inventor, amateur scientist, violinist, amateur composer, and generally mysterious gentleman; he also had at least pretensions of alchemy. ... 1478 drawing by Theodoros Pelecanos, in alchemical tract titled Synosius. ... Arms of The Hague Flag of The city of The Hague. ... Magnet therapy, or magnetic therapy, or magnotherapy is an alternative medicine claiming that certain medical disorders can be effectively treated by exposure to magnetic fields. ... Benjamin Franklin (January 17 [O.S. January 6] 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the most well known Founding Fathers of the United States. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ...

He was an extraordinary forger. In his autobiography, Giacomo Casanova narrates an encounter with Cagliostro who was able to forge a letter of Casanova despite being unable to understand it. Giacomo Casanova Casanova redirects here. ...

Occult historian Lewis Spence comments in his entry on Cagliostro that the swindler put his finagled wealth to good use by starting and funding a chain of maternity hospitals and orphanages around the continent. Lewis Spence (November 25, 1874 - March 3, 1955) was a Scottish journalist and writer. ...

Affair of the diamond necklace

He was prosecuted in the affair of the diamond necklace which involved Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette, and was imprisoned in France for fraud. He was held in the Bastille for nine months, but finally acquitted, when no evidence could be found connecting him to the affair. Nonetheless, he was asked to leave France, and left for England. This was where he was accused by Theveneau de Morande of being Giuseppe Balsamo, which he refuted in his Open letter to the English People, forcing a retraction and apology from Morande. The affair of the diamond necklace was a mysterious incident in the 1780s at the court of Louis XVI of France involving the queen Marie Antoinette. ... Louis XVI, King of France Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792. ... Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France and Archduchess of Austria (born November 1755 – executed 16 October 1793) Daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria, wife of Louis XVI and mother of Louis XVII. She was guillotined at the height of the French Revolution. ... The Bastille The Bastille ( ) was a prison in Paris, known formally as Bastille Saint-Antoine—Number 232, Rue Saint-Antoine—best known today because of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, which along with the Tennis Court Oath is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. ...

Betrayal and imprisonment

Cagliostro left England to visit Rome, where he met two people who asked him to initiate them into the Egyptian Rite. However, they proved to be spies of the Inquisition. Some accounts hold that his wife was the one who initially betrayed him to the Inquisition. On December 27, 1789, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Castel Sant'Angelo. Soon afterwards he was sentenced to death on the charge of being a Mason. The Pope changed his sentence, however, to life imprisonment in the Castel Sant'Angelo. After attempting to escape he was relocated to the Fortress of San Leo. He died on August 26, 1795. Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban... December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (362nd in leap years). ... 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Castel SantAngelo from the bridge. ... The Fortress of San Leo is a castle on the border of the Marche and Romagna regions of central Italy, and famous as the death-place of Count Cagliostro. ... August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

In fiction

• Alexandre Dumas, père used Cagliostro in several of his novels.
• Maurice Leblanc created the character of Josephine Balsamo, a.k.a. Countess Cagliostro as the arch-enemy of Arsène Lupin.
• Robert Arthur used a reference to Cagliostro in his short story, The Book and the Beast, a.k.a. Mr. Dexter's Dragon. In that story, a book said to be Cagliostro's personal occult recipe and conjuring book figures prominently in a series of mysterious disappearances.
• The Phantom comic book featured Cagliostro as a character in the story "The Cagliostro Mystery" from 1988, written by Norman Worker and drawn by Carlos Cruz.
• In the DC Comics universe, Cagliostro is described as an immortal (JLA Annual 2), a descendant of Leonardo da Vinci as well as an ancestor of Zatara and Zatanna (Secret Origins 27).
• In the Image comic book series Spawn, a mystic entity known as Cogliostro is the mentor of Al Simmons (aka Spawn)
• A more modern Count Cagliostro would antagonize antihero Lupin III in the animated Japanese film Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro.
• In a story arc of the Belphegor webcomic, written by Declan O'Connell.
• Caligostro has been played in film by Orson Welles (Black Magic, 1949), Howard Vernon (Erotic Rites of Frankenstein, 1972) and Christopher Walken (The Affair of the Necklace, 2001).
• Cagliostro is a character in Robert Anton Wilson's The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles.
• Cagliostro is frequently alluded to in Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum.
• Mikhail Kuzmin wrote a novella called The Marvelous Life of Giuseppe Balsamo, Count Cagliostro (1916).
• Caligostro makes brief appearances as a vampire sorcerer in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula Series.
• Cagliostro appears as a criminal mastermind bent on upsetting the world economy with lead bars temporarily turned to gold in the Wonder Woman episode "Diana's Disappearing Act". His accomplice was Morgana La Fay, but it appears that that was simply a stage name and she was not the same villain as represented in the DC comic.
• Cagliostro is Dracula's arch-foe in Marvel Comics' Tomb of Dracula series, Marie Laveau's lover and an enemy of Doctor Strange.
• Cagliostro appears as a Grand Master of the Cabal in GURPS Cabal
• Cagliostro is compared to author Ken Kesey in Tom Wolfe's book "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" (1968).
• Cagliostro is a side character in Le Chevalier D'Eon, a historical fantasy animation from Japan. He is loosely based on the historical figure.
• Формула Любви/Formula Lyubvi (Formula of Love), a 1984 Russian film about Cagliostro imagined as a man who is a charlatan but believes in the limitless power of the human mind. Cagliostro wants to work out a set of steps that would induce someone to fall in love. IMDb Page
• Cagliostro is a character in Psychoshop, a novel by Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny.

Alexandre Dumas, père, born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (July 24, 1802 – December 5, 1870) was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. ... Maurice Leblanc Maurice Leblanc Maurice-marie-émile Leblanc (11 December 1864 - 6 November 1941) was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin, often described as a French counterpart to Conan Doyles creation Sherlock... Joséphine Balsamo a. ... Arsène Lupin is the name of a fictional gentleman thief who appears in a book series of detective fiction / crime fiction novels written by French writer Maurice Leblanc, as well as a number of non-canonical sequels and numerous film, television, stage play and comic book adaptations. ... Robert Arthur (1909-1969) was a mystery writer famous for his The Three Investigators series. ... The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk, also creator of Mandrake the Magician. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... For the Celine Dion song, see Immortality (Celine Dion song). ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Mona Lisa Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian polymath: scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, and writer. ... Giovanni Zatara is a fictional character in the DC Universe. ... Zatanna Zatara is a fictional wizard and a superheroine in the DC universe. ... Brian Bollands cover to the 1989 Secret Origins collection. ... Spawn (real name Al Simmons) is a fictional character in Image Comics comic book of the same name. ... Cogliostro (Cog, initially rendered Cagliostro) is a supporting character in Todd McFarlanes Spawn comic series. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... The Castle of Cagliostro , 1979) by Japanese anime director and manga artist Hayao Miyazaki is one of the master thief Lupin III movies. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American theatre, screenwriter and film producer and director, and a theatre, radio and film actor. ... Howard Vernon Howard Vernon (15 July 1914 - 25 July 1996) was a Swiss actor. ... Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken on March 31, 1943) is an Academy Award-winning American film and theatre actor. ... The Affair of the Necklace is a 2001 film directed by Charles Shyer and starring Hilary Swank, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Baker, Adrien Brody, and Joely Richardson. ... It has been suggested that Timothy F.X. Finnegan be merged into this article or section. ... The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles is a series of three novels by Robert Anton Wilson written as a follow-up trilogy to his highly successful The Illuminatus! Trilogy. ... Umberto Eco (born January 5, 1932) is an Italian medievalist, semiotician, philosopher and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa) and his many essays. ... Foucaults Pendulum (original title: Il pendolo di Foucault) is a novel by Italian novelist and philosopher Umberto Eco. ... Mikhail Alekseevich Kuzmin (Михаил Алексеевич Кузмин, 1872 - 1936) was a Russian reincarnation of Andre Gide. ... Vampires (sometimes vampyres) are not mythological or folkloric creatures are the re-animated corpses of human beings who subsist on human or animal blood. ... Kim Newman (born July 31, 1959) is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. ... Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book character Wonder Woman (which was co-created by William Moulton Marston and Elizabeth (Sadie) Holloway Marston). ... Morgana is the daughter of Morgaine le Fey, and a villain who battled Wonder Woman. ... Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary character the vampire Count Dracula. ... Marvel Comics is an American comic book line published by Marvel Publishing, Inc. ... Tomb of Dracula is a horror comic book published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. ... Alleged portrait of Marie Laveau, which hangs in the Louisiana State Library in the Cabildo. ... Doctor Strange is a fictional character, a comic book sorcerer and superhero in the Marvel Comics Marvel universe. ... GURPS Cabal (ISBN 1556344295) is a soft-bound book written by Kenneth Hite and published in 2001 by Steve Jackson Games as a customizable campaign setting for the GURPS role-playing game system. ... Kenneth Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American author, best known for his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and as a (counter) cultural figure who, some consider, was a link between the beat generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Le Chevalier DEon ) is 24-episode anime TV series based on Tow Ubukatas historical fantasy novel of the same title, produced by Production I.G. The novel has been previously adapted as manga. ... Psychoshop is a science fiction novel by authors Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny, published in 1998, a year after Zelaznys death, by Random House, ISBN 0-679-76782-7 http://www. ...

Links and references

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about:

Cagliostro, Alessandro, Count

• Extensive Article on Count Cagliostro from Acadine.org
• Biography from TheMystica.com, identifying him with Giuseppe Balsamo.
• Biography from DJMcAdam.com, an account that rejects this hypothesis.
• Biography from The Psychic Investigator.

Cagliostro was featured in the 1961 tv series "Thriller" in an episode entitled "The Prisoner in the Mirror," starring Henry Daniell and written by Robert Arthur. The story was later published in the June 1963 issue of Fantastic as "The Mirror of Cagliostro" by Robert Arthur. Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ... Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ...