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| Cagliostro, 1778 |
In earlier posts we began to profile Houdini’s blackhearted hero Cagliostro, the most famous magician of the 18th century. Growing up poor like Houdini, Cagliostro - also like Houdini - convinced many illustrious people that he had magical powers. He was, like Houdini, King of Cards.
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| From Cagliostro's Tarot |
Goethe reputedly used him as a model for Faust, starred him by name in a comedy (Der Gross-Cophta) and wrote extensively about him in his autobiography. The great poet and playwright Schiller’s only book-length fiction is about Cagliostro, entitled Der Geisterseher, literally “The Ghost-Seer.” Cagliostro and his wife appear in Casanova's Memoirs and in books by Thomas Carlyle, Johannes von Guenther and others. Dumas wrote four novels starring Cagliostro, portraying him as possessing the elixir of life and also as architect of the French Revolution. As we’ve reported, Dumas' works sparked Houdini’s interest when he began collecting books in Paris.
In every chronicle, serious or popular, factual or fictional, Cagliostro is reported to turn lead into gold and dust into diamonds. He learned this skill, it was said, from the legendary Comte de St. Germain.
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| Cagliostro studying alchemy with St. Germain |
Cagliostro reported the death of Marie Antoinette's mother, the Empress of Austria, to distinguished and reputable Parisians five days before the news reached France.
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| The wizard at work making his elixir. |
Like Houdini, Cagliostro took Russia by storm through spectacular feats of magic, becoming the most famous man in the empire. His stunning wife began a torrid love affair with the infamous Prince Potemkin. Cagliostro himself, it was said, did likewise with Catherine the Great.
When Cagliostro went on to Paris, capital of the world, his fabulous reputation preceded him. He was introduced to Parisian high society by his great admirer Louis de Rohan, Cardinal of France and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.
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| Cardinal Louis de Rohan |
Rohan presented Cagliostro with a mansion, still standing today at the corner of rue St. Claude and Boulevard Beaumarchais in the northern part of the ancient Marais district.
Cagliostro’s house was the center of gravity in Paris in 1783. Thousands of people lined the streets, seeking his healing touch.
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| A Cagliostro "prescription"- a healing spell |
Indeed he was said to have healed them all and not charged a cent, much to the chagrin of the highly-paid medical professionals who were unable to dislodge Cagliostro from his catbird seat.
When Houdini visited Paris around 1910 he spent a great deal of time at Cagliostro’s house. He asked and received permission to remove floorboards and wall panels and he was rewarded by the discovery of a secret internal staircase, windowless, that twined through its walls.
The staircase, he theorized, hid the secret of the Cénacle de Treize, Cagliostro's famous banquet for the great ghosts of France. It was the talk of Paris and was even vigorously debated in the royal court at Versailles.
Cagliostro had invited six noble guests, but set the dining table for thirteen. Each guest was asked whom, from French history, he would like to have as a dinner companion. According to the Marquis de Luchet, who was there, the guests named the Duc de Choiseul, the Abbe de Voisenon, Montesquieu, Diderot, d’Alembert and Voltaire.
As each was freely chosen, Cagliostro conjured up his apparition. A sumptuous dinner was served to all thirteen guests.
Cagliostro had invited six noble guests, but set the dining table for thirteen. Each guest was asked whom, from French history, he would like to have as a dinner companion. According to the Marquis de Luchet, who was there, the guests named the Duc de Choiseul, the Abbe de Voisenon, Montesquieu, Diderot, d’Alembert and Voltaire.
As each was freely chosen, Cagliostro conjured up his apparition. A sumptuous dinner was served to all thirteen guests.
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| Ghostly guests at Cagliostro's Banquet for the Dead |
Like Houdini, Cagliostro was a Mason. When played in the movies by Orson Welles, Houdini’s friend and magic pupil, his distinctive hat sported a not-too-discreet Masonic emblem.
Cagliostro started his own Masonic lodge, the Egyptian Rite, and was maneuvering brilliantly to become supreme ruler of all the world’s Masons. He had cultivated Cardinal Rohan in order to win the Roman Church’s endorsement. It was a scheme that would have made Cagliostro one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.
But alas! All came undone through the wiles of a beautiful woman.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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[Images via Google. Video: Black Magic (aka Cagliostro) starring Orson Welles, 1949]
Nice work. I don't recall ever hearing this story about Cagliostro’s house and Houdini removing floorboards. Where does this come from?
ReplyDeleteIt appears in a book called Master of Villainy, the biography of Sax Rohmer. Rohmer and Houdini were friends and fellow investigators of the occult. For more, see The Houdini File for September 13, 20 and 27, 2012.
ReplyDeleteYour website is most interesting---I didn't know that Goethe used the magician as a stand in for Faust---but of course there were popular legends at that time.
ReplyDelete