1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:03,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. And today we 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: have something that's been requested by listeners before, uh and 5 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: it seems appropriate we're approaching Valentine's Day, talk about this 6 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: particular subject, that is Jacomo Casanova. So born in sevent 7 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: Giovanni Jacomo Casanova led this life that was just so 8 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:43,199 Speaker 1: overwhelmingly full of sex and adventure that today we just 9 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: we call particularly charismatic and successful lovers by his name, 10 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: like he's synonymous now with that. But his life was 11 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: not just about sex. He was very smart and very witty. 12 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: He spoke Italian, French, Latin, and Greek lently, and he 13 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: also knew some English, German and Russian. He traveled and 14 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: wrote extensively, and he had a hand in all kinds 15 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: of aristocratic intrigue and also some crime. He wrote this 16 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: twelve volume, three thousand page autobiography that covers almost all 17 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: of his life. So in this episode we're not going 18 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: to walk step by step through it. His life was 19 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: very long and very very rambly, and so that would 20 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: be a very long rambly multipart podcast. Instead, we're going 21 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,479 Speaker 1: to kind of look at what made him the man 22 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 1: that he was, if not so much the man that 23 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 1: he's remembered as. And just so we are absolutely totally clear, 24 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 1: about a third of Casanova's three thousand page autobiography is 25 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: about sex, so is about a third of this episode. 26 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: So if you have tender young ears nearby, or if 27 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: you yourself might object to this, this is not the 28 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: episode for you. A third of this episode, uh maybe 29 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: a little blue. We're gonna not be explicit, but it 30 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: is there. Right. We are going to start though with 31 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: his childhood because it it pretty much sets the template 32 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: for what happened later. So just to start off, the 33 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: name Casanova actually sort of screams of wealth and extravagance, 34 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: but he came from rather poor beginnings. Uh. He was 35 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: born on April two of seventy five into a family 36 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: of theater people. So the theater in Venice at this 37 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: point was enormously popular. But this did not translate into 38 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: his parents being at all stable in any kind of 39 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 1: financial or personal sense. Acting meant that they were always 40 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: one step away from financial ruin, and on top of that, 41 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: female actors were thought of basically as prostitutes or courtisans, 42 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: and not so much because being on stage was immodest, 43 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: But actresses had this reputation for bestowing sexual favors on 44 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: their patrons, as well as on theater managers and other 45 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: men in positions of wealth and power. So the whole 46 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: profession for ladies had really taken on kind of a 47 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: h ill repute. Yeah, so Casanova's mother was an actress 48 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: named Zanetta Ferusi, and his paternity is pretty hazy. Her 49 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: husband was Gaetano Casanova, and she had a string of 50 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: extremely high profile lovers, some of them were royalty, so 51 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: all of her children had her husband's last name, but 52 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: it's possible that he didn't actually father any of them. 53 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: Casanova's grandmother looked after him and all of his siblings 54 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: while his parents were away acting. What's interesting for someone 55 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: who ends up speaking many languages is that Casanova didn't 56 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: talk much before the age of eight, and he had 57 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: frequent nosebleeds. He was generally as a child in poor health, 58 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: and his family thought he might have some kind of 59 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: mental impairment. The apparently improved after seeing a folk healer. 60 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: He called her a witch. When he was a young child, 61 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: and this sparked an interest in the occult and in magic. 62 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: When his mother's husband died of a brain tumor, a 63 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: trio of brothers, one of who may have really been 64 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,600 Speaker 1: Casanova's biological father, became guardians for him and his siblings, 65 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 1: and they sent Casanova to a boarding school in Padua 66 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 1: for the sake of health of his health because the 67 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: air was cleaner there, and although he was nine years old, 68 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: he couldn't really right very well when he got to school, 69 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: so he was put into a class with younger students. 70 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: But as he caught up with his peers, he started 71 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 1: to really excel in reading, in philosophy, and he developed 72 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: a knack for language and wit, and he taught himself 73 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: Greek from his tutors books, which if you've ever tried 74 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: to teach yourself a foreign language just from books, you 75 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: will realize that that's quite an accomplishment. Uh. He was 76 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: very smart, and his gift for language and writing would 77 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 1: stick with him for his entire life. He also met 78 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:03,040 Speaker 1: his first there. It was his tutor's sister um. She 79 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,039 Speaker 1: later survived smallpox and they wound up being friends for 80 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: the rest of their lives. He was at her side 81 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 1: when she died in seventeen seventy six. So sweet at 82 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: the age of twelve, he entered a university to study law, 83 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: and he graduated at sixteen. Just let those numbers settle 84 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:22,679 Speaker 1: for a moment. He also continued to have an interest 85 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: in folk medicine, so he took courses in science and 86 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: medicine as well while he was studying law. In seventeen forty, 87 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: a year before he graduated with his law degree, he 88 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: also took minor holy orders. His family wanted him to 89 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,160 Speaker 1: become a priest, and this this did not make him 90 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: a priest, but it was one of the first steps 91 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,599 Speaker 1: that a man would go through to get onto that path, 92 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: and this is where Cassanova's m o sort of emerges 93 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,039 Speaker 1: for the rest of his life. So he started working 94 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: with a parish priest named Father to Cello, and thanks 95 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: to Father to Sello's connections and Casanova's charisma, Casanova became 96 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,160 Speaker 1: a regular guest at the home of a senator named Malipiero. 97 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: So as Casanova spent more and more time under at 98 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,840 Speaker 1: Malipiero's influence, he started to dress and act in this 99 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 1: increasingly worldly and flirtatious way, which the people around him 100 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 1: started to frown upon. He also became infatuated with Father 101 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: Tousello's niece, Angela, and Angela was interested in Casanova, but 102 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: only if he left the church to marry her. Casanova, 103 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: on the other hand, as you may suspect from his reputation, 104 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: had no intention of marrying. He spent months trying to 105 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,520 Speaker 1: woo Angela while the while two of her kind, Nanette 106 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:43,280 Speaker 1: and Marta, chaperoned, so he never swayed Angela from her 107 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,720 Speaker 1: convictions of only being with him if he would marry her. 108 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: But what wound up happening instead was that he lost 109 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: his virginity in an encounter with both Nanette and Marta, 110 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: and he described this event as being orchestrated as much 111 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: by the him as from as by himself. So the 112 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:07,239 Speaker 1: chaperones ended up yeah in the dalliance with him Yes, 113 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: and the three of them continued to have encounters for 114 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: a number of years, and he called the pair his 115 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: little wives. Nanette eventually married someone else, and Marta eventually 116 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: joined a convent, saying her soul would be saved because 117 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: she spent the rest of her life repenting for their trysts. 118 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: So that's how his love life often went, which is 119 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: what we're going to talk about in the next little 120 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: chunk of this podcast. Some of his uh his relationships 121 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: seemed quite scandalous, even by today's standards. In his own writing, though, 122 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: he describes himself as being motivated genuinely by love and 123 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: by bringing joy and pleasure to other people. He wrote, 124 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: alas for anyone who thinks the pleasure of venus is 125 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: worth anything unless it comes from two hearts which love 126 00:07:55,720 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: each other and are in perfect concord. So his aim 127 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 1: was to make a woman feel so loved and adored 128 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: that she came to him. His physical encounters were as 129 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 1: much about his partner's pleasures as his own, and as 130 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: he got older and had more funds of his own, 131 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:14,559 Speaker 1: he always tried to leave women in a better state 132 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: once their relationship had ended, either leaving them with money 133 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: or finding a wealthy man for a woman to marry. 134 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: So not really like your standard eighteenth century pickup artists 135 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:29,040 Speaker 1: that we've come to view him as. In many ways 136 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: like that he was just seducing and discarding women and 137 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 1: moving on. He was trying to better their lives. A 138 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: fascinating concept. Yeah, well, and you know, when we think 139 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: about today there's a lot of discussion about like the 140 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,079 Speaker 1: sexualization of society and people. A lot of times will 141 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 1: look into past eras and talk about how much more 142 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 1: sexually conservative people were, and this is not necessarily true 143 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 1: of the particular era being discussed. But Casanova was definitely 144 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 1: not like ruining virgins and making them unmarriageable, like I 145 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: think that's an idea that people associate with him. And 146 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: while there were visions that he had experiences with, he 147 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: did not like wreck people and then leave them destitute 148 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: in a gutter. He attempted to make their lives better 149 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 1: and to make them happy while they were together. For 150 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: the most part, there was also a lot of food 151 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: in this a whole lot of food, very very often, 152 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: uh in his In his descriptions of the things that 153 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: went down in the bedroom, there was also the discussion 154 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:44,360 Speaker 1: of the meal they had beforehand and all the delicious, rich, sumptuous, 155 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:49,079 Speaker 1: aphrodisiac kind of foods that they had before. The food 156 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: and the sex go together in Casanova's worlds of food 157 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:58,679 Speaker 1: and maps, uh So. Some of his other most infamous 158 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:03,199 Speaker 1: relationships include a castrado known as Bellino, who turned out 159 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: to be a woman named Teresa, and he was quite 160 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 1: conflicted about being in love with a man, but then 161 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:09,959 Speaker 1: when it turned out that she was a woman, he 162 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 1: thought about leaving the church to marry her. They ultimately 163 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: did not marry, although they did have a child together. 164 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 1: There's also the extremely infamous affair with two women known 165 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: as c C and m N. So he first started 166 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:28,920 Speaker 1: being involved with c C and her father did not 167 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: like this at all. He sent Cecy away to a 168 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: convent to get her away from Casanova, but by the 169 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,200 Speaker 1: time she got there, she was already pregnant. A nun 170 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,440 Speaker 1: named MM looked after Cecy after she miscarried this child. 171 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: According to his autobiography, CC and MM developed a relationship 172 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,720 Speaker 1: with each other, and then Casanova had a relationship with 173 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:53,960 Speaker 1: both of them. This is one of the encounters that 174 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,880 Speaker 1: is quite famous today, but there's some discussion about whether 175 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:01,559 Speaker 1: it really happened. It has a whole lot of a 176 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:06,840 Speaker 1: style in common with sort of none pornography that existed 177 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: at the time, and while there are theories about the 178 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: identity of c C MM has never been conclusively identified. 179 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 1: He also pursued his illegitimate daughter and became engaged to her, 180 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: not knowing. It is important to note that it was 181 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 1: his daughter. After he discovered the truth, he claims to 182 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: have gone on to have had an affair with both 183 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:33,319 Speaker 1: the daughter and the mother who he fathered the child with, 184 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:37,080 Speaker 1: and there is some historical discussion again about whether this 185 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: part actually happened. And then there was Onriette, who is 186 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: often thought of as the love of his life. When 187 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: you see movies about Casanova and there's the story of 188 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: and the one woman who would tame his heart, usually 189 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: that is intended to be on Riette, and she was witty, charismatic, 190 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,840 Speaker 1: and adventurous. She really seemed like his perfect match. He 191 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 1: described his time with her as the happiest time of 192 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 1: his life. But she ended their relationship after a few months, 193 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,680 Speaker 1: and that did not happen that often. Casanova was not 194 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: often the person who got left. He was really heartbroken. 195 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: She's the person who scratched a message into their bedroom 196 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 1: window that said to see aureate or you will also 197 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:30,280 Speaker 1: forget on Rhett. Unsurprisingly, Casanova fathered a lot of children, 198 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: and he contracted some STDs, including both gnaia and syphilis, 199 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: and he took the steps that were believed at the 200 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:41,720 Speaker 1: time to cure these diseases and prevent their transmission, and 201 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: as condoms improved, he also started to use them in 202 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: his sexual adventures. Yes, so we can't paint a one 203 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 1: pcent rosy picture of Casanova's attitudes and behaviors as a lover, 204 00:12:55,840 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 1: even discounting some of the very scandalous nat sure of 205 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: the particular women he had relationships with. Um. Although he 206 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: writes a lot about really focusing on genuinely loving somebody, 207 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: on on making women feel loved and wanted and beautiful, 208 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 1: and on being an attentive, considerate, and pleasing lover, he 209 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: was not always in the good guy slash good lover camp. 210 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 1: For example, at one point he beat a seventeen year 211 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: old Cortisan who had tried to swindle him. Ashamed of 212 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: what he had done, he actually planned to drown himself 213 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:35,200 Speaker 1: in the Thames, but his friends came to his rescue, 214 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: and he got his revenge by buying a parrot and 215 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:42,440 Speaker 1: training it to call her a whore. And then he 216 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 1: sold that parrot, presumably as the most odd way to 217 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: disseminate information and insults of all time. Yes, presumably whoever 218 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: bought this parrot did not know that it was going 219 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:00,439 Speaker 1: to be calling this woman a whore at odd interval spit. 220 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:05,720 Speaker 1: In his autobiography, Casanova's sexual exploits take up about a 221 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,439 Speaker 1: third of the book, and that's more than a hundred 222 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: women in total, along with also a few men. You 223 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: could read this as only a third of this autobiography 224 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,200 Speaker 1: about this man who's known for being a sort of 225 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: sex god, is about sex, or you could read it 226 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 1: as an entire third of this autobiography of a person's 227 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: whole life is about sex, depending on your point of view. 228 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: Most of the time in this autobiography he does try 229 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:35,600 Speaker 1: to conceal the identities of his partners, sort of saying 230 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: he didn't really have the right to publish their personal business. 231 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: Big exception to this is anytime he was having an 232 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: affair with an actress. Actresses were fair game in in 233 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 1: Casanova's mind of who he could gossip about openly in 234 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: his autobacks. Didn't really help the uh promiscuous Paul that 235 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 1: fell over that profession. I'm sure no, hey, before we 236 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: keep talking about this fascinating tale of romance and intrigue, 237 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: do you want to take a moment, So all of 238 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: this sex talk that we just talked about before the 239 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 1: break seems kind of at odds with Cassanova's intent to 240 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: join the church, which he clearly did intend to do, 241 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 1: especially considering that if he became a priest, he would 242 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: be expected to take a vow of chastity. He was 243 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 1: pretty open about the fact that he did indeed intend 244 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: to take that vow of chastity, but he also was 245 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 1: pretty upfront about the fact that he intended to break it. 246 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 1: I will say the words, but I will not live 247 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 1: by them. That's kind of his plan. After the death 248 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: of his grandmother, he was actually sent to seminary, and 249 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: he spent his last nights before leaving quite gamorously, basically thinking, 250 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: I'm not sure when the next time I'll get to 251 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: break my vow of sell with this sea will happen. 252 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: So I'm going to do it now as often as 253 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:54,360 Speaker 1: i can, right. He became an abbot, and later, while 254 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:57,040 Speaker 1: living in Rome as a young man, he became secretary 255 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: to a cardinal. At some point after he arrived in Rome, 256 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:05,320 Speaker 1: he was presented to Pope Benedict the fourteenth, and allegedly 257 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 1: his reputation had preceded him. Pope Benedict had heard of 258 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 1: him and his exploits, and they kind of got along. 259 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:13,680 Speaker 1: The church was in a little bit of a different 260 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,680 Speaker 1: place than that it is now. Yeah, And Cassanova wound 261 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: up leaving Rome and the church the following winter after 262 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 1: a woman that he'd been having an affair with became pregnant, 263 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: a pretty big scandal. There was some sort of you know, 264 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: not maybe not not to the point maybe of tacit approval, 265 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:33,800 Speaker 1: but tolerant. There was some looking the other way, but 266 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: you know, when this woman became pregnant, definitely by Casanova, 267 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 1: that was a big deal. At various points after leaving 268 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 1: the church, Casanova also talked about taking the vow of 269 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:49,320 Speaker 1: celibacy and returning to the life of priesthood. Usually this 270 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 1: was right after some kind of heartbreak or having lost 271 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: a bunch of money gambling, or like some other thing 272 00:16:55,960 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: that made him unhappy. He always changed his mind. Uh. 273 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: And then we will talk about his his magic life, 274 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: his time dabbling in magic, and the occult which happened 275 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:15,080 Speaker 1: after he left the church. So in seventy six, Cassanova 276 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: was living in Venice and he was trying to make 277 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,879 Speaker 1: a living as a violinist. He really was kind of 278 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: a jack of all trades, uh, And he worked in theater. 279 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,680 Speaker 1: At various points in his life. He shared a gondola 280 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: with Senator Matteo Giovanni Braggadine, and the senator collapsed with 281 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 1: what appeared to be a stroke. Casanova believed the doctors 282 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:36,959 Speaker 1: were actually taking the wrong course of action, so he 283 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:41,439 Speaker 1: took the senator's treatment, uh, into his own hands. Unfortunately, 284 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:45,640 Speaker 1: the senator did recover and he took Casanova under his protection. Yeah, 285 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:49,160 Speaker 1: if the senator had not recovered, Casanova would have been 286 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,720 Speaker 1: in deep, deep, deep trouble. That's a pretty brazen step 287 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:58,920 Speaker 1: to take. It was extremely brazen, and once he did recover, though, uh, 288 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 1: he sort of took Casanova under his wing. Casanova convinced 289 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:07,440 Speaker 1: Braggating and his cohorts, who followed a system of Jewish 290 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 1: mysticism called Kabala, that he was a mystic with quite 291 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:14,040 Speaker 1: a bit of power. He spent his time with them, 292 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:17,239 Speaker 1: tankering with Kabbala and the occult, and he wound up 293 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 1: living with Braggating, who gave him a pretty generous allowance. 294 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: So he was living it up as a mistake. That's 295 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:27,879 Speaker 1: kind of like when you hear in modern times of 296 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 1: people being convinced that someone is a guru and yeah, 297 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 1: and kind of becoming their patron. He did end up 298 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: leaving braggating circle in seventeen forty eight when he realized 299 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: the Venetian Inquisition had its eye on him. And while 300 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 1: this relationship with the Senator seemed to have started out 301 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: as something of a fraud, Casanova gradually really did genuinely 302 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,320 Speaker 1: grow fond of the man. They became actual friends. But 303 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: this was not at all the case when it came 304 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: to a French aristocrat named Madame Durfey. He built her 305 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: out of lots of money by claiming to have magical 306 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 1: powers that were going to help her be reborn as 307 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 1: a man. He in addition to you know, getting money 308 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 1: from her for his living expenses, he got money from 309 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: her to pay for all of these things that he 310 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,680 Speaker 1: would need to do this magic ritual to ensure her 311 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: rebord her rebirth into a male baby's body. This really 312 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:29,040 Speaker 1: went on for seven years until she finally she didn't 313 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:31,840 Speaker 1: entirely wise up. She wised up to Cassanova not being 314 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:33,720 Speaker 1: able to do it. She held onto this idea that 315 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: she was going to be reborn into a baby he 316 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 1: was a boy um, but she she cut off contact 317 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: with Cassanova after it finally finally became clear to her 318 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:45,919 Speaker 1: that he was not going to be the one to 319 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:50,640 Speaker 1: do it. I have so many questions. It's it's quite 320 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: a story. Yeah, like what uh, yeah, I have many questions. 321 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: I'll read it. I'll do more research. But somehow that 322 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:03,240 Speaker 1: multi years Windell did not land Casanova in jail. However, 323 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,520 Speaker 1: other things did. The first time he went to prison 324 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: was when he was eighteen, while he was in seminary. 325 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:11,879 Speaker 1: The reasons are actually a little unclear, but while in 326 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:15,880 Speaker 1: prison he had an affair with the wife of another inmate, 327 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,760 Speaker 1: and that is actually how he contracted his first STD. 328 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: In seventeen fifty three, as we've sort of referenced, before 329 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:27,600 Speaker 1: he drew the eye of the Venetian inquisition. This might 330 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:29,720 Speaker 1: have been because he had been paying way too much 331 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,880 Speaker 1: attention to the inquisitor's mistress. So he wound up being 332 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: imprisoned in the upper floors of the Doja's palace, and 333 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: this was a prison that was named the LEDs after 334 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: its lead roof. From there Casanova actually made a daring escape. 335 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:47,879 Speaker 1: He shaped a bar that he had found in a 336 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: pile of garbage into a tool, and then he dug 337 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 1: through the floor and a patron got him moved to 338 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 1: a new cell on the eve of his escape, though, 339 00:20:57,400 --> 00:20:59,439 Speaker 1: so he ended up having to start from scratch all 340 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 1: over again. Yeah, it was like Shawshank, That's exactly what 341 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: I was thinking, except I for rich guy, got you 342 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,879 Speaker 1: moved to a nicer cell. At that point when he 343 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 1: had to start completely over. He formed an alliance with 344 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,960 Speaker 1: a monk who was confined to the cell upstairs from 345 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 1: his So Casanova managed to smuggle his tool to the monk, 346 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:19,960 Speaker 1: who used it to dig a tunnel through the floor 347 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 1: down into Casanova's room. On November one, seventeen fifty six, 348 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:26,919 Speaker 1: Casanova climbed up through the hall and the two of 349 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,399 Speaker 1: them made their way out through a window that the 350 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: monk's cell happens to have out onto the roof of 351 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: the palace, and from there they actually went back into 352 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: the palace through a skylight, and they hid in a 353 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,680 Speaker 1: ballroom and then eventually convinced a watchman that they were 354 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,520 Speaker 1: couriers who had been accidentally locked inside overnight, and so 355 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,880 Speaker 1: they ended up walking right out the front door. As 356 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 1: he may imagine, two things happened here. One is that 357 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,840 Speaker 1: he had to leave Venice because he had just escaped 358 00:21:56,880 --> 00:22:00,800 Speaker 1: from prison. The other is he was quite famous from 359 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: having made this daring escape from a prison that was 360 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: widely regarded to be impenetrable, like you were not supposed 361 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: to be able to break out of the leeds. He uh. 362 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: He did it, though, and it made quite a name 363 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: for himself in doing so. He would not be in 364 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,440 Speaker 1: Venice again for almost eighteen years. And before we talk 365 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: about some of the extensive travel that he did in 366 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,400 Speaker 1: his life, let's have another moment for a word. I'm 367 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 1: a sponsor, and now I'll get back to the very 368 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: exciting life of Jacobo Casanova. So, after Casanova broke out 369 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:36,760 Speaker 1: of the leeds, he went to Paris, and Paris was 370 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: just one of the places he either visited or lived 371 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 1: in during his life. He traveled about forty thousand miles 372 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:46,879 Speaker 1: during his lifetime, which is an extremely long way to 373 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:48,919 Speaker 1: go when you consider that most of it was in 374 00:22:49,000 --> 00:23:01,439 Speaker 1: carriages over uncertain roads. Um he visited Paris, London, Geneva, Barcelona, Rome, Prague, Constantinople, Amsterdam, Dresden, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, 375 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,920 Speaker 1: basically every big name city that was existing in that 376 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:09,359 Speaker 1: overall the zone of the world at that time, and 377 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 1: all over he hobnobbed with the rich and the royal, 378 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,240 Speaker 1: and some of these places he had to flee after 379 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: loving the wrong woman, or breaking the wrong law, or 380 00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:20,720 Speaker 1: when he simply ran out of money. He was quite 381 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:24,160 Speaker 1: good at making money or enticing people to give him money, 382 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 1: but he was even better at spending it apparently, and 383 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 1: uh he would also lose it and gamble it away. 384 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: He had a gambling problem. He lost a lot of money. 385 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:35,680 Speaker 1: He was a man of many appetites. Yeah, that is 386 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,760 Speaker 1: a great way to describe him. In Paris he created 387 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,280 Speaker 1: the National Lottery and became its director and salon keeper. 388 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: In Leon he was inducted into the Freemasons. And Poland 389 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,919 Speaker 1: he had to face a jealous boyfriend in a duel. 390 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:52,919 Speaker 1: Casanova got shot in the hand and he wound up 391 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:55,280 Speaker 1: shooting his opponent in the stomach. While he was in 392 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,200 Speaker 1: Geneva he met Voltaire, and in Prague he met Mozart's 393 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: libretta's and allegedly collaborated on the libretto for the opera 394 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:08,639 Speaker 1: Don Giovanni. And in St. Petersburg he met the famous 395 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:12,639 Speaker 1: Catherine the Great, met a lot of super rich and 396 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,159 Speaker 1: famous and important people. He did like a tour of 397 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,920 Speaker 1: history kind of it was unfolding. So when he was 398 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: almost sixty years old, Casanova finally had to leave Venice 399 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:26,359 Speaker 1: for good. He had made it back there at various 400 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:28,879 Speaker 1: other points, but this was sort of the last straw. 401 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,760 Speaker 1: He had lampooned some extremely prominent people in a satire 402 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,840 Speaker 1: that he wrote, and it was time to go. He 403 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: became a librarian for a Bohemian count, Joseph Walstein, who 404 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 1: lived in uh Duxov, about sixty miles north of Prague, 405 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:47,439 Speaker 1: and he still traveled from time to time, but not 406 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:52,320 Speaker 1: nearly so far. It was a comfortable life, but pretty miserable. 407 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 1: Casanova's uh you know, para wis and and love life 408 00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: had been on the lane for a really long time. 409 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:03,919 Speaker 1: This was also pretty much out in the middle of 410 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,680 Speaker 1: nowhere compared to Vienna and Prague and all these other 411 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,200 Speaker 1: places that he had been living. Um, you don't really 412 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,720 Speaker 1: hear a lot about cassing over the librarian, no, but 413 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:17,720 Speaker 1: this is where he wrote most of his more than 414 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:23,240 Speaker 1: forty books, including his autobiography. This one he wrote under 415 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: the name Chevalier de Sengelt, which is a pseudonym that 416 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: he had coined earlier in his life. He started writing 417 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,199 Speaker 1: the autobiography in seventeen eighty nine at the suggestion of 418 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: a doctor, because at that point he was so lonely 419 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,879 Speaker 1: and so depressed that he was considering suicide. And the 420 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 1: autobiography is written in French, and it abruptly stops mid 421 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:47,760 Speaker 1: sentence in seventeen seventy four. It's unclear whether he just 422 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 1: lost interest. He was almost fifty years old at that 423 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,520 Speaker 1: point in the narrative, and his prolific sex life was, 424 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: you know, pretty much waning. His adventures it's not so 425 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,920 Speaker 1: exciting to write about, or whether he did in fact 426 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,160 Speaker 1: write more, but that those pages have somehow become lost. Yeah, 427 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: there's a theory that the surviving manuscript was a recopying 428 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,880 Speaker 1: of an earlier draft, and that the earlier draft has 429 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:12,959 Speaker 1: been destroyed, and that he just stopped for some reason 430 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 1: at that point in recopying. He wound up dying alone 431 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:21,879 Speaker 1: and poor on June four, at the age of seventy three, 432 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,920 Speaker 1: after he contracted a urinary tract infection and that combined 433 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:30,560 Speaker 1: with having prostetitis and the after effects of many STDs 434 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 1: to end his life. He was buried in the graveyard 435 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 1: of a church there, though he was later exhumed and 436 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 1: moved question mark, We do not know where. Yeah, he was. 437 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,920 Speaker 1: He had really made a name for himself during his lifetime, 438 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 1: but he was kind of fading into obscurity when he died. 439 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 1: He was not important enough for people to make note 440 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:56,640 Speaker 1: where where his body was moved to at that point. Um. 441 00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: So we've mentioned this autobiography several times. When Casanova died, 442 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,879 Speaker 1: he bequeathed his autobiography to his nephew, and his nephew 443 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:10,200 Speaker 1: sold it to a German publisher, Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus twenty 444 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: two years later. Version of the autobiography with most of 445 00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:17,399 Speaker 1: the most dirty parts cut out, came out in eighteen 446 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: twenty one and was immediately banned. The brock House family 447 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: kept it for the next one dred and forty years. 448 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,879 Speaker 1: The first complete unedited version of it came out in 449 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,520 Speaker 1: French in nineteen sixty and an English version came out 450 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty six, so it took a very long 451 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:38,920 Speaker 1: time to get published in its unedited states, all of 452 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:44,600 Speaker 1: the unexpirgated thing. Yeah, there was also some drama in 453 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: in uh. I can't remember if it was World War 454 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,920 Speaker 1: one or World War two. In the offices of the 455 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:52,640 Speaker 1: publisher were hit by a bomb and everyone was quite 456 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:57,359 Speaker 1: concerned about where was the Casanova manuscript? In two it 457 00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,760 Speaker 1: was bought on behalf of the government of France for 458 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,879 Speaker 1: nine points six million dollars. Pages of it went on 459 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:06,959 Speaker 1: display to the public for the first time in eleven 460 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: and in something that I don't no one really knows 461 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 1: that this was on purpose or just a whoever happenstance. 462 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,919 Speaker 1: The paper that it was written on has a watermark 463 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,080 Speaker 1: of two hearts touching. I don't know what to do 464 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: with that information. Part of me thinks it's so sweet, 465 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: and part of me is like, it's pride, just a blob. Uh. 466 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,879 Speaker 1: This paint is not only a picture of Casanova, but 467 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 1: also of what life was like in Venice and other 468 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,679 Speaker 1: parts of Europe in that part of history. So he 469 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: really did create kind of a really important document in 470 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:44,400 Speaker 1: that regard. Historians and researchers have painstakingly gone through it. 471 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 1: They fact checked it, they've crossed referenced it, and the 472 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: overall verdict seems to be that there are errors and contradictions, 473 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: particularly related to places and dates, and that there are 474 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:57,360 Speaker 1: also some embellishments and untruths, but many of these are 475 00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,560 Speaker 1: what's to be expected when a person is writing their 476 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,200 Speaker 1: entire life story from memory, which we've come up against 477 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,640 Speaker 1: before when I've talked about in the podcast. But you know, 478 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,880 Speaker 1: facts get a little wiggly sometimes in memory. Uh And 479 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 1: you know he was doing it with the help of 480 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,120 Speaker 1: a few letters and mementos, but it was mostly just 481 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 1: plucked from his memory, and on the whole it gives 482 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:18,640 Speaker 1: a very real account of the man and of Europe 483 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:22,240 Speaker 1: at the time and what life was like living throughout Europe. Yeah, 484 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: there's a lot of talk about this. Actually, you know, 485 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: regardless of how how you feel about the extreme quantity 486 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,080 Speaker 1: of of explicitly sexual content in it, that there's a 487 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 1: whole lot more in the book besides that that is 488 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:41,160 Speaker 1: of a lot of historical and literary value, which is 489 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:45,480 Speaker 1: one reason why now this manuscript lives in the National 490 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 1: Library in Paris. And that is the life of Jacobo Casanova. 491 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: I rewatched this weekend. I had watched it before, but 492 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: I rewatched the BBC slash Masterpiece Theater uh Many series 493 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:05,480 Speaker 1: David Tennant as the young Jacomo Casanova um and as 494 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 1: I was watching it, I was like, there are parts 495 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:09,880 Speaker 1: of this that this gets really right and it kind 496 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: of gets the overall flavor of it really pretty right. Uh, 497 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:20,200 Speaker 1: some of it it's completely not right, but it's okay. Well, 498 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,880 Speaker 1: there's often in many adaptations one. I mean, just to 499 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 1: make a piece of film or television that is viewable 500 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,720 Speaker 1: that is not labeled as pornography, you have to edit 501 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:36,640 Speaker 1: an awful lot out to begin with. It would be 502 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,520 Speaker 1: quite easy to make an adaptation of Casanova's autobiography that 503 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 1: was definitely like pornographic would not be a stretch at all. 504 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,760 Speaker 1: But then too, I think people just want to cling 505 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: to that idea of a sort of romantic element to it, 506 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: that no, he was, you know, a ladies man, and 507 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: he did get around, but he was there's a there's 508 00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,160 Speaker 1: a love about the whole thing, you know, I kind 509 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,000 Speaker 1: of want to put him to other with And yeah, 510 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,600 Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of that seems to be the theme. 511 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:06,960 Speaker 1: And this is the woman who made him settle down, 512 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: which that's not not a thing that actually he did 513 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 1: talk about settling down with several women that he never 514 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 1: settled down with any of them. And and there are 515 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: a number of Casanova scholars, Number one, they're a number 516 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 1: of Casanova scholars will stop but the number two there 517 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: are a lot of them who you know, remark that 518 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,920 Speaker 1: he would be kind of chagrined that now he's remembered 519 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:35,520 Speaker 1: mostly for his sex life, because even though that was 520 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 1: a big part of his life, there was so so, 521 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,560 Speaker 1: so much more. There's you know, even more other stuff 522 00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,920 Speaker 1: that we didn't talk about in this episode. Um So, 523 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: while he he did make quite the name for himself 524 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 1: as a lover, that was one part of the story. 525 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: That's really just the SoundBite version. That is sound bite 526 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: version one third of his autobiography and this podcast, do 527 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:03,479 Speaker 1: you also have some listener. This is from Katie and 528 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:06,800 Speaker 1: it's going back to our smallpox episode. This is actually 529 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:10,200 Speaker 1: a topic that a few people have mentioned, but this 530 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:16,280 Speaker 1: this particular email was so uh, I'm just gonna read it. Hi, ladies, 531 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 1: I just wanted to send you a message thanking you 532 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,640 Speaker 1: for helping to keep me saying during my husband's deployment. 533 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 1: So thanks to your husband, an to Katie and to Katie, 534 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:29,000 Speaker 1: military spouses are doing a whole other service. Yeah, we 535 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,920 Speaker 1: we have love for both. I'm a young wife without 536 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:33,840 Speaker 1: much of you, and I eagerly look forward to all 537 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,200 Speaker 1: your episodes and go back to read listen to older 538 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: episodes between new ones. I was just listening to the 539 00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 1: episode on Edward Jenner and the smallpox vaccine, and I 540 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,320 Speaker 1: thought i'd send you a message detailing my own experiences 541 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: with it. Before my husband's company deployed, all of the 542 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:51,520 Speaker 1: soldiers had to be vaccinated against militarized smallpox, and caring 543 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: for my husband's injection site was an extremely complicated task, 544 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,640 Speaker 1: lasting a few weeks. We went through an entire box 545 00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:00,880 Speaker 1: of rubber gloves, several bottles of bleach, and countless zip 546 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: black baggies. In addition to having to wear gloves while 547 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:06,360 Speaker 1: changing the bandage, then bagging up the bandage, and filling 548 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: the baggie with bleach, I also had to bleach the 549 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:11,120 Speaker 1: tub after every shower he took, and washed his laundry 550 00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: separate from everything else. I wasn't allowed to touch him 551 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:17,240 Speaker 1: anywhere near his injection site without gloves, causing plenty of 552 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:19,960 Speaker 1: freak outs during our continuous game of slug bug every 553 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: time we were in the car. Luckily, everything with him 554 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,360 Speaker 1: went smoothly, but there are plenty of horror stories about 555 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,000 Speaker 1: soldiers getting vaccinated and having it spread through their whole 556 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: body if they're not careful. Unfortunately, for my husband, this 557 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: meant no swimming or going in a body of water 558 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: with anyone else in the vicinity during the hot summer months. 559 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:43,280 Speaker 1: Even though this episode aired a while ago, I thought 560 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,680 Speaker 1: you amazing hosts would enjoy hearing about modern day struggles 561 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: with smallpox vaccination. Thank you again for all the amazing 562 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:54,200 Speaker 1: information and the joy you both bring me with every episode. 563 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: You're truly making my first deployment as a military spouse 564 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:01,200 Speaker 1: all the more bearable. Thank you so much, Katie. Yes, 565 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,160 Speaker 1: but we got several notes about people in the military 566 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:07,440 Speaker 1: getting vaccinated for smallpox, and there were a few people 567 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:09,200 Speaker 1: who were like, why are they doing this if there's 568 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,359 Speaker 1: no more smallpox? And the reason is that because there 569 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:16,640 Speaker 1: are stores of smallpox that exists still and you know, 570 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:19,520 Speaker 1: rumors of you know, such and such. Government has a 571 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 1: hidden cash of it that nobody knows about. There's the 572 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,680 Speaker 1: idea that it could be used as a weapon, which 573 00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: would be devastating if it, you know, made its way 574 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,600 Speaker 1: through the military personnel who were trying to deal with that. 575 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 1: So that is why many military personnel are vaccinated for smallpox. 576 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:39,200 Speaker 1: When I read this letter, I was like, really, you 577 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:40,839 Speaker 1: have to do all that, and I went and looked 578 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 1: online and basically, yes, that sounds so crazy to me 579 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,000 Speaker 1: and it makes me feel like the most um lacking 580 00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,520 Speaker 1: housekeeper on the planets, and like bleach the tub. I 581 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:54,640 Speaker 1: don't do that very often, but if I had to 582 00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:58,080 Speaker 1: do it every time one of us made well smokes 583 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 1: and we did talk in the episode of one of 584 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:06,399 Speaker 1: the issues with smallpox UH vaccines was that it could 585 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: be spread to other people um, which is why they 586 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:12,440 Speaker 1: have to take all those precautions because the objective there 587 00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: is to vaccinate only the people who need to get 588 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 1: the vaccine and not everyone else around them, but then 589 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,000 Speaker 1: everyone else around them also has to take precautions to 590 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:25,960 Speaker 1: make sure that they do not wind up being infected themselves. 591 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:28,799 Speaker 1: So thank you again, Katie, Thank you for being a 592 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:32,840 Speaker 1: military spouse. Thank you to your husband for his service. 593 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:37,239 Speaker 1: I love the letters like this one, so if you 594 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:39,799 Speaker 1: would like to write to us, you can. We're at 595 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:43,960 Speaker 1: History Podcast at Discovery dot com. We're also on Facebook 596 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:47,240 Speaker 1: at Facebook dot com. Slash missed in History, Our Twitter 597 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:49,719 Speaker 1: is missed in History, and our tumbler is missed in 598 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:54,880 Speaker 1: History dot tumbler dot com. Our Pinterest, which is newly expanded, 599 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:58,840 Speaker 1: is it pinterest dot com, slash missed in history And 600 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: if you would like to learn more about something that 601 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:05,160 Speaker 1: Castanover made a little use of in his lifetime, you 602 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:07,640 Speaker 1: can come to our website. Put the word condom in 603 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:11,120 Speaker 1: the search bar. You will find how Condoms Work, which 604 00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:14,000 Speaker 1: I wrote. If you want a different take on that 605 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,239 Speaker 1: particular subject, you can put in use a condom and 606 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:20,399 Speaker 1: you will find another article that I wrote called ten 607 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:23,759 Speaker 1: completely wrong ways to use a condom. 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