When Cagliostro arrived in Paris in 1785, "a cult of Cagliostro" was already sweeping the city, McCalman writes. It was here that Cagliostro got entangled in the notorious "diamond necklace affair," in which Cardinal de Rohan was duped into buying an expensive diamond necklace that he believed to be for an infatuated Marie Antoinette but that was actually acquired by a scheming swindler, who sold the dazzling gems in London.
Cagliostro was imprisoned for his role in the affair, though he was eventually acquitted of all charges. But enemies of King Louis XVI seized on the lurid scandal to undermine the monarchy. Although Cagliostro was often a shrewd manipulator of people, he was obtuse when it came to politics. The radical lawyers who offered to defend him were using his case for their "political campaign to hobble the powers of the king and reform the parliament," McCalman writes.
He continues, "Without realizing it, Cagliostro had permitted himself to become a creature of politics, and there was a price to pay. From now on he would always be viewed through a lens of revolution or reaction."
He escaped temporarily to England. But what finally did him in was his seemingly devoted wife and collaborator of 21 years, Seraphina. Whether tired of their rootless life, nostalgic for the Catholicism of her youth or resentful of their shrinking purse, she sought escape. Unfortunately -- for her -- a plan to smear the steps of their home with soap failed to cause Cagliostro to slip and break his neck, so she decided on another scheme: to denounce him to the Roman Inquisition, so she could get an annulment and marry again.
The first part of her plot succeeded, and Cagliostro was arrested and convicted of heresy. While he spent his final days in solitary confinement in an Italian prison, Seraphina's tale of her own sexual collaboration was far too incendiary for the church to allow her to go free. She was confined to a convent, where she eventually went mad.
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