Giacomo
Casanova
1725 -1798
Spied For: Venetian Inquisitors
Casanova, born in Venice, is most
well known for his womanizing and his book The Story of My Life which gives the
best account of life in the eighteenth century that we have. Due to the
financial support for many patrons of his mother (an actress) he was able to go
to school to receive a very good education. This enabled him to become a
lawyer. Over many years his romantic affairs with women in power made him a
very powerful
man. He gained and lost riches at a rapid rate (in one case he
lost the equivalent of over 1 million Euros in one night).
Between the years of 1774 and
1782, he worked as a spy for the Venetian Inquisitors of State. It is not known
what his role involved as his famous diary ended the year he began his work. In
1782 he was exiled from Venice for spreading libel against one of the City
patricians.
After his exile he became a
librarian and lived out his life in the service of the Chateaux of Dux in
Bohemia.
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