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196-457: Giacomo Girolamo Casanova ( / ˌ k æ s ə ˈ n oʊ v ə , ˌ k æ z ə -/ ; Italian: [ˈdʒaːkomo dʒiˈrɔːlamo kazaˈnɔːva, kasa-] ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice . His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie ( Story of My Life ), is regarded as one of the most authentic and provocative sources of information about

392-561: A Tribune to govern the local administration, perpetuating the Roman custom started in the last years of the Western Roman Empire . Between the end of the 7th century and the beginning of the 8th, a new political reform affected Venetia : like the other Byzantine provinces of Italy it was transformed into a duchy , at the head of which was the doge . Following the brief regime of the magistri militum , in 742 ducal electivity

588-515: A conspiracy for a rebellion against Venice was dismantled in Candia. The conspiracy was led by Sifis Vlastos as an opposition to the religious reforms for the unification of Churches agreed at the Council of Florence . In 1481, Venice retook nearby Rovigo , which it had held previously from 1395 to 1438. The Ottoman Empire started sea campaigns as early as 1423, when it waged a seven-year war with

784-488: A "multi-state racket where unqualified doctors conducted hundreds of illegal kidney transplants for huge profits." The president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in 2008 criticized the central government for failing to address the problem of quackery and for not framing any laws against it. In 2017, IMA again asked for an antiquackery law with stringent action against those practicing without

980-514: A brief trip to Constantinople , ostensibly to deliver a letter from his former master the Cardinal. Finding his advancement too slow and his duty boring, he managed to lose most of his pay playing faro . Casanova soon abandoned his military career and returned to Venice. At the age of 21, he set out to become a professional gambler, but losing all the money remaining from the sale of his commission, he turned to his old benefactor Alvise Grimani for

1176-654: A failure, he returned to France briefly, then to Italy. In Rome, Casanova had to prepare a way for his return to Venice. While waiting for supporters to gain him legal entry into Venice, Casanova began his modern Tuscan-Italian translation of the Iliad , his History of the Troubles in Poland , and a comic play. To ingratiate himself with the Venetian authorities, Casanova did some commercial spying for them. After months without

1372-433: A ferocious beast which devours it, can I be asked what I shall put in its place." From Casanova's point of view, if Voltaire had "been a proper philosopher, he would have kept silent on that subject ... the people need to live in ignorance for the general peace of the nation". In 1779, Casanova found Francesca, an uneducated seamstress, who became his live-in lover and housekeeper, and who loved him devotedly. Later that year,

1568-711: A few judges, in 1130 it was decided to place the Consilium Sapientium , which would later become the Great Council of Venice , alongside his power. In the same period, in addition to the expulsion of the clergy from public life, new assemblies such as the Council of Forty and the Minor Council were established and in his inauguration speech the Doge was forced to declare loyalty to the Republic with

1764-435: A fraud, it is not strictly necessary for one to know they are misrepresenting the benefits or risks of the services offered. Unproven, usually ineffective, and sometimes dangerous medicines and treatments have been peddled throughout human history. Theatrical performances were sometimes given to enhance the credibility of purported medicines. Grandiose claims were made for what could be humble materials indeed: for example, in

1960-593: A good-looking man if he were not ugly; he is tall and built like Hercules, but of an African tint; eyes full of life and fire, but touchy, wary, rancorous—and this gives him a ferocious air. It is easier to put him in a rage than to make him gay. He laughs little, but makes others laugh. ... He has a manner of saying things which reminds me of Harlequin or Figaro , and which makes them sound witty. Venice had changed for him. Casanova now had little money for gambling, few willing females worth pursuing, and few acquaintances to enliven his craven, impulsive tendencies. He heard of

2156-459: A great deal and having natural taste, Henriette judged rightly of everything." She also judged Casanova astutely. As noted Casanovist J. Rives Childs wrote: Perhaps no woman so captivated Casanova as Henriette; few women obtained so deep an understanding of him. She penetrated his outward shell early in their relationship, resisting the temptation to unite her destiny with his. She came to discern his volatile nature, his lack of social background, and

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2352-516: A job. Casanova thus began his third career, as a violinist in the San Samuele Theater , "a menial journeyman of a sublime art in which, if he who excels is admired, the mediocrity is rightly despised. ... My profession was not a noble one, but I did not care. Calling everything prejudice, I soon acquired all the habits of my degraded fellow musicians." He and some of his fellows, "often spent our nights roaming through different quarters of

2548-581: A known placebo effect . With little understanding of the causes and mechanisms of illnesses, widely marketed "cures" (as opposed to locally produced and locally used remedies), often referred to as patent medicines , first came to prominence during the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain and the British colonies, including those in North America. Daffy's Elixir and Turlington's Balsam were among

2744-554: A lady friend of theirs. Both duelists were wounded, Casanova on the left hand. The hand recovered on its own, after Casanova refused the recommendation of doctors that it be amputated. From Warsaw, he traveled to Breslau in the Kingdom of Prussia , then to Dresden, where he contracted yet another venereal infection. He returned to Paris for several months in 1767 and hit the gambling salons, only to be expelled from France by order of Louis XV himself, primarily for Casanova's scam involving

2940-462: A large fleet to support his offensive by sea. Antonio Grimani , more a businessman and diplomat than a sailor, was defeated in the sea battle of Zonchio in 1499. The Turks once again sacked Friuli. Preferring peace to total war both against the Turks and by sea, Venice surrendered the bases of Lepanto, Durazzo , Modon , and Coron . Venice's attention was diverted from its usual maritime position by

3136-929: A license. As of 2024, the government of India is yet to pass an anti-quackery law. In 2014, the Government of India formed a Ministry of AYUSH that includes the seven traditional systems of healthcare. The Ministry of Ayush (expanded from Ayurveda , Yoga , Naturopathy , Unani , Siddha , Sowa-Rigpa and Homoeopathy ), is purposed with developing education, research and propagation of indigenous alternative medicine systems in India . The ministry has faced significant criticism for funding systems that lack biological plausibility and are either untested or conclusively proven as ineffective. Quality of research has been poor, and drugs have been launched without any rigorous pharmacological studies and meaningful clinical trials on Ayurveda or other alternative healthcare systems. There

3332-592: A lifelong attachment to Bettina and the Gozzi family. Casanova boasts of having demonstrated from early on a quick wit, an intense appetite for knowledge, and a perpetually inquisitive mind. He entered the University of Padua at 12 and graduated at 17, in 1742, with a degree in law ("for which I felt an unconquerable aversion"). His guardian's hope was that he would become an ecclesiastical lawyer. Casanova had also studied moral philosophy, chemistry, and mathematics, and

3528-503: A little red wine. Radam's publicity material, particularly his books, provide an insight into the role that pseudoscience played in the development and marketing of "quack" medicines towards the end of the 19th century. Advertising claims similar to those of Radam can be found throughout the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. "Dr." Sibley, an English patent medicine seller of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, even went so far as to claim that his Reanimating Solar Tincture would, as

3724-405: A man in a stupor; motionless as a statue, I saw that I had wasted all the efforts I had made, and I could not repent of them. I felt that I had nothing to hope for, and the only relief left to me was not to think of the future." Casanova set upon another escape plan. He solicited the help of the prisoner in the adjacent cell, Father Balbi, a renegade priest. The spike, carried to the new cell inside

3920-521: A means of raising funds for the state as a way to gain instant favor. Casanova promptly became one of the trustees of the first state lottery , and one of its best ticket salesmen. The enterprise earned him a large fortune quickly. With money in hand, he traveled in high circles and undertook new seductions. He duped many socialites with his occultism, particularly the Marquise Jeanne d'Urfé , using his excellent memory which made him appear to have

4116-470: A miracle. I admit that I am proud of it; but my pride does not come from my having succeeded, for luck had a good deal to do with that; it comes from my having concluded that the thing could be done and having had the courage to undertake it. He knew his stay in Paris might be a long one and he proceeded accordingly: "I saw that to accomplish anything I must bring all my physical and moral faculties in play, make

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4312-620: A monk's life were quickly forgotten. Moving on, he visited Albrecht von Haller and Voltaire , and arrived in Marseille , then Genoa , Florence , Rome , Naples , Modena , and Turin , moving from one sexual romp to another. In 1760, Casanova started styling himself the Chevalier de Seingalt, a name he was to use increasingly for the rest of his life. On occasion, he would also call himself Count de Farussi (using his mother's maiden name) and when Pope Clement XIII presented Casanova with

4508-734: A navy of 3,300 ships (manned by 36,000 men) and had taken over most of what is now the Veneto, including the cities of Verona (which swore its loyalty in the Devotion of Verona to Venice in 1405) and Padua. Slaves were plentiful in the Italian city-states as late as the 15th century. The Venetian slave trade was divided in to the Balkan slave trade and the Black Sea slave trade . Between 1414 and 1423, some 10,000 slaves, imported from Caffa (via

4704-401: A palace corridor, through galleries and chambers, and down stairs, where, by convincing the guard they had inadvertently been locked into the palace after an official function, they left through a final door. It was 6:00 in the morning and they escaped by gondola. Eventually, Casanova reached Paris, where he arrived on the same day (5 January 1757) that Robert-François Damiens made an attempt on

4900-545: A part in the professionalisation of medicine. Its efforts in the public debate helped to make the Netherlands one of the first countries with governmental drug regulation. In 1909, in an attempt to stop the sale of quack medicines, the British Medical Association published Secret Remedies, What They Cost And What They Contain . This publication was originally a series of articles published in

5096-588: A political vision close to that of the Holy Roman Empire and consequently attempted to establish feudalism in Venice as well, causing a revolt in 976 which led to the burning of the capital and the killing of the doge. These events led the Venetian patriciate to gain a growing influence on the doge's policies and the conflicts that arose following the doge's assassination were resolved only in 991 with

5292-470: A presentation on aeronautics and the future of balloon transport. For a while, Casanova served as secretary and pamphleteer to Sebastian Foscarini, Venetian ambassador in Vienna. He also became acquainted with Lorenzo Da Ponte , Mozart 's librettist, who noted about Casanova, "This singular man never liked to be in the wrong." Notes by Casanova indicate that he may have made suggestions to Da Ponte concerning

5488-622: A recall, however, he wrote a letter of appeal directly to the Inquisitors. At last, he received his long-sought permission and burst into tears upon reading "We, Inquisitors of State, for reasons known to us, give Giacomo Casanova a free safe-conduct ... empowering him to come, go, stop, and return, hold communication wheresoever he pleases without let or hindrance. So is our will." Casanova was permitted to return to Venice in September 1774 after 18 years of exile. At first, his return to Venice

5684-520: A rival city of Venice in the salt trade, decided to abdicate in favor of his brother, at the time patriarch of Grado, who refused. Since there was no heir in 887 the people gathered in the Concio and elected Pietro I Candiano by acclamation. The Concio managed to elect six doges up to Pietro III Candiano who in 958 assigned the position of co-dux to his son Pietro who became doge the following year. Due to his land holdings, Pietro IV Candiano had

5880-452: A scandal involving a local pair of star-crossed lovers, Cardinal Acquaviva dismissed Casanova, thanking him for his sacrifice, but effectively ending his church career. In search of a new profession, Casanova bought a commission to become a military officer for the Republic of Venice . His first step was to look the part: Reflecting that there was now little likelihood of my achieving fortune in my ecclesiastical career, I decided to dress as

6076-451: A soldier ... I inquire for a good tailor ... he brings me everything I need to impersonate a follower of Mars. ... My uniform was white, with a blue vest, a shoulder knot of silver and gold... I bought a long sword, and with my handsome cane in hand, a trim hat with a black cockade, with my hair cut in side whiskers and a long false pigtail, I set forth to impress the whole city. He joined a Venetian regiment at Corfu , his stay being broken by

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6272-451: A sorcerer's power of numerology . In Casanova's view, "deceiving a fool is an exploit worthy of an intelligent man". Casanova claimed to be a Rosicrucian and an alchemist , aptitudes which made him popular with some of the most prominent figures of the era, among them Madame de Pompadour , the Count of Saint-Germain , d'Alembert , and Jean-Jacques Rousseau . So popular was alchemy among

6468-463: A state lottery to British officials. He wrote of the English, "the people have a special character, common to the whole nation, which makes them think they are superior to everyone else. It is a belief shared by all nations, each thinking itself the best. And they are all right." Through his connections, he worked his way up to an audience with George III , using most of the valuables he had stolen from

6664-423: A stroke while riding with Casanova in a gondola after a wedding ball. They immediately stopped to have the senator bled. Then, at the senator's palace, a physician bled the senator again and applied an ointment of mercury—an all-purpose but toxic remedy at the time—to the senator's chest. This raised his temperature and induced a massive fever, and Bragadin appeared to be choking on his own swollen windpipe . A priest

6860-459: A three-month affair with a Frenchwoman he named "Henriette", perhaps the deepest love he ever experienced—a woman who combined beauty, intelligence, and culture. In his words, "They who believe that a woman is incapable of making a man equally happy all the twenty-four hours of the day have never known an Henriette. The joy which flooded my soul was far greater when I conversed with her during the day than when I held her in my arms at night. Having read

7056-459: A very brief trial of conditions in the bishop's Calabrian see. Instead, he found employment as a scribe with the powerful Cardinal Acquaviva in Rome . On meeting Pope Benedict XIV , Casanova boldly asked for a dispensation to read the "forbidden books" and from eating fish (which he claimed inflamed his eyes). He also composed love letters for another cardinal. When Casanova became the scapegoat for

7252-493: Is $ 5.00! Another genius in Philadelphia, of the bogus diploma breed, who claims to have founded a new system of practice and who calls himself a "Professor," advertises two elixers of his own make, one of which is for "all male diseases" and the other for "all female diseases"! In the list of preparations which this wretch advertises for sale as the result of his own labors and discoveries, is ozone ! One among many examples

7448-621: Is William Radam, a German immigrant to the US, who, in the 1880s, started to sell his "Microbe Killer" throughout the United States and, soon afterwards, in Britain and throughout the British colonies. His concoction was widely advertised as being able to "cure all diseases", and this phrase was even embossed on the glass bottles the medicine was sold in. In fact, Radam's medicine was a therapeutically useless (and in large quantities actively poisonous) dilute solution of sulfuric acid , coloured with

7644-464: Is difficult to distinguish between those who knowingly promote unproven medical therapies and those who are mistaken as to their effectiveness, United States courts have ruled in defamation cases that accusing someone of quackery or calling a practitioner a quack is not equivalent to accusing that person of committing medical fraud. However, the FDA makes little distinction between the two. To be considered

7840-628: Is in the advertising quacks. The coolness and deliberation with which they announce the most glaring falsehoods are really appalling. A recent arrival in San Francisco, whose name might indicate that he had his origin in the Pontine marshes of Europe, announces himself as the "Late examining physician of the Massachusetts Infirmary, Boston." This fellow has the impudence to publish that his charge to physicians in their own cases

8036-453: Is no conclusive therapeutic effect except in back pain. Naturopathy is considered to be a form of pseudo-scientific quackery, ineffective and possibly harmful, with a plethora of ethical concerns about the very practice. Unani lacks biological plausibility and is considered to be pseudo-scientific quackery, as well. While quackery is often aimed at the aged or chronically ill, it can be aimed at all age groups, including teens, and

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8232-421: Is no credible efficacy or scientific basis of any of these forms of treatment. A strong consensus prevails among the scientific community that homeopathy is a pseudo-scientific, unethical and implausible line of treatment. Ayurveda is deemed to be pseudoscientific. Much of the research on postural yoga has taken the form of preliminary studies or clinical trials of low methodological quality; there

8428-456: Is often described as "health fraud" with the salient characteristic of aggressive promotion. Psychiatrist and author Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch defines quackery as "the promotion of unsubstantiated methods that lack a scientifically plausible rationale" and more broadly as: "anything involving overpromotion in the field of health." This definition would include questionable ideas as well as questionable products and services, regardless of

8624-701: The promissione ducale ; thus the Commune of Venice , the set of all the assemblies aimed at regulating the power of the doge, began to take shape. In the 12th century, Venice decided not to participate in the Crusades due to its commercial interests in the East and instead concentrated on maintaining its possessions in Dalmatia which were repeatedly besieged by the Hungarians . The situation changed in 1202 when

8820-493: The American Civil War . British medicines never regained their previous dominance in North America, and the subsequent era of mass marketing of American patent medicines is usually considered to have been a "golden age" of quackery in the United States. This was mirrored by similar growth in marketing of quack medicines elsewhere in the world. In the United States, false medicines in this era were often denoted by

9016-674: The Apulian ports; the king of France: Cremona; the king of Hungary : Dalmatia, and each one some of another's part. The offensive against the huge army enlisted by Venice was launched from France. On 14 May 1509, Venice was crushingly defeated at the battle of Agnadello , in the Ghiara d'Adda, marking one of the most delicate points in Venetian history. French and imperial troops were occupying Veneto, but Venice managed to extricate itself through diplomatic efforts. The Apulian ports were ceded to come to terms with Spain, and Julius II soon recognized

9212-477: The Austrian Netherlands , recovered, and then for the next three years, traveled all over Europe, covering about 4,500 miles (7,200 km) by coach over rough roads, and going as far as Moscow and Saint Petersburg (the average daily coach trip being about 30 miles (48 km)). Again, his principal goal was to sell his lottery scheme to other governments and repeat the great success he had with

9408-459: The Black Sea slave trade ), were sold in Venice. In the early 15th century, the republic began to expand onto the Terraferma . Thus, Vicenza , Belluno , and Feltre were acquired in 1404, and Padua , Verona , and Este in 1405. The situation in Dalmatia had been settled in 1408 by a truce with King Sigismund of Hungary , but the difficulties of Hungary finally granted to the republic

9604-496: The British Medical Journal between 1904 and 1909. The publication was composed of 20 chapters, organising the work by sections according to the ailments the medicines claimed to treat. Each remedy was tested thoroughly, the preface stated: "Of the accuracy of the analytical data there can be no question; the investigation has been carried out with great care by a skilled analytical chemist." The book did lead to

9800-696: The Byzantine-Norman wars . The following year, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos granted Venice the chrysobol , a commercial privilege that allowed Venetian merchants substantial tax exemptions in numerous Byzantine ports and the establishment of a Venetian neighbourhood in Durrës and Constantinople . The war ended in 1085 when, following the death of the leader Robert Guiscard , the Norman army abandoned its positions to return to Puglia. Having taken office in 1118, Emperor John II Komnenos decided not to renew

9996-585: The Cretan War (1645–1669) , after a heroic siege that lasted 21 years, Venice lost its major overseas possession – the island of Crete (although it kept the control of the bases of Spinalonga and Suda) – while it made some advances in Dalmatia. In 1684, however, taking advantage of the Ottoman involvement against Austria in the Great Turkish War , the republic initiated

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10192-525: The Crusades , penetration into eastern markets became increasingly stronger and, between the 12th and 13th centuries, Venice managed to extend its power into numerous eastern emporiums and commercial ports. The supremacy over the Mediterranean Sea led the Republic to the clash with Genoa , which lasted until the 14th century, when, after having risked complete collapse during the War of Chioggia (with

10388-524: The Great Council , with legislative functions, which was supported by the Minor Council , the Council of Forty and the Council of Ten , responsible for judicial matters, and the Senate . During its long history, the Republic of Venice took on various names, all closely linked to the titles attributed to the doge . During the 8th century, when Venice still depended on the Byzantine Empire ,

10584-467: The Grimanis . Casanova proclaimed that his life avocation was firmly established by this encounter. Scandals tainted Casanova's short church career. After his grandmother's death, Casanova entered a seminary for a short while, but soon his indebtedness landed him in prison for the first time. An attempt by his mother to secure him a position with Bishop Bernardo de Bernardis was rejected by Casanova after

10780-621: The Morean War , which lasted until 1699 and in which it was able to conquer the Morea peninsula in southern Greece. These gains did not last, however; in December 1714, the Turks began the last Turkish–Venetian War , when the Morea was "without any of those supplies which are so desirable even in countries where aid is near at hand which are not liable to attack from the sea". The Turks took

10976-630: The Papal Order of the Golden Spur , he had an impressive cross and ribbon to display on his chest. Back in Paris, he set about one of his most outrageous schemes—convincing his old dupe the Marquise d'Urfé that he could turn her into a young man through occult means. The plan did not yield Casanova the big payoff he had hoped for, and the Marquise d'Urfé finally lost faith in him. Casanova traveled to England in 1763, hoping to sell his idea of

11172-673: The Peace of Cremona . In 1281 Venice defeated the Republic of Ancona in battle and in 1293 a new war between Genoa, the Byzantine Empire and Venice broke out, won by the Genoese following the Battle of Curzola and ending in 1299. During the war, various administrative reforms were implemented in Venice, new assemblies were established to replace popular ones such as the Senate and in the Great Council power began to concentrate in

11368-642: The Smyrniote crusades , but its participation was suspended due to the siege of Zadar by the Hungarians. The Genoese expansion to the east, which caused the Black Death , brought the rivalry between the two republics to resurface and in 1350 they faced each other in the War of the Straits . Following the defeat in the Battle of Sapienza , Doge Marino Faliero attempted to establish a city lordship, but

11564-637: The Stato da Màr . The skirmishes between the Venetians and the Genoese resumed and in 1378 the two republics faced each other in the War of Chioggia . Initially the Genoese managed to conquer Chioggia and vast areas of the Venetian Lagoon, but in the end it was the Venetians who prevailed; the war ended definitively on 8 August 1381 with the Treaty of Turin which sanctioned the exit of the Genoese from

11760-604: The Thirty Years' War on Venice's key trade partners, and the increasing cost of cotton and silk imports to Venice. In 1606, a conflict between Venice and the Holy See began with the arrest of two clerics accused of petty crimes and with a law restricting the Church's right to enjoy and acquire landed property. Pope Paul V held that these provisions were contrary to canon law , and demanded that they be repealed. When this

11956-453: The Tiepolo conspiracy . Once the coup d'état failed and the establishment of a lordship was averted, Doge Pietro Gradenigo established the Council of Ten , which was assigned the task of repressing any threat to the security of the state. In the Venetian hinterland, the war waged by Mastino II della Scala caused serious economic losses to Venetian trade, so in 1336 Venice gave birth to

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12152-511: The Treaty of Campo Formio , agreeing to share all the territory of the republic, with a new border just west of the Adige. Italian democrats, especially young poet Ugo Foscolo , viewed the treaty as a betrayal. The metropolitan part of the disbanded republic became an Austrian territory, under the name of Venetian Province ( Provincia Veneta in Italian, Provinz Venedig in German). Though

12348-424: The Uskok War in the northern Adriatic and on the Republic's eastern border, while in Lombardy to the west, Venetian troops skirmished with the forces of Don Pedro de Toledo Osorio , Spanish governor of Milan, around Crema in 1617 and in the countryside of Romano di Lombardia in 1618. During the same period, the Spanish governor of Naples, Don Pedro Téllez-Girón , clashed against Venice for commercial disputes at

12544-408: The War of Saint Sabas ; on 24 June 1258 the two republics faced each other in the Battle of Acre which ended with an overwhelming Venetian victory. In 1261 the Empire of Nicaea with the help of the Republic of Genoa managed to dissolve the Eastern Latin Empire and re-establish the Byzantine Empire. The war between Genoa and Venice resumed and after a long series of battles the war ended in 1270 with

12740-408: The battle of Ragusa , having previously indirectly supported Ferdinand during the Uskok War. A fragile peace did not last, and in 1629 the Most Serene Republic returned to war with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire in the War of the Mantuan Succession . During the brief war a Venetian army led by provveditore Zaccaria Sagredo and reinforced by French allies was disastrously routed by Imperial forces at

12936-402: The battle of Villabuona , and Venice's closest ally Mantua was sacked. Reversals elsewhere for the Holy Roman Empire and Spain ensured the republic suffered no territorial loss, and the duchy of Mantua was restored to Charles II Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers , who was the candidate backed by Venice and France. The latter half of the 17th century also had prolonged wars with the Ottoman Empire; in

13132-424: The co-dux , with the throne. The system brought Agnello's two sons, Giustiniano and Giovanni , to the ducal position, who was deposed in 836 due to his inadequacy to counter the Narentine pirates in Dalmatia . Following the deposition of Giovanni Partecipazio, Pietro Tradonico was elected who, with the promulgation of the Pactum Lotharii , a commercial treaty between Venice and the Carolingian Empire, began

13328-399: The coup d'état was foiled by the Council of Ten which on 17 April 1355 condemned the Doge to death. The ensuing political instability convinced Louis I of Hungary to attack Dalmatia which was conquered in 1358 with the signing of the Treaty of Zadar . The weakness of the Republic pushed Crete and Trieste to revolt, but the rebellions were quelled, thus reaffirming Venetian dominion over

13524-420: The 13th and 16th centuries, it also governed the Peloponnese , Crete and Cyprus , most of the Greek islands , as well as several cities and ports in the eastern Mediterranean . The islands of the Venetian Lagoon in the 7th century, after having experienced a period of substantial increase in population, were organized into Maritime Venice , a Byzantine duchy dependent on the Exarchate of Ravenna . With

13720-414: The 17th century, monarchical absolutism asserted itself in many countries of continental Europe, radically changing the European political landscape. This change made it possible to more markedly determine the differences between monarchies and republics: while the former had economies governed by strict laws and dominated by agriculture, the latter lived off of commercial affairs and free markets. Moreover,

13916-413: The American Medical Association Health Fraud and Alternative Medicine Collection. "Medical quackery and promotion of nostrums and worthless drugs were among the most prominent abuses that led to formal self-regulation in business and, in turn, to the creation of the Better Business Bureau ." "Quackery is the promotion of false and unproven health schemes for a profit. It is rooted in the traditions of

14112-525: The Dalmatian cities for the reduced sum of 100,000 ducats. Venice exploited the situation and quickly installed nobility to govern the area, for example, Count Filippo Stipanov in Zara. This move by the Venetians was a response to the threatening expansion of Gian Galeazzo Visconti , Duke of Milan. Control over the northeast main land routes was also a necessity for the safety of the trades. By 1410, Venice had

14308-659: The Doge Enrico Dandolo decided to exploit the expedition of the Fourth Crusade to conclude the Zara War and the following year, after twenty years of conflict, Venice conquered the city and won the war, regaining control of Dalmatia. The Venetian crusader fleet, however, did not stop in Dalmatia, but continued towards Constantinople to besiege it in 1204 , thus putting an end to the Byzantine Empire and formally making Venice an independent state, severing

14504-587: The FDA has mentioned some areas where potential quackery may be a problem: breast developers, weight loss, steroids and growth hormones, tanning and tanning pills, hair removal and growth, and look-alike drugs. In 1992, the president of The National Council Against Health Fraud , William T. Jarvis, wrote in Clinical Chemistry that: The U.S. Congress determined quackery to be the most harmful consumer fraud against elderly people. Americans waste $ 27 billion annually on questionable health care, exceeding

14700-520: The French government, but a meeting with Frederick the Great bore no fruit and in the surrounding German lands, the same result. Lacking neither connections nor confidence, Casanova went to Russia and met with Catherine the Great , but she flatly turned down the lottery idea. In 1766, he was expelled from Warsaw following a pistol duel with Colonel Franciszek Ksawery Branicki over an Italian actress,

14896-572: The Genoese army and fleet in the lagoon for a long period), Venice quickly managed to recover from the territorial losses suffered with the Treaty of Turin of 1381 and begin expansion on the mainland . Venetian expansion, however, led to the coalition of the Habsburg monarchy , Spain and France in the League of Cambrai , which in 1509 defeated the Republic of Venice in the Battle of Agnadello . While maintaining most of its mainland possessions, Venice

15092-444: The Gozzi household, Casanova first came into contact with the opposite sex, when Gozzi's younger sister Bettina fondled him at the age of 11. Bettina was "pretty, lighthearted, and a great reader of romances. ... The girl pleased me at once, though I had no idea why. It was she who little by little kindled in my heart the first sparks of a feeling which later became my ruling passion." Although she subsequently married, Casanova maintained

15288-487: The Habsburg monarchy following the ratification of the Treaty of Campo Formio . Throughout its history, the Republic of Venice was characterized by its political order. Inherited from the previous Byzantine administrative structures, its head of state was the doge, a position which became elective from the end of the 9th century. In addition to the doge, the administration of the Republic was directed by various assemblies:

15484-638: The Inquisitors put him on the payroll and sent him to investigate commerce between the papal states and Venice. Other publishing and theater ventures failed, primarily from lack of capital. In a downward spiral, Casanova was expelled again from Venice in 1783, after writing a vicious satire poking fun at Venetian nobility. In it, he made his only public statement that Grimani was his true father. Forced to resume his travels again, Casanova arrived in Paris, and in November 1783 met Benjamin Franklin while attending

15680-611: The Marquise d'Urfé. Now known across Europe for his reckless behavior, Casanova would have difficulty overcoming his notoriety and gaining any fortune, so he headed for Spain, where he was not as notorious. He tried his usual approach, leaning on well-placed contacts (often Freemasons), wining and dining with nobles of influence, and finally arranging an audience with the local monarch, in this case Charles III . When no doors opened for him, however, he could only roam across Spain, with little to show for it. In Barcelona, he escaped assassination and landed in jail for 6 weeks. His Spanish adventure

15876-556: The Marquise d'Urfé. While working the political angles, he also spent much time in the bedroom, as was his habit. As a means to find females for his pleasure, not being able to speak English, he put an advertisement in the newspaper to let an apartment to the "right" person. He interviewed many young women, choosing one "Mistress Pauline" who suited him well. Soon, he established himself in her apartment and seduced her. These and other liaisons, however, left him weak with venereal disease and he left England impoverished and ill. He went on to

16072-541: The Most Serene Republic of Venice ( Italian : Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia ; Venetian: Serenìsima Repùblega de Venexia ), a name by which it is best known today. Similarly, the doge was also given the nickname of serenissimo or more simply that of His Serenity . From the 17th century the Republic of Venice took on other more or less official names such as the Venetian State or

16268-714: The Scottish Rite Freemasonry in Lyon, the Memoirs said: It was in Lyons that a respectable individual, whose acquaintance I made at the house of M. de Rochebaron, obtained for me the favour of being initiated in the sublime trifles of Freemasonry. I arrived in Paris a simple apprentice; a few months after my arrival I became companion and master; the last is certainly the highest degree in Freemasonry, for all

16464-645: The Serenissima regained its mainland dominions west to the Adda River . Although the defeat had turned into a victory, the events of 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion. In 1489, the first year of Venetian control of Cyprus, Turks attacked the Karpasia Peninsula , pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery. In 1539, the Turkish fleet attacked and destroyed Limassol . Fearing

16660-748: The Supreme Court interpreted it to mean only that ingredients on labels had to be accurate. Language in the 1912 Sherley Amendment, meant to close this loophole, was limited to regulating claims that were false and fraudulent, creating the need to show intent. Throughout the early 20th century, the American Medical Association collected material on medical quackery, and one of their members and medical editors in particular, Arthur J. Cramp, devoted his career to criticizing such products. The AMA's Department of Investigation closed in 1975, but their only archive open to non-members remains,

16856-627: The University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine, for writing that "There [is] evidence that both real acupuncture and sham acupuncture [are] more effective than no treatment and that acupuncture can be a useful supplement to other forms of conventional therapy for low back pain." He also castigated editors and peer reviewers at the New England Journal of Medicine for allowing it to be published, since it effectively recommended deliberately misleading patients in order to achieve

17052-773: The Venetian Republic over maritime control of the Aegean, the Ionian, and the Adriatic Seas. The wars with Venice resumed after the Ottomans captured the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463, and lasted until a favorable peace treaty was signed in 1479 just after the troublesome siege of Shkodra . In 1480, no longer hampered by the Venetian fleet, the Ottomans besieged Rhodes and briefly captured Otranto . In February 1489,

17248-472: The Venetian Republic. The republic is often referred to as La Serenissima , in reference to its title as one of the " Most Serene Republics ". The Duchy of Venice was born in the 9th century from the Byzantine territories of Maritime Venice . According to tradition, the first doge was elected in 697, but this figure is of dubious historicity and comparable to that of the exarch Paul , who, similarly to

17444-630: The Venetian possessions in the Balkans as the price of peace (18 April 1797) while France acquired the Lombard part of the state. After Napoleon's ultimatum, Ludovico Manin surrendered unconditionally on 12 May and abdicated , while the Major Council declared the end of the republic. According to Bonaparte's orders, the public powers passed to a provisional municipality under the French military governor. On 17 October, France and Austria signed

17640-495: The acquaintance of the great and the powerful, exercise strict self-control, and play the chameleon." Casanova had matured, and this time in Paris, though still depending at times on quick thinking and decisive action, he was more calculating and deliberate. His first task was to find a new patron. He reconnected with his old friend de Bernis , now the Foreign Minister of France . Casanova was advised by his patron to find

17836-434: The amount spent on biomedical research. Quackery is characterized by the promotion of false and unproven health schemes for profit and does not necessarily involve imposture, fraud, or greed. The real issues in the war against quackery are the principles, including scientific rationale, encoded into consumer protection laws, primarily the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. More such laws are badly needed. Regulators are failing

18032-735: The anti-Scaliger league and the Scaliger War . The following year the coalition expanded further and Padua returned to the dominion of the Carraresi . In 1338, Venice conquered Treviso , the first nucleus of the Domini di Terraferma , and in 1339 it signed a peace treaty in which the Scaligeri promised not to interfere in Venetian trade and to recognize the sovereignty of Venice over the Trevisan March. In 1343 Venice took part in

18228-543: The appeals that quackery held out to consumers. British patent medicines lost their dominance in the United States when they were denied access to the Thirteen Colonies markets during the American Revolution , and lost further ground for the same reason during the War of 1812 . From the early 19th century "home-grown" American brands started to fill the gap, reaching their peak in the years after

18424-419: The armchair, was passed to the priest in a folio Bible carried under a heaping plate of pasta by the hoodwinked jailer. The priest made a hole in his ceiling, climbed across and made a hole in the ceiling of Casanova's cell. To neutralize his new cellmate, who was a spy, Casanova played on his superstitions and terrorized him into silence. When Balbi broke through to Casanova's cell, Casanova lifted himself through

18620-515: The arrival of the Byzantine fleet and the retreat of the Franks. Following the failed Frankish conquest, Doge Obelerio was replaced by the pro-Byzantine nobleman Agnello Participazio who definitively moved the capital to Rivoalto in 812, thus decreeing the birth of the city of Venice . With his election, Agnello Partecipazio attempted to make the ducal office hereditary by associating an heir,

18816-668: The artistic figures Voltaire , Goethe , and Mozart . He has become so famous for his often complicated and elaborate affairs with women, that his name "might be said to be synonymous with libertine ". His final years were spent in Dux Chateau ( Bohemia ) as a librarian in Count Waldstein 's household, where he also wrote his autobiography. Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was born in Venice in 1725 to actress Zanetta Farussi , wife of actor and dancer Gaetano Casanova . Giacomo

19012-504: The bar into a spike on the stone. Then he began to gouge through the wooden floor underneath his bed, knowing that his cell was directly above the Inquisitor's chamber. Just three days before his intended escape during a festival, when no officials would be in the chamber below, Casanova was moved to a larger, lighter cell with a view, despite his protests that he was perfectly happy where he was. In his new cell, "I sat in my armchair like

19208-537: The buyer to return. The few effective remedies sold by quacks included emetics, laxatives and diuretics. Some ingredients did have medicinal effects: mercury , silver and arsenic compounds may have helped some infections and infestations; willow bark contains salicylic acid , chemically closely related to aspirin ; and the quinine contained in Jesuit's bark was an effective treatment for malaria and other fevers. However, knowledge of appropriate uses and dosages

19404-521: The capital. Having taken control of the situation, the doge placed Venezia under Frankish protection, but a Byzantine naval blockade convinced him to renew his loyalty to the Eastern Emperor. With the intention of conquering Venezia in 810, the Frankish army commanded by Pepin invaded the lagoon, forcing the local population to retreat to Rivoalto , thus starting a siege which ended with

19600-520: The ceiling, leaving behind a note that quoted the 117th Psalm (from the Latin Vulgate ): "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord". The spy remained behind, too frightened of the consequences if he were caught escaping with the others. Casanova and Balbi pried their way through the lead plates and onto the sloping roof of the Doge's Palace, with a heavy fog swirling. The drop to

19796-419: The chrysobol of 1082, arousing the reaction of Venice which declared war on the Byzantine Empire in 1122. The war ended in 1126 with the victory of Venice which forced the emperor to stipulate a new agreement characterized by even better conditions than the previous ones, thus making the Byzantine Empire totally dependent on Venetian trade and protection. With the intention of weakening the growing Venetian power,

19992-473: The city, thinking up the most scandalous practical jokes and putting them into execution ... we amused ourselves by untying the gondolas moored before private homes, which then drifted with the current". They also sent midwives and physicians on false calls. Good fortune came to the rescue when Casanova, unhappy with his lot as a musician, saved the life of a Venetian patrician of the Bragadin family, who had

20188-636: The civil war of the Ottoman Interregnum and established himself as sultan . The conflict escalated until Pietro Loredan won a crushing victory against the Turks off Gallipoli in 1416 . Venice expanded as well along the Dalmatian coast from Istria to Albania , which was acquired from King Ladislaus of Naples during the civil war in Hungary . Ladislaus was about to lose the conflict and had decided to escape to Naples, but before doing so he agreed to sell his now practically forfeit rights on

20384-526: The competition for dominion over the Mediterranean. In 1403, the last major battle between the Genoese (now under French rule) and Venice was fought at Modon , and the final victory resulted in maritime hegemony and dominance of the eastern trade routes. The latter would soon be contested, however, by the inexorable rise of the Ottoman Empire . Hostilities began after Prince Mehmed I ended

20580-630: The consolidation of its Adriatic dominions. The situation culminated in the Battle of Motta in late August 1412, when an invading army of Hungarians, Germans and Croats, led by Pippo Spano and Voivode Miklós Marczali attacked the Venetian positions at Motta and suffered a heavy defeat. At the expiration of the truce in 1420, Venice immediately invaded the Patriarchate of Aquileia and subjected Traù , Spalato , Durazzo , and other Dalmatian cities. In Lombardy , Venice acquired Brescia in 1426, Bergamo in 1428, and Cremona in 1499. In 1454,

20776-476: The customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century. Casanova was known to use pseudonyms , such as baron or count of Farussi (the maiden name of his mother) or Chevalier de Seingalt ( French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ɡɑl] ). After he began writing in French, following his second exile from Venice, he often signed his works as "Jacques Casanova de Seingalt". He claims to have mingled with European royalty , popes , and cardinals , along with

20972-588: The danger brought by the eventual destruction of Venice (then the only Italian power able to face kingdoms like France or empires like the Ottomans). The citizens of the mainland rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco", and Andrea Gritti recaptured Padua in July 1509, successfully defending it against the besieging imperial troops. Spain and the pope broke off their alliance with France, and Venice regained Brescia and Verona from France, also. After seven years of ruinous war,

21168-495: The day that the city fell – 9 September 1570 – 20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted. Word of the massacre spread, and a few days later, Mustafa took Kyrenia without having to fire a shot. Famagusta, however, resisted and put up a defense that lasted from September 1570 until August 1571. The fall of Famagusta marked the beginning of the Ottoman period in Cyprus. Two months later,

21364-468: The death of his mother and, more paining, visited the deathbed of Bettina Gozzi, who had first introduced him to sex and who died in his arms. His Iliad was published in three volumes, but to limited subscribers and yielding little money. He got into a published dispute with Voltaire over religion. When he asked, "Suppose that you succeed in destroying superstition. With what will you replace it?" Voltaire shot back, "I like that. When I deliver humanity from

21560-624: The delicate situation in Romagna , then one of the richest lands in Italy, which was nominally part of the Papal States , but effectively divided into a series of small lordships which were difficult for Rome's troops to control. Eager to take some of Venice's lands, all neighbouring powers joined in the League of Cambrai in 1508, under the leadership of Pope Julius II . The pope wanted Romagna ; Emperor Maximilian I : Friuli and Veneto ; Spain:

21756-469: The diseases for which they were sold as a remedy, did make the imbibers feel better and confusedly appreciative of the product. The number of internationally marketed quack medicines increased in the later 18th century; the majority of them originated in Britain and were exported throughout the British Empire. By 1830, British parliamentary records list over 1,300 different "proprietary medicines",

21952-638: The documents written in Latin were joined by those in the Venetian language , and in parallel with the events in Italy, the Duchy of Venice also changed its name, becoming the Lordship of Venice, which as written in the peace treaty of 1453 with Sultan Mehmed II was fully named the Illustrissima et Excellentissima deta Signoria de Venexia ('The Most Illustrious and Excellent Signoria of Venice'). During

22148-700: The doge was called in Latin Dux Venetiarum Provinciae ('Doge of the Province of Venice'), and then, starting from 840, Dux Veneticorum ('Doge of the Venetians'), following the signing of the Pactum Lotharii . This commercial agreement, stipulated between the Duchy of Venice ( Ducatum Venetiae ) and the Carolingian Empire , de facto ratified the independence of Venice from the Byzantine Empire. In

22344-459: The doge, was assassinated in 727 following a revolt. Father Pietro Antonio of Venetia, in his history of the lagoon city published in 1688, writes: "The precise time in which that family arrived in the Adria is not found, but rather, what already an inhabitant of the islands, by the princes, who welcomed citizens, and supported with the advantage of significant riches, in the year 697 she contributed to

22540-571: The early 20th century. Most people with an e-mail account have experienced the marketing tactics of spamming  – in which modern forms of quackery are touted as miraculous remedies for "weight loss" and "sexual enhancement", as well as outlets for medicines of unknown quality. In 2008, the Hindustan Times reported that some officials and doctors estimated that there were more than 40,000 quacks practicing in Delhi , following outrage over

22736-570: The economic vitality of the Venetian Republic had started to decline since the 16th century with the movement of international trade towards the Atlantic, its political regime still appeared in the 18th century as a model for the philosophers of the Enlightenment . Jean-Jacques Rousseau was hired in July 1743 as secretary by Comte de Montaigu, who had been named ambassador of the French in Venice. This short experience, nevertheless, awakened

22932-561: The election of Pietro II Orseolo . Pietro II Orseolo gave a notable boost to Venetian commercial expansion by stipulating new commercial privileges with the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. In addition to diplomacy, the doge resumed the war against the Narentan pirates that began in the 9th century and in the year 1000 he managed to subjugate the coastal cities of Istria and Dalmatia. The Great Schism of 1054 and

23128-469: The emperor provided substantial commercial support to the maritime republics of Ancona , Genoa and Pisa , making coexistence with Venice, which was now hegemonic on the Adriatic Sea , increasingly difficult, so much so that it was renamed the "Gulf of Venice". In 1171, following the emperor's decision to expel the Venetian merchants from Constantinople, a new war broke out which was resolved with

23324-510: The end of some of the quack cures, but some survived the book by several decades. For example, Beecham's Pills , which according to the British Medical Association contained in 1909 only aloes, ginger and soap, but claimed to cure 31 medical conditions, were sold until 1998. The failure of the medical establishment to stop quackery was rooted in the difficulty of defining what precisely distinguished real medicine, and in

23520-511: The ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, the Venetians had fortified Famagusta , Nicosia , and Kyrenia , but most other cities were easy prey. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people. In the summer of 1570, the Turks struck again but this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on 2 July 1570 and laid siege to Nicosia. In an orgy of victory on

23716-484: The fact. The end of the road for the quack medicines now considered grossly fraudulent in the nations of North America and Europe came in the early 20th century. 21 February 1906 saw the passage into law of the Pure Food and Drug Act in the United States. This was the result of decades of campaigning by both government departments and the medical establishment, supported by a number of publishers and journalists (one of

23912-674: The faculty of appointing the Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople and the possibility of sending a Venetian representative to the government of the Eastern Latin Empire . With the end of the Fourth Crusade, Venice concentrated its efforts on the conquest of Crete, which intensely involved the Venetian army until 1237. Venice's control over the eastern trade routes became pressing and this caused an increase in conflicts with Genoa which in 1255 exploded into

24108-577: The fall of the Exarchate and the weakening of Byzantine power, the Duchy of Venice arose, led by a doge and established on the island of Rialto ; it prospered from maritime trade with the Byzantine Empire and other eastern states. To safeguard the trade routes, between the 9th and 11th centuries the Duchy waged several wars, which ensured its complete dominion over the Adriatic. Owing to participation in

24304-535: The falseness of their medicine was discovered. Not all quacks were restricted to such small-time businesses however, and a number, especially in the United States, became enormously wealthy through national and international sales of their products. In 1875, the Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal complained: If Satan has ever succeeded in compressing a greater amount of concentrated mendacity into one set of human bodies above every other description, it

24500-418: The first products that used branding (e.g. using highly distinctive containers) and mass marketing to create and maintain markets. A similar process occurred in other countries of Europe around the same time, for example with the marketing of Eau de Cologne as a cure-all medicine by Johann Maria Farina and his imitators. Patent medicines often contained alcohol or opium , which, while presumably not curing

24696-478: The following century, references to Venice as a Byzantine dominion disappeared, and in a document from 976 there is a mention of the most glorious Domino Venetiarum ('Lord of Venice'), where the 'most glorious' appellative had already been used for the first time in the Pactum Lotharii and where the appellative "lord" refers to the fact that the doge was still considered like a king, even if elected by

24892-546: The following year was rich enough to found a silk manufactory with his earnings. The French government even offered him a title and a pension if he would become a French citizen and work on behalf of the finance ministry, but he declined, perhaps because it would frustrate his wanderlust. Casanova had reached his peak of fortune, but could not sustain it. He ran the business poorly, borrowed heavily trying to save it, and spent much of his wealth on constant liaisons with his female workers who were his " harem ". For his debts, Casanova

25088-644: The frontiers of neutral Venice in pursuit of the enemy. By the end of the year, the French troops were occupying the Venetian state up to the Adige River. Vicenza, Cadore and Friuli were held by the Austrians. With the campaigns of the next year, Napoleon aimed for the Austrian possessions across the Alps . In the preliminaries to the Peace of Leoben , the terms of which remained secret, the Austrians were to take

25284-454: The grave faults committed by G. Casanova primarily in public outrages against the holy religion, their Excellencies have caused him to be arrested and imprisoned under the Leads." " The Leads " was a prison of seven cells on the top floor of the east wing of the Doge's Palace , reserved for prisoners of higher status as well as certain types of offenders—such as political prisoners, defrocked or libertine priests or monks, and usurers—and named for

25480-435: The hands of about ten families. To avoid the birth of a lordship, the Doge decided to increase the number of members of the Maggior Consiglio while leaving the number of families unchanged and so the Serrata del Maggior Consiglio was implemented in 1297. Following the provision, the power of some of the old houses decreased and in 1310, under the pretext of defeat in the War of Ferrara , these families organized themselves in

25676-416: The indebtedness of the State and the confusion of finances were the inevitable results. A Revolution was necessary." As the Seven Years' War began, Casanova was again called to help increase the state treasury. He was entrusted with a mission of selling state bonds in Amsterdam , the Netherlands being the financial center of Europe at the time. He succeeded in selling the bonds at only an 8% discount, and

25872-408: The interest of Rousseau to the policy, which led him to design a large book of political philosophy. After the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755), he published The Social Contract (1762). Following the Lombard occupation and the progressive migration of the Roman populations, new coastal settlements were born in which the local assemblies, the comitia , elected

26068-406: The island of Cyprus , previously a crusader state (the Kingdom of Cyprus ), was added to Venice's holdings. By 1490, the population of Venice had risen to about 180,000 people. War with the Ottomans resumed from 1499 to 1503. In 1499, Venice allied itself with Louis XII of France against Milan, gaining Cremona . In the same year, the Ottoman sultan moved to attack Lepanto by land and sent

26264-507: The islands of Tinos and Aegina , crossed the isthmus, and took Corinth . Daniele Dolfin, commander of the Venetian fleet, thought it better to save the fleet than risk it for the Morea. When he eventually arrived on the scene, Nauplia, Modon, Corone, and Malvasia had fallen. Levkas in the Ionian islands , and the bases of Spinalonga and Suda on Crete, which still remained in Venetian hands, were abandoned. The Turks finally landed on Corfu , but its defenders managed to throw them back. In

26460-416: The lagoon for a decade. Following his death, the Byzantines entrusted the government of the province to the regime of the magistri militum , which lasted until 742 when the emperor granted the people the appointment of a dux . The Venetians elected by acclamation Theodato , son of Orso, who decided to move the capital of the duchy from Heraclia to Metamauco . The Lombard conquest of Ravenna in 751 and

26656-430: The last ties with the former Byzantine ruler. The empire was dismembered in the Crusader states and from the division Venice obtained numerous ports in the Morea and several islands in the Aegean Sea including Crete and Euboea , thus giving life to the Stato da Màr . In addition to the territorial conquests, the doge was awarded the title of Lord of a quarter and a half of the Eastern Roman Empire, thus obtaining

26852-416: The lead plates covering the palace roof. The following 12 September, without a trial and without being informed of the reasons for his arrest and of the sentence, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was placed in a single-person room with clothing, a pallet bed, table, and armchair in "the worst of all the cells", where he suffered greatly from the darkness, summer heat, and "millions of fleas". He

27048-420: The libretto for Mozart's Don Giovanni . Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice , officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenìssima , was a sovereign state and maritime republic with its capital in Venice . Founded, according to tradition, in 697 by Paolo Lucio Anafesto , over the course of its 1,100 years of history it established itself as one of

27244-412: The life of Louis XV . (Casanova would later witness and describe his execution.) Thirty years later in 1787, Casanova wrote Story of My Flight , which was very popular and was reprinted in many languages, and he repeated the tale a little later in his memoirs. Casanova's judgment of the exploit is characteristic: Thus did God provide me with what I needed for an escape which was to be a wonder if not

27440-421: The long process of detachment of the province from the Byzantine Empire. After Tradonico was killed following a conspiracy in 864, Orso I Participazio was elected and resumed the fight against piracy, managing to protect the Dogado from attacks by the Saracens and the Patriarchate of Aquileia . Orso managed to assign the dukedom to his eldest son Giovanni II Participazio who, after conquering Comacchio ,

27636-415: The major European commercial and naval powers. Initially extended in the Dogado area (a territory currently comparable to the Metropolitan City of Venice ), during its history it annexed a large part of Northeast Italy , Istria , Dalmatia , the coasts of present-day Montenegro and Albania as well as numerous islands in the Adriatic and eastern Ionian seas. At the height of its expansion, between

27832-414: The majority of which were "quack" cures by modern standards. A Dutch organisation that opposes quackery, Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (VtdK), was founded in 1881, making it the oldest organisation of this kind in the world. It has published its magazine Nederlands Tijdschrift tegen de Kwakzalverij ( Dutch Magazine against Quackery ) ever since. In these early years the VtdK played

28028-517: The manufacturers of new and existing products, including drugs and nutritional supplements or vitamins. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) participates in some of these efforts. To better address less regulated products, in 2000, US President Clinton signed Executive Order 13147 that created the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine . In 2002, the commission's final report made several suggestions regarding education, research, implementation, and reimbursement as ways to evaluate

28224-479: The marketplace", with "commercialism overwhelming professionalism in the marketing of alternative medicine". Quackery is most often used to denote the peddling of the "cure-alls" described above. Quackery is an ongoing problem that can be found in any culture and in every medical tradition. Unlike other advertising mediums, rapid advancements in communication through the Internet have opened doors for an unregulated market of quack cures and marketing campaigns rivaling

28420-434: The meantime, the Turks had suffered a grave defeat by the Austrians in the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716. Venetian naval efforts in the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles in 1717 and 1718, however, met with little success. With the Treaty of Passarowitz (21 July 1718), Austria made large territorial gains, but Venice lost the Morea, for which its small gains in Albania and Dalmatia were little compensation. This

28616-433: The mid-18th century, did have genuinely beneficial properties. This medicine continued to be sold under the original name into the early 20th century, and can still be found in the British and American pharmacopoeias as "Compound tincture of benzoin ". In these cases, the treatments likely lacked empirical support when they were introduced to the market, and their benefits were simply a convenient coincidence discovered after

28812-587: The mid-19th century revalenta arabica was advertised as having extraordinary restorative virtues as an empirical diet for invalids; despite its impressive name and many glowing testimonials it was in truth only ordinary lentil flour, sold to the gullible at many times the true cost. Even where no fraud was intended, quack remedies often contained no effective ingredients whatsoever. Some remedies contained substances such as opium , alcohol and honey, which would have given symptomatic relief but had no curative properties. Some would have addictive qualities to entice

29008-425: The monarchies, in addition to being led by a single ruling family, were more prone to war and religious uniformity. This increasingly noticeable difference between monarchy and republic began to be specified also in official documents, and it was hence that names such as the Republic of Genoa or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces were born. The Lordship of Venice also adapted to this new terminology, becoming

29204-533: The most effective was Samuel Hopkins Adams , who wrote "The Great American Fraud" series in Collier's in 1905). This American Act was followed three years later by similar legislation in Britain and in other European nations. Between them, these laws began to remove the more outrageously dangerous contents from patent and proprietary medicines, and to force quack medicine proprietors to stop making some of their more blatantly dishonest claims. The Act, however, left advertising and claims of effectiveness unregulated as

29400-518: The name implies, "restore life in the event of sudden death". Another English quack, "Dr. Solomon" claimed that his Cordial Balm of Gilead cured almost anything, but was particularly effective against all venereal complaints, from gonorrhea to onanism . Although it was basically just brandy flavoured with herbs, the price of a bottle was a half guinea ( £sd system) in 1800, equivalent to over £38 ($ 52) in 2014. Not all patent medicines were without merit. Turlingtons Balsam of Life, first marketed in

29596-404: The nascent mercantile aristocracy gathered in the Great Council , the largest assembly of the Veneciarum municipality . In the 13th century the popular assembly of the concio was progressively stripped of all its powers and, similarly to the Italian city lordships , in Venice too power began to concentrate in the hands of a small number of families. To avoid the birth of a lordship and dilute

29792-406: The naval forces of the Holy League , composed mainly of Venetian, Spanish , and papal ships under the command of Don John of Austria , defeated the Turkish fleet at the battle of Lepanto . Despite victory at sea over the Turks, Cyprus remained under Ottoman rule for the next three centuries. By 1575, the population of Venice was about 175,000 people, but partly as a result of the plague of 1575–76

29988-414: The nearby canal being too great, Casanova prised open the grate over a dormer window, and broke the window to gain entry. They found a long ladder on the roof, and with the additional use of a bedsheet "rope" that Casanova had prepared, lowered themselves into the room whose floor was 25 feet (7.6 m) below. They rested until morning, changed clothes, then broke a small lock on an exit door and passed into

30184-436: The next three years under the senator's patronage, working nominally as a legal assistant, Casanova led the life of a nobleman, dressing magnificently and, as was natural to him, spending most of his time gambling and engaging in amorous pursuits. His patron was exceedingly tolerant, but he warned Casanova that some day he would pay the price; "I made a joke of his dire Prophecies and went my way." However, not much later, Casanova

30380-574: The nobles, particularly the search for the " philosopher's stone ", that Casanova was highly sought after for his supposed knowledge, and he profited handsomely. He met his match, however, in the Count of Saint-Germain: "This very singular man, born to be the most barefaced of all imposters, declared with impunity, with a casual air, that he was three hundred years old, that he possessed the universal medicine, that he made anything he liked from nature, that he created diamonds." De Bernis decided to send Casanova to Dunkirk on his first spying mission. Casanova

30576-438: The nomination of the first Prince Marco Contarini, one of the 22 Tribunes of the Islands, who made the election". In 726, Emperor Leo III attempted to extend iconoclasm to the Exarchate of Ravenna, causing numerous revolts throughout the territory. In reaction to the reform, the local populations appointed several duces to replace the Byzantine governors and in particular Venetia appointed Orso as its doge, who governed

30772-557: The other degrees which I took afterwards are only pleasing inventions, which, although symbolical, add nothing to the dignity of master. Casanova stayed in Paris for two years, learned the language, spent much time at the theater, and introduced himself to notables. Soon, however, his numerous liaisons were noted by the Paris police, as they were in nearly every city he visited. In 1752, his brother Francesco and he moved from Paris to Dresden , where his mother and sister Maria Maddalena were living. His new play, La Moluccheide , now lost,

30968-431: The outbreak of the investiture struggle in 1073 marginally involved Venetian politics which instead focused its attention on the arrival of the Normans in southern Italy. The Norman occupation of Durrës and Corfu in 1081 pushed the Byzantine Empire to request the aid of the Venetian fleet which, with the promise of obtaining extensive commercial privileges and reimbursement of military expenses, decided to take part in

31164-539: The owner of Palazzo Malipiero , close to Casanova's home in Venice. Malipiero moved in the best circles and taught young Casanova a great deal about good food and wine, and how to behave in society. However, Casanova was caught dallying with Malipiero's intended object of seduction, actress Teresa Imer , and the senator drove both of them from his house. Casanova's growing curiosity about women led to his first complete sexual experience, with two sisters, Nanetta and Marton Savorgnan, then 14 and 16, who were distant relatives of

31360-416: The popular assembly. Gaining independence, Venice also began to expand on the coasts of the Adriatic Sea , and so starting from 1109, following the conquest of Dalmatia and the Croatian coast, the doge formally received the title of Venetiae Dalmatiae atque Chroatiae Dux ('Doge of Venice, Dalmatia and Croatia'), a name that continued to be used until the 18th century. Starting from the 15th century,

31556-404: The population dropped to 124,000 people by 1581. According to economic historian Jan De Vries, Venice's economic power in the Mediterranean had declined significantly by the start of the 17th century. De Vries attributes this decline to the loss of the spice trade , a declining uncompetitive textile industry, competition in book publishing from a rejuvenated Catholic Church, the adverse impact of

31752-479: The power of the old houses, the Lockout of the Great Council took place in 1297, a measure that increased the number of members of the Great Council leaving the number of families unchanged and therefore precluding the entry of the new nobility. Quackery Common elements of general quackery include questionable diagnoses using questionable diagnostic tests , as well as untested or refuted treatments, especially for serious diseases such as cancer . Quackery

31948-409: The precariousness of his finances. Before leaving, she slipped into his pocket five hundred louis, mark of her evaluation of him. Crestfallen and despondent, Casanova returned to Venice, and after a good gambling streak, he recovered and set off on a grand tour , reaching Paris in 1750. Along the way, from one town to another, he got into sexual escapades resembling operatic plots. In Lyon , he entered

32144-447: The public by enforcing laws inadequately, applying double standards, and accrediting pseudomedicine. Non-scientific health care (e.g., acupuncture, ayurvedic medicine, chiropractic, homeopathy, naturopathy) is licensed by individual states. Practitioners use unscientific practices and deception on a public who, lacking complex health-care knowledge, must rely upon the trustworthiness of providers. Quackery not only harms people, it undermines

32340-421: The restoration of the status quo . At the end of the 12th century, the commercial traffic of Venetian merchants extended throughout the East and they could count on immense and solid capital. As in the rest of Italy, starting from the 12th century, Venice also underwent the transformations that led to the age of the municipalities . In that century, the doge's power began to decline: initially supported only by

32536-487: The risks and benefits of each. As a direct result, more public dollars have been allocated for research into some of these methods. Individuals and non-governmental agencies are active in attempts to expose quackery. According to John C. Norcross et al. less is consensus about ineffective "compared to effective procedures" but identifying both "pseudoscientific, unvalidated, or 'quack' psychotherapies" and "assessment measures of questionable validity on psycho-metric grounds"

32732-416: The scientific enterprise and should be actively opposed by every scientist. For those in the practice of any medicine, to allege quackery is to level a serious objection to a particular form of practice. Most developed countries have a governmental agency, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US, whose purpose is to monitor and regulate the safety of medications as well as the claims made by

32928-590: The senator invited Casanova into his household and became a lifelong patron. Casanova stated in his memoirs: I took the most creditable, the noblest, and the only natural course. I decided to put myself in a position where I need no longer go without the necessities of life: and what those necessities were for me no one could judge better than me.... No one in Venice could understand how an intimacy could exist between myself and three men of their character, they all heaven and I all earth; they most severe in their morals, and I addicted to every kind of dissolute living. For

33124-519: The sincerity of their promoters. In line with this definition, the word "fraud" would be reserved only for situations in which deliberate deception is involved. In addition to the ethical problems of promising benefits that are not likely to occur, quackery might cause people to forego treatments that are more likely to help them, in favor of ineffective treatments given by the "quack". American pediatrician Paul Offit has proposed four ways in which alternative medicine "becomes quackery": Since it

33320-447: The slang term snake oil , a reference to sales pitches for the false medicines that claimed exotic ingredients provided the supposed benefits. Those who sold them were called "snake oil salesmen", and usually sold their medicines with a fervent pitch similar to a fire and brimstone religious sermon. They often accompanied other theatrical and entertainment productions that traveled as a road show from town to town , leaving quickly before

33516-414: The society of Freemasonry , which appealed to his interest in secret rites and which, for the most part, attracted men of intellect and influence who proved useful in his life, providing valuable contacts and uncensored knowledge. Casanova was also attracted to Rosicrucianism . In Lyons, Casanova became companion and finally took the highest degree of Scottish Rite Master Mason. Regarding his initiation to

33712-410: The spring of 1760, where he lost the rest of his fortune. He was yet again arrested for his debts, but managed to escape to Switzerland . Weary of his wanton life, Casanova visited the monastery of Einsiedeln and considered the simple, scholarly life of a monk. He returned to his hotel to think on the decision, only to encounter a new object of desire, and reverting to his old instincts, all thoughts of

33908-500: The subsequent conquest of the Lombard kingdom by Charlemagne 's Franks in 774, with the creation of the Carolingian Empire in 800, considerably changed the geopolitical context of the lagoon, leading the Venetians to divide into two factions : a pro-Frankish party led by the city of Equilium and a pro-Byzantine party with a stronghold in Heraclia . After a long series of skirmishes in 805, Doge Obelerio decided to attack both cities simultaneously, deporting their population to

34104-533: Was a cordial one and he was a celebrity. Even the Inquisitors wanted to hear how he had escaped from their prison. Of his three bachelor patrons, however, only Dandolo was still alive and Casanova was invited back to live with him. He received a small stipend from Dandolo and hoped to live from his writings, but that was not enough. He reluctantly became a correspondent again for Venice, paid by piece work , reporting on religion, morals, and commerce, most of it based on gossip and rumor he picked up from social contacts. He

34300-411: Was a required stop on the Grand Tour , traveled by young men coming of age, especially those belonging to the British aristocracy. The famed Carnival , gambling houses, and beautiful courtesans were powerful drawcards. This environment provided many of his formative experiences. His grandmother, Marzia Baldissera, cared for him while his mother toured about Europe in the theater. His father died when he

34496-421: Was admitted as an abbé after being conferred minor orders by the Patriarch of Venice . He shuttled back and forth to Padua to continue his university studies. By now, he had become something of a dandy—tall and dark, his long hair powdered, scented, and elaborately curled. He quickly ingratiated himself with a patron (something he was to do all his life), 76-year-old Venetian senator Alvise Gasparo Malipiero,

34692-524: Was called as death seemed to be approaching. However, despite protests from the attending physician, Casanova ordered the removal of the ointment and the washing of the senator's chest with cool water. The senator recovered from his illness with rest and a sensible diet. Because of his youth and his facile recitation of medical knowledge, the senator and his two bachelor friends thought Casanova wise beyond his years, and concluded that he must be in possession of occult knowledge. As they were cabalists themselves,

34888-408: Was defeated and the attempt to expand the eastern dominions caused a long series of wars against the Ottoman Empire , which ended only in the 18th century with the Treaty of Passarowitz of 1718 and which caused the loss of all possessions in the Aegean . Although still a thriving cultural centre, the Republic of Venice was occupied by Napoleon 's French troops and its territories were divided with

35084-468: Was disappointed. No financial opportunities of interest came about and few doors opened for him in society as in the past. At age 49, the years of reckless living and the thousands of miles of travel had taken their toll. Casanova's smallpox scars, sunken cheeks, and hook nose became all the more noticeable. His easygoing manner was now more guarded. Prince Charles de Ligne , a friend (and uncle of his future employer), described him around 1784: He would be

35280-454: Was eight. As a child, Casanova suffered nosebleeds and his grandmother sought help from a witch: "Leaving the gondola, we enter a hovel, where we find an old woman sitting on a pallet, with a black cat in her arms and five or six others around her." Though the unguent applied was ineffective, Casanova was fascinated by the incantation. Perhaps to remedy the nosebleeds (a physician blamed the density of Venice's air), Casanova, on his ninth birthday,

35476-419: Was employed to draw out Casanova's knowledge of cabalism and Freemasonry and to examine his library for forbidden books. Senator Bragadin, in total seriousness this time (being a former inquisitor himself), advised his "son" to leave immediately or face the stiffest consequences. On 26 July 1755, at age 30, Casanova was arrested for affront to religion and common decency: "The Tribunal, having taken cognizance of

35672-467: Was forced to leave Venice, due to further scandals. Casanova had dug up a freshly buried corpse to play a practical joke on an enemy and exact revenge, but the victim went into a paralysis, never to recover. In another scandal, a young girl who had duped him accused him of rape and went to the officials. Casanova was later acquitted of this crime for lack of evidence, but by this time, he had already fled from Venice. Escaping to Parma , Casanova entered into

35868-478: Was imprisoned again, this time at For-l'Évêque , but was liberated four days afterwards, upon the insistence of the Marquise d'Urfé . Unfortunately, though he was released, his patron de Bernis was dismissed by Louis XV at that time and Casanova's enemies closed in on him. He sold the rest of his belongings and secured another mission to Holland to distance himself from his troubles. This time, however, his mission failed and he fled to Cologne , then Stuttgart in

36064-506: Was keenly interested in medicine. ("I should have been allowed to do as I wished and become a physician, in which profession quackery is even more effective than it is in legal practice.") He frequently prescribed his own treatments for himself and friends. While attending the university, Casanova began to gamble and quickly got into debt, causing his recall to Venice by his grandmother, but the gambling habit became firmly established. Back in Venice, Casanova started his clerical law career and

36260-440: Was later housed with a series of cellmates. After five months and a personal appeal from Count Bragadin, he was given warm winter bedding and a monthly stipend for books and better food. During exercise walks he was granted in the prison garret, he found a piece of black marble and an iron bar which he smuggled back to his cell; he hid the bar inside his armchair. When he was temporarily without cellmates, he spent two weeks sharpening

36456-404: Was lifted after a year, when France intervened and proposed a formula of compromise. Venice was satisfied with reaffirming the principle that no citizen was superior to the normal processes of law. Rivalry with Habsburg Spain and the Holy Roman Empire led to Venice's last significant wars in Italy and the northern Adriatic. Between 1615 and 1618 Venice fought Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in

36652-428: Was limited. The evidence-based medicine community has criticized the infiltration of alternative medicine into mainstream academic medicine, education, and publications, accusing institutions of "diverting research time, money, and other resources from more fruitful lines of investigation in order to pursue a theory that has no basis in biology." For example, David Gorski criticized Brian M. Berman , founder of

36848-406: Was named the last Captain General of the Sea ( Capitano Generale da Mar ) of the Republic in 1784. By 1796, the Republic of Venice could no longer defend itself since its war fleet numbered only four galleys and seven galiots . In spring 1796, Piedmont (the Duchy of Savoy ) fell to the invading French, and the Austrians were beaten from Montenotte to Lodi . The army under Napoleon crossed

37044-404: Was paid well for his quick work and this experience prompted one of his few remarks against the ancien régime and the class on which he was dependent. He remarked in hindsight, "All the French ministers are the same. They lavished money which came out of the other people's pockets to enrich their creatures, and they were absolute: The down-trodden people counted for nothing, and, through this,

37240-478: Was performed at the Royal Theatre, where his mother often played in lead roles. He then visited Prague , and Vienna , where the tighter moral atmosphere was not to his liking. He finally returned to Venice in 1753. There, Casanova resumed his escapades, picking up many enemies and gaining the scrutiny of the Venetian inquisitors. His police record became a lengthening list of reported blasphemies, seductions, fights, and public controversy. A state spy, Giovanni Manucci,

37436-440: Was pursued by various authors. The evidence-based practice (EBP) movement in mental health emphasizes the consensus in psychology that psychological practice should rely on empirical research. There are also "anti-quackery" websites, such as Quackwatch , that help consumers evaluate claims. Quackwatch's information is relevant to both consumers and medical professionals. There have been several suggested reasons why quackery

37632-444: Was refused, he placed Venice under an interdict which forbade clergymen from exercising almost all priestly duties. The republic paid no attention to the interdict or the act of excommunication and ordered its priests to carry out their ministry. It was supported in its decisions by the Servite friar Paolo Sarpi , a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be the Signoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict

37828-460: Was sent to a boarding house on the mainland in Padua . For Casanova, the neglect by his parents was a bitter memory. "So they got rid of me," he proclaimed. Conditions at the boarding house were appalling, so he appealed to be placed under the care of Abbé Gozzi, his primary instructor, who tutored him in academic subjects, as well as the violin. Casanova moved in with the priest and his family and lived there through most of his teenage years. In

38024-415: Was the first of six children, followed by Francesco Giuseppe (1727–1803), Giovanni Battista (1730–1795), Faustina Maddalena (1731–1736), Maria Maddalena Antonia Stella (1732–1800), and Gaetano Alvise (1734–1783). At the time of Casanova's birth, the city of Venice thrived as the pleasure capital of Europe, ruled by political and religious conservatives who tolerated social vices and encouraged tourism. It

38220-419: Was the last war with the Ottoman Empire. By the year 1792, the once-great Venetian merchant fleet had declined to a mere 309 merchantmen . Although Venice declined as a seaborne empire, it remained in possession of its continental domain north of the Po Valley , extending west almost to Milan. Many of its cities benefited greatly from the Pax Venetiae (Venetian peace) throughout the 18th century. Angelo Emo

38416-450: Was transferred from the Empire to local assemblies, thus sanctioning the beginning of the ducal monarchy which lasted, with ups and downs, until the 11th century. If the first stable form of involvement of the patriciate in the management of power occurred with the institution of the curia ducis , starting from 1141 with the beginning of the municipal age , an unstoppable process of limitation and removal of ducal power from part of

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