Iron mask content. The prisoner in the iron mask: who was it really. The mystery of the "English trace" of the "iron mask"
Summer 1669 François-Michel Letelier, Marquis de Louvois, King's Minister of War Louis XIV, sent a letter to Benigne Dovern de Saint-Mars, head of the Pignerol prison. In a letter, he informed him of the imminent arrival of the prisoner. The head of the prison was instructed to prepare a cell for the arrival of a prisoner, which had several doors that closed one after another - this was to separate the prisoner from the jailers and other prisoners, even at the level of sounds. The minister ordered that Saint-Mars visit the new prisoner once a day to fulfill his requests related to various issues of life, but not to discuss other topics with him.
masked prisoner
According to the letter, the prisoner's name was "Estan Dauger". However, the researchers note that this name was entered into the document in a different handwriting. It is very likely that "Estan Dauger" is nothing more than a fictitious name for a mysterious prisoner.
Pignerol prison at that time was the place where state criminals were kept. For example, by the time the Estan Dauger arrived, the former superintendent of French finance had been in Pignerol for five years. Nicholas Fouquet, sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzlement of public funds.
The Doge differed from other prisoners in that he wore a velvet mask, which was supposed to ensure his complete anonymity. And so it happened - no one managed to find out who exactly was hiding under the mask.
Benigne Doverne de Saint-Mar remained the Doge's jailer until the prisoner's death. Saint-Mars was transferred from one duty station to another, and the mysterious prisoner followed him.
In 1698, Saint-Mars became warden of the Bastille, and the prisoner was placed in the third cell of the Bertodière tower.
The prisoner died on November 19, 1703 and was buried under the name "Marchioly". All his things and in general everything that was connected with him, after his death, was destroyed.
Birth of a legend
Seven decades later, interest in the prisoner was fueled by a philosopher Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. In his opinion, the unfortunate man wore an iron mask, which immediately gave additional drama and mystery to this story.
Completely turned the "Iron Mask" into a cult character Alexandre Dumas father, which made the story of the prisoner into one of the central lines of the novel "The Vicomte de Bragelon, or Ten Years After".
Subsequent novels and later film adaptations have led many to believe that the Iron Mask is a fictional character. But, as already mentioned, its existence is documented.
The second half of the 17th century was a time not distinguished by special humanism. Two decades before the appearance of the mysterious prisoner in Pignerol, in England, the king lost his head on the scaffold Charles I. And the heads of persons of lesser rank, convicted of crimes or simply fallen out of favor, flew from under the executioner's ax throughout Europe.
The "Iron Mask" of the French authorities, no doubt, was considered extremely dangerous. But, despite this, they did not begin to execute him, preferring to keep him in custody for many years, hiding his face. Who could be the prisoner?
"The Nameless Prisoner": the Russian analogue of the "Iron Mask"
In December 1741 the daughter Peter I Elizaveta Petrovna dethroned the emperor John VI. The monarch at that time was not even a year and a half old.
Elizaveta Petrovna did not take the sin of murdering a royal person into her soul. Young John was taken into custody, and in the country it was forbidden even to mention the name of the little king.
Since 1756, John VI was kept in solitary confinement in the Shlisselburg fortress. His name was not mentioned, in the documents he appeared as a "nameless prisoner" or "a well-known prisoner."
By a secret order, the jailers assigned to John were ordered to kill him in the event of an attempted release. And so it happened in 1764, during the reign of Catherine II during an unsuccessful coup attempt by a second lieutenant Vasily Mirovich.
If for a second we put a virtual mask on John VI, we will get almost one hundred percent similarity with the French events.
This is probably why the most common version is the one according to which the "Iron Mask" belonged to the royal family.
Illegitimate brother of King Louis XIV
Still, she did not give birth to a spouse of children during the first 23 years of marriage! The future Louis XIV was born when Anna of Austria was two weeks away from 37 years old. By the standards of that era, this is not just late, but very late.
Voltaire suggested that before Louis XIV, Anna became pregnant and gave birth not from the king. The child was secretly brought up by confidants. When Louis XIV came of age, he considered his brother a threat to the throne and ordered him to be imprisoned in a fortress, keeping his identity a secret.
Real father of Louis XIV
The starting point of this hypothesis, again, is the fact of the late appearance of a child by Queen Anne of Austria. But supporters of this version believe that the "Sun King" Louis XIV himself was an illegitimate child.
Researchers believe that King Louis XIII suffered from infertility. The absence of an heir threatened the stability of France. As a result, with the knowledge of Louis XIII, someone was found, possibly having distant family ties with the royal family. From this "donor" Anna of Austria conceived an heir.
Later, they decided to imprison the real father of the new king in order to guarantee that the secret would not be revealed.
Twin brother of Louis XIV
Favorite plot of writers and filmmakers, starting with Alexandre Dumas. So, the queen gives birth from her lawful husband, but not one, but two boys are born. The twin princes immediately turn into a big problem, threatening trouble and civil war in the future. It was decided to get rid of an extra contender for the throne, but no one dares to kill a person of royal blood. The unfortunate boy is waiting for life imprisonment and a mask that hides his striking resemblance to his brother, who will be king.
Son of Louis XIV and Henrietta of England
This hypothesis takes us to the youth of the "Sun King", when in his immediate environment was Henrietta of England, the youngest daughter of the executed English king Charles I.
Henrietta was Louis XIV's cousin, which did not prevent her from being considered at one time as a bride for the king.
The marriage did not take place, but at court they claimed that a romance between young people took place. Henrietta became the wife of Louis's younger brother, Philip of Orleans, however, the daughter born to her was considered the child of the king.
According to supporters of this hypothesis, Henrietta also had a son from Louis XIV. Despite the fact that he was illegitimate, his origin made it possible to claim both the English and French crowns. Therefore, in order to avoid political complications, upon reaching the age of majority, he was imprisoned in a fortress, forever covering his face with a mask.
Peter I
Oddly enough, but the Russian tsar-reformer also fell into the number of those who were included in the list of candidates for the role of the "Iron Mask".
In 1697, Peter I went to Europe as part of the "Great Embassy". At the same time, the tsar followed incognito, under the name of a constable of the Preobrazhensky regiment Peter Mikhailov.
Soon rumors began to circulate in Russia that the tsar abroad had been killed or kidnapped, and his place was taken by a double sent by the Europeans. Opponents of Peter I, spreading these rumors, argued that the reforms launched by the tsar were in fact the intrigues of foreign enemies.
Supporters of the version point out that the period of the end of the "Great Embassy" (1698) coincides with the time of the appearance of the "Iron Mask" in the Bastille.
But this hypothesis is absolutely untenable, because, as is known from documents, a prisoner in a mask appeared in Pignerol as early as 1669 - three years before the birth of Peter Alekseevich.
Many candidates, no answer
In total, there are at least fifty characters that are proposed for the role of the "Iron Mask" - from rather banal, such as a certain criminal who has committed a particularly serious crime, to completely exotic, like the black son of the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, born by her from a Negro page.
It is possible that it will not be possible to reliably establish the identity of the mysterious prisoner. But people will not stop guessing and guessing. As well as shoot about the "Iron Mask" more and more films.
On November 19, 1703, 310 years ago, a prisoner known as the "man in the iron mask" died in the Bastille. The name of the mysterious prisoner is still not known for certain, but historians express the most incredible versions: for example, an illegitimate brother could be a prisoner Louis XIV(then ruler of France) or his twin brother. It is quite possible that one of the state criminals or traitors was serving a sentence in a mask - for example, Ercol Antonio Mattioli, who promised to help Louis XIV get the fortress of Casale, but did not keep his word.
He spoke about the "prisoner" Jesuit Griffey, who served in the Bastille for 9 years as a confessor. According to him, the mysterious prisoner was brought on a stretcher on September 19, 1698 from the island of St. Margaret, and his face was covered with a thick black velvet mask. Later, she "turned" into an iron one - already in legends.
Exilles Fortress, where the masked prisoner was last seen Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
"Century of Louis XIV" (1751)
Enlightener philosopher Voltaire first wrote about the Iron Mask, suggesting that the prisoner is the brother of Louis XIV. His hero is described as follows: “above average height, young, with the noblest posture. On the journey, he wore a mask with steel latches on the bottom of the mask that allowed him to eat without removing the mask. The order was given to kill him if he took off his mask.”
"Vicomte de Bragelon" (1847-1850)
Alexandre Dumas (father) continued the theme set by Voltaire in his novel The Vicomte de Bragelon, or Ten Years Later (the last part of the trilogy about).
Prisoner in an iron mask in an anonymous print from the French Revolution Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
According to the book, a prisoner named Marchiali (the king's brother) was imprisoned by Cardinal Mazarin. The prisoner was kept better than his comrades, but his supervision was stricter. The musketeers made a substitution and freed the unfortunate prisoner, leaving the real Louis XIV in his place. True, a day later, the former captive was again returned to custody on the island of St. Margaret - this time forever.
The most famous part of the Vicomte de Bragelon trilogy was The Man in the Iron Mask. Later, the author wrote about the mysterious hero again - in Prisoner of the Bastille.
"Prison" (1822)
The Man in the Iron Mask Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Another French Alfred de Vigny, in the history of the prisoner, questions of morality and philosophy were more interested. The writer wonders what real freedom is (external and internal), and his hero in his imagination creates what he lacks so much: communication with other people, the right to move in any direction, love. Even in the name de Vigny makes the word "Prison". His character, unlike Dumas Père, never leaves the walls of the dungeon and dies in captivity.
"Twins" (1839)
Another researcher of the story of the man in the iron mask - Victor Hugo. He wrote the play "Gemini" at a not the most successful period: his previous play, "Ruy Blas", was not a resounding success, and Hugo was disappointed by this. Interestingly, even in the story of a mysterious prisoner, the writer finds a place for love: a man in an iron mask is in love with a girl whose songs he hears outside the walls of his cell.
"The Man in the Iron Mask" in cinema
The story of the unfortunate prisoner first appeared on the screen back in 1929 - in the silent film "Iron Mask" (starring - Douglas Fairbanks). After that, Dumas' book was filmed several times: the most famous version was the 1998 film "The Man in the Iron Mask" with Leonardo DiCaprio(director - Randel Wallace). The authors redrawn the plot in their own way: the Musketeers still manage to free the prisoner (he was called Philip in the film), and put his brother Louis XIV in an iron mask in prison. D'Artagnan, according to the script, was the father of Philippe and Louis.
The prisoner in the iron mask
The mysterious story of the prisoner in the iron mask has haunted novelists, playwrights and historians for several centuries. Who was this unfortunate, doomed to wear a mask until the end of his days? Is it really the brother of Louis XIV? So far, no documents or evidence have been found that could shed light on this historical mystery.
The brilliant Voltaire first drew attention to the mysterious story of the prisoner in the iron mask. In his work The Age of Louis XIV, he wrote: “An unknown prisoner was sent to the castle on the island of St. Margaret, off the coast of Provence, taller than average, young, with the noblest posture. On the journey, he wore a mask with steel latches on the bottom of the mask that allowed him to eat without removing the mask. The order was given to kill him if he took off his mask.”
For twenty years, Voltaire periodically returned to the story of the mysterious prisoner, supplementing it with new facts. Finally, in 1771, in the next reprint of his work, ostensibly from the publisher, he wrote: "The Iron Mask, without a doubt, was the elder brother - Louis XIV ..." How did he come to this conclusion? The fact is that the mother of the monarch, Anna of Austria, had a delicate taste, in particular with regard to fine linen. The same predilection was with the Iron Mask. In addition, as Voltaire pointed out, at the moment the mysterious prisoner appeared on the historical stage in Europe, the disappearance of any influential and famous person was not noted, so the mask most likely hid the resemblance of the prisoner to some important and well-known person.
"Iron Mask"
Voltaire believed that the Iron Mask was the elder brother of Louis XIV, whom the queen gave birth to from an extramarital affair and raised in secret from everyone, trusting only Cardinal Richelieu. An even more curious version of the origin of the Iron Mask loomed from the notes of Cardinal Richelieu, in which he reported the birth of twin sons to Anna of Austria on September 5, 1638. Interestingly, the boys were born with a break of several hours. When the first of them had already been declared the legitimate heir, the second was born, who, according to the law, was the eldest. The Queen was informed of the death of her second child. As a teenager, the unrecognized prince was sent to England, where he received an upbringing appropriate to his origin. In 1669, the brother of Louis XIV learned the truth about his origins and became involved in a conspiracy to regain the throne. The plot was uncovered, and the main conspirator, the Huguenot Roux de Marsilli, was captured. Before his death, under torture, he admitted that in the role of his servant Eustache Dauger was the real king of France. Doge was arrested when he arrived at Dunkirk, and since then this man had to put on a mask and live in captivity.
However, serious historians consider such a development unlikely. Their doubts are based on records and documents related to the identity of Saint-Mar, the head jailer of the Iron Mask.
Benigne de Saint-Mars enjoyed the special confidence of Louis XIV and kept especially important prisoners of the king under his supervision. In 1665, this man was commandant of the Pinerol fortress in the Alps. Here, for the first time, the historical trace of the Iron Mask appears, because it is from this fortress that the mysterious prisoner was transferred in 1681, together with Saint-Mar, to the fortress of Egzil. It is known from the registers that Saint-Mars had five prisoners in Pinerol, two of them very famous people: the former minister Fouquet and Marshal de Lauzin. Of these two, neither could be the Iron Mask: there was absolutely no need to hide their faces, besides, Fouquet died in 1680, and Lauzin was released before Saint-Mars moved to Aigues. True, places in the prison were not empty, and there were still five prisoners. Of these five, Saint-Mar took two with him to a new duty station.
Who was among the five prisoners? One of the prisoners was a swindler monk convicted of deceiving the ladies of the court, the other was an officer Dubreuil, imprisoned for treason. The third prisoner was the Italian Count Mattioli, who paid with his freedom for deceiving Louis XIV himself - it was he who was assigned the role of a mysterious prisoner by many researchers. The fourth is the servant of Fouquet, who was only guilty of serving his master, who knew many state secrets. Finally, the fifth prisoner was Eustache Dauger, who was serving a sentence in the case of poisoning.
Of these five, Mattioli was perhaps the most suited to the role of the Iron Mask. Mattioli was a minister at the court of Charles IV, Duke of Mantua, in charge of this courtier was the fortress of Casale Monferrato, which Louis XIV intended to buy. The French king not only agreed with Mattioli to sell the fortress, but also made him very valuable gifts. It is not known why Mattioli violated the agreement with the king. In general, the Italian courtier informed many European courts of Louis' plans for an Italian fortress. For the French king, this was a political embarrassment, for which he decided to take revenge on Mattioli. He was kidnapped and imprisoned in Pinerol.
However, it is known that the whole story of the capture of the Italian was not a secret at that time, so there was no point in hiding the face of this prisoner. In addition, at the time of the death of the Iron Mask in the Bastille, Mattioli would have turned 63 years old, while the mysterious prisoner was only about 45 years old. Saint-Mar, after leaving Pinerol, noted in correspondence that Mattioli and Dubreuil remained in the fortress, and the swindler monk had died. Thus, it becomes clear that Fouquet's servant and Eustache Dauger went with Saint-Mar to Aigzil. Fouquet's servant should not have been hidden behind a mask, so the mysterious prisoner was clearly Eustache Dauger. It is known that in 1694, when Saint-Mar was already the governor of the island of Saint Margaret, Mattioli and Dubreuil again joined him and the Doge. Mattioli soon died, and Saint-Mar goes to the Bastille, to a new place of service, again with two prisoners - one of them in a mask, the other Dubreuil. And this fact confirms that the Doge was the Iron Mask.
Why was the Doge such an important prisoner? It is believed that he knew some important state secret. In addition, at one time Doge replaced the ill servant Fouquet, serving the former minister, and he could also learn some secrets from him. Or maybe the Doge was actually the brother of Louis? The famous French historian Alain Decaux categorically rejects this version. In his book, he writes: "The Sun King would never allow a man of the same blood to be made a lackey of Fouquet!"
But what if the Doge was the illegitimate son of some important courtier and looked very much like him? Maybe he tried to blackmail him and ended up in jail for it? Then the respectful attitude towards the prisoner and the unwillingness to take his life could be explained.
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The legend of the Iron Mask, the most mysterious of all prisoners, has been around for more than two centuries. For the first time, Voltaire told the world about him, and his research formed the basis of stories about the Iron Mask.
“A few months after the death of Mazarin,” writes Voltaire, “an unprecedented event occurred ... An unknown prisoner, young, with the noblest posture, was sent to the castle on the island of St. Margaret (near Provence). On the way, he wore a mask with steel latches on the lower part of it, which allowed him to eat without removing his mask.An order was given to kill him if he removed his mask.He remained on the island until the trusted officer of Saint-Mar, governor of Pinerol, took command of the Bastille, in 1690 d. did not go to the island of St. Margaret and take the prisoner to the Bastille, where he was as well settled as could be possible in such a place.
The prisoner was addicted to extremely thin linen and lace - and received them. Played guitar for hours. The most exquisite dishes were prepared for him, and the old doctor of the Bastille, who treated this man who had peculiar illnesses, said that he had never seen his face, although he often examined his body and tongue. According to the doctor, the prisoner was remarkably built, his skin was a little dark; his voice was already striking only with its intonations alone. This man never complained about his condition, never gave out his origin in any way. The unknown person died in 1703. What is doubly surprising is that when he was brought to the island of St. Margaret, not a single disappearance of famous people was recorded in Europe.
The prisoner was, no doubt, a noble man. The governor himself set the table for him and then left, having previously locked the cell. Once a prisoner scratched something with a knife on a silver plate and threw it out the window to the boat, which was near the shore, right at the foot of the tower. The fisherman in the boat picked up the plate and brought it to the governor. The latter, extremely anxious, asked the fisherman if he had read what was scrawled here, and had anyone seen it in his hands? The fisherman replied that he could not read and no one had seen the plate.
Voltaire caught alive the last person who knew the secret of the Iron Mask - the former minister de Chamiyar. His son-in-law, Marshal de La Feuillade, begged his dying father-in-law on his knees to reveal to him who the man in the iron mask really was. Shamiyar replied that it was a state secret and he swore an oath never to disclose it.
Naturally, Voltaire did not fail to express a number of hypotheses about the mysterious prisoner. Going through the names of the nobles who died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances, he concluded that it was certainly neither the Comte de Vermandois nor the Duke de Beaufort, who only disappeared during the siege of Kandy and who could not be identified in the body decapitated by the Turks.
"The Iron Mask was no doubt the elder brother of Louis XIV, whose mother had that special taste for fine linen. After reading about it in the memoirs of that era, the queen's addiction reminded me of the same tendency in the Iron Mask, after which I finally ceased to doubt that it was her son, which all other circumstances had long convinced me of ... It seems to me that the more you study the history of that time, the more you are amazed at the coincidence of circumstances that testify in favor of this assumption, " Voltaire wrote.
But this is a legend. The only thing that can be stated with certainty is that after 1665 a prisoner came to the Pinerol castle under the jurisdiction of the governor of Saint-Mars, and this prisoner was the Man in the Iron Mask. The date of his arrival in Pinerol is unknown. Otherwise, it would be possible to immediately establish who was hiding under the mask. The fact is that the documents of the archives concerning the prison, of which Saint-Mar was the head, have been preserved, and they are very accurate: they inform us in detail about the events that took place in Pinerol - the arrival of the prisoners, their names, the reasons for their imprisonment, diseases, deaths, liberation, if such happened occasionally.
It has been undeniably established that the masked man followed Saint-Mar all the way to the Bastille. However, the mask appeared on his face only many years later, when he moved to the Bastille. In 1687 Saint-Mars became governor of the island of St. Margaret; the prisoner was also transferred there. 11 years have passed. Jailer and prisoner grew old together. Finally, at the age of 72, Saint-Mar was appointed warden of the Bastille. The long-standing prescription nevertheless retained its force: no one should either see the prisoner or speak with him.
Minister Barbesio wrote to Saint-Mar: "The King finds it possible that you leave the island of St. Margaret and go to the Bastille with your old prisoner, taking every precaution to ensure that no one sees or knows about him."
But how do you keep the secret? Saint-Mars had an idea: why not just hide his face instead of hiding his prisoner? It was thanks to this "find" that the Man in the Iron Mask was born. We note again - never before this moment the mysterious prisoner wore a mask. Saint-Mar managed to keep his secret for a long time. The first time a prisoner put on a mask was during a trip to Paris. In this guise, he went down in history ...
Actually, the mask was black velvet. Voltaire supplied it with steel latches. Authors who took up this topic after him wrote about it as being made "entirely of steel." It got to the point that historians discussed the question of whether the unfortunate prisoner could shave; small tweezers, "also made of steel", were mentioned for hair removal. (Moreover: in 1885 in Langres, among the old iron scrap, they found a mask that perfectly matched the description of Voltaire. There is no doubt: the inscription in Latin confirmed its authenticity ...)
In August 1698, Saint-Mar and his prisoner set off. In the register for the registration of the prisoners of the Bastille, Monsieur du Junca, the royal lieutenant, made the following entry: "On September 18, on Thursday, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Monsieur de Saint-Mar, commandant of the fortress of the Bastille, arrived to take office from the island of St. Margherita, bringing with him his old prisoner, kept under his supervision back in Pinerola, who must wear a mask all the time, and his name should not be called; In the evening, I myself ... transferred the prisoner to the third cell of the Bertoller Tower.
Four years later Monsieur du Junc was forced to open the Bastille registry again. A sad event happened: Monsieur Saint-Mar lost his oldest prisoner. Du Junc wrote the following: "On the same day, 1703, November 19, this unknown prisoner in a mask of black velvet, brought by M. de Saint-Mar from the island of St. Marguerite and guarded by him for a long time, died about ten o'clock in the evening after the day before after Mass he felt a little unwell, but at the same time he was not seriously ill. Monsieur Giraud, our priest, confessed him. Due to the suddenness of death, our confessor performed the sacrament of confession literally at the last moment of his life; this prisoner, so long guarded, was buried in the parish cemetery of Saint-Paul; at the registration of the death, M. Rosarge, a physician, and M. Rey, a surgeon, designated him by a certain name, also unknown.
After some time, du Junc managed to find out under what name the prisoner was declared. Then he entered this name in a journal, and here we give the uncorrected text: "I learned that since M. de Marchiel was registered, 40 liters have been paid for the burial."
Monsieur de Marchiel... Isn't that the name of the mysterious prisoner? The fact is that among the prisoners in Pinerola was Count Mattioli, minister and envoy of the Duke of Mantua, who was arrested on May 2, 1679. Mattioli's candidacy has ardent and zealous supporters. What are the arguments of the "Matthiolists"?
When the Man in the Iron Mask died, the deceased was recorded under the name of Marchiali or Marchioli. Here you can see a hint of a distorted Mattioli. Marie Antoinette's maid reported that Louis XVI once told Marie Antoinette that the Man in the Mask was "a mere prisoner with a character that inspires fear in his penchant for intrigue; a subject of the Duke of Mantua." It is also known from the intercepted correspondence that Louis XVI said the same thing to Madame Pompadour: "It was one of the ministers of the Italian prince."
But the story of Mattioli was not at all a secret to anyone. His betrayal, arrest, imprisonment - newspapers carried this story throughout Europe. Moreover, the enemies of France - the Spaniards and the Savoyards - published a story about his activities and arrest in order to shake public opinion in favor of Mattioli. In addition, Mattioli died in April 1694, and the Iron Mask died in 1703.
Who was he? It is very likely that the Iron Mask was a certain Eustache Dauger. In 1703 he died in the Bastille after spending 34 years in prison. What crime the Doge committed is unknown. But it had to be serious in order to entail harsh treatment and painful isolation for so many years.
On July 19, 1669, Saint-Mar from Paris received an order for the arrival of a prisoner in Pinerol: “Mr. Saint-Mar! The sovereign ordered a certain Eustache Dauger to be sent to Pinerol; with his maintenance, it is extremely important to ensure careful protection and, in addition, to ensure the impossibility of transfer I will notify you about this prisoner so that you prepare for him a securely guarded solitary cell in such a way that no one can penetrate the place where he will be located, and that the doors of this cell securely closed so that your sentries could not hear anything.It is necessary that you yourself bring everything the prisoner needs once a day and under no circumstances listen to him if he wants to say anything, threatening him with death in the event that he will open his mouth in order to say anything, unless it is related to making his requests. or significant benefits ... "
What crime would result in such a punishment? This man was "only a servant", but no doubt he was involved in some serious business. He had to know certain secrets that were so important that no one, not even Saint-Mar, knew the true guilt of this man.
Doge was constantly in complete silence and absolute solitude. The fear that the Doge would speak became an obsession with the jailers and ministers. Saint-Mares was repeatedly asked from Paris in fear: had the Doge betrayed his secret?
Researcher Maurice Duvivier identifies Eustache Dauger with a certain Eustache d\"Auger de Cavoie, who, as a child, played with Louis XIV. It was the latter circumstance that caused the king not to hand him over to justice and personally sentenced him to life imprisonment. The reason for his imprisonment still remains a mystery. Was there another person hiding under this name? This we do not know. In any case, he was not the brother of Louis XIV.
Iron Mask - under this name, the most mysterious prisoner of the era of Louis XIV remained in history. All that is reliably known about this man is the number under which he was listed in the Bastille (64489001). Presumably, he was born in the 40s of the XVII century. He was held in various prisons. In 1698 he was finally placed in the Bastille, where he died.
Historical information
In fact, prisoner No. 64489001 wore not an iron mask, but only a velvet mask. She was supposed to hide his identity from outsiders, but not serve as a means of torture (like iron). Even the guards themselves did not know what kind of criminal was wearing this mask. Its mystery gradually became the reason for the emergence of numerous legends and conjectures.
For the first time, a prisoner in an iron mask is mentioned in the Secret Notes of the Persian Court, published in Amsterdam in 1745. The author of the notes indicates that under the number 64489001, the illegitimate son of the royal Louis XIV and his beloved, the Duchess de La Vallière, was kept in the casemate. He bore the title of Count of Vermandois. In conclusion, he fell for a slap in the face, which he gave to his brother, the Great Dauphin.
This version is absolutely untenable, since the real Count of Vermandois died at the age of 16 in 1683. Before that, he managed to take part in the war with Spain, so he simply did not have time for such a long imprisonment. The Jesuit Griffe, who served as confessor at the Bastille, recorded that the first mysterious prisoner was brought to the Bastille in 1698, and he died in 1703.
Elder brother or twin of Louis XIV
Later, Francois Voltaire suggested that the half-brother of Louis XIV himself could be the gentleman in the iron mask. The king did not need rivals, so he imprisoned his brother in the Bastille, after obliging him to wear a mask on his face. Obviously, all that mystery with which this prisoner was surrounded could be connected with this. Voltaire expressed this conjecture in his 1751 work The Century of Louis XIV.
Anna of Austria has long been considered barren. Then she gave birth to an illegitimate son, after which the legitimate heir to the throne, Louis XIV, was born. The latter, having learned about the presence of an older brother, decided to end him. In addition, there were rumors that Louis himself was not the king's own son. This called into question his right to the crown.
Louis XIV could not execute the son of the French queen and brother, so he preferred to imprison the unfortunate young man forever. Wearing a mask is a way to hide a secret that could cause a coup d'état. History has not preserved the name of this supposed older brother.
There have also been speculations that the Iron Mask is actually the twin brother of Louis XIV. The appearance of male twins in the royal couple spontaneously gave rise to a lot of problems with the succession to the throne. One of the queen's sons had to be sacrificed in order to maintain stability in the country. The boy was brought up in secret. Growing up, Louis XIV learned about his twin brother, who looked like him like a reflection in a mirror. Fearing for his crown, Louis ordered the elimination of his opponent.
Ercol Mattioli
The fourth version was the assumption that the famous Italian adventurer Ercol Antonio Mattioli was hiding under the mask. In 1678, an agreement was concluded between him and Louis XIV: Mattioli undertook to persuade his overlord to give the king the fortress of Casale. The Italian successfully sold this state secret to several countries for a handsome reward. For this, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the French government.
General Bulond
The reason for the emergence of another version was the secret notes of Louis XIV. The French king kept encrypted diaries, which, several centuries later, were deciphered by the famous cryptographer Etienne Bazeri. It turned out that the masked prisoner could also be the French General Vivien de Boulogne, who covered himself and France with indelible shame in one of the battles of the Nine Years' War. This version, like all others, has not been proven 100%.
The real Peter I
Various historians and researchers, intrigued by the great mystery, continued to put forward all sorts of versions regarding the identity of the prisoner in the iron mask. Most historians came to the conclusion that he could be one of the conspirators who dared to threaten royal power. Among them: the Lorraine Armois, the royal minister Fouquet, Cardinal Mazarin, etc.
Another version even concerned Russia. According to her, Peter I himself was imprisoned in the Bastille, moreover, the true king. In 1698, exactly when prisoner No. 64489001 appeared in the Bastille, the Russian tsar was supposedly replaced. Peter I then carried out a diplomatic mission ("Great Embassy") in Europe.
The true, Orthodox Russian tsar, who sacredly honored traditions, went abroad. The European returned back, dressed in a “basurman dress” and with a whole heap of innovations wild for patriarchal Rus'. After that, they began to say that Peter the Great was replaced abroad with an impostor. This substitution was later associated with the Iron Mask. It is still not known who actually wore it.
