The Man in the Iron Mask is one of the more enduring mysteries of the early 18th century. Whoever he was, he remained in various French prisons from possibly as early as 1699, until he died in 1703, buried under the name, ‘M de Marchiel.’ First imprisoned in the fortress of Pignerol in the Alps, he ended his days in the Bastille, told that if he ever communicated with anyone, he would be immediately executed.
Who was he? No one knows. But so secret was his identity that whenever he was being transported, be was made to wear a mask to hide his identity. However, it seems the mystery is wrongly named. He never wore an iron mask. The mask was actually of black velvet.
CANDIDATES FOR COVERAGE
Several suggestions have been made as to his identity. Some argue he was the Duc de Vermandois, illegitimate son of Louis XIV. Others argue he was the illegitimate but elder brother of Louis XIV, and arguably the true heir to the throne.
This suggestion was made by Voltaire, who identified Cardinal Mazarin as the real father. Of a similar vein, some researchers argue it was a doctor who attended the previous king, Louis XIII’s autopsy, discovering that the king couldn’t sire children, making Louis XIV a pretender to the throne.
Two other popular theories exist. One is that the prisoner was the playwright, Moliere, who’s works caused much embarrassment to the establishment. Here, it is argued that Moliere’s death in 1673 was staged.
Yet much more viable was the historian Lord Acton’s suggestion that the prisoner was Count Mattiolo, the treacherous minister of the Duke of Mantua, who was known to have been imprisoned in Pignerol and never seen again.
UNMASKING THE MASK
However, there is one problem with all these theories. Namely, if a man existed with such a secret, or capable of such treachery, why was he kept alive and not executed? Surely, execution would have guaranteed the secret – if secret it was – which the prisoner had in his head. However, one theory of my own is more than credible.
Louis XIV was flamboyant but dictatorial, descending France into constant war and intrigue, but with the flair for the big gesture. His entire life was a ‘symbol’ of affluence and authority, topped by his name, the Sun King, and his declaration that: ‘I am the state.’
With such a psychology, maybe the prisoner was no one in particular. Maybe he was just a symbolic gesture, kept alive for nearly forty years, that this is the fate of those who cross me. Thus, the identity is immaterial. The image is what counts.
© Anthony North, April 2007
See the Mysteries page, above, for dozens of mysteries
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