Who was the "Man in the Iron Mask" ?
Fourty years ago, on July 1, 1669, my minister Louvois sent a prisoner called Eustache Dauger to the prison of Pignerol and advised Saint-Mars, its governor, to put him into a special cell with multiple doors. The man was to be killed if he ever spoke of anything other than his immediate needs. Saint-Mars was ordered to provide him everything he needs, but he should not require much since he was "only a valet". (The following years, he served in fact as valet to Nicolas Fouquet, a former minister I had had jailed in Pignerol some years before.) Rumors say that he had to wear a mask permanently.
From this moment on, the prisoner's fate is closely linked to the career of Saint-Mars. The latter took the prisoner with him when he became governor of the prison fortress of Exiles in 1681, when he moved to Sainte-Marguerite in 1687, and even when he took the post of governor of the Bastille in 1698. Du Junca, an offficer who served at the Bastille at this time, wrote into his notebook : [Saint-Mars] "brought with him, in a litter, a longtime prisoner, whom he had in custody in Pignerol, and whom he kept always masked, and whose name has not been given to me, nor recorded." According to later comments of Du Junca, the prisonner was well threated but had to keep his face covered by a "black velvet mask." Du Junca's notebook is by the way the only reliable source which mentions the mask - a velvet mask, not an iron mask.
The prisoner died on November 19, 1703. he was buried under the name of Marchioly. His furniture was destroyed, which was the standard procedure when a prisoner died in his room. But rumors on the "Man in the Iron Mask" live on till your era.
Who was he ?
Only four persons knew the answer : The prisoner himself, Louvois, Saint-Mars and me. Louvois died in 1691, the prisoner in 1703, Saint-Mars last year (1708). As for me, I'm feeling fine, thanks. Will I reveal the truth to you? Maybe. I've not decided yet.
As simple as the real answer is, as complex and fantastic are the theories about the prisoner's identity. Numerous are the rumors which pretend that he was of royal blood. Some speculate he was an older half brother of mine, son of my mother and Mazarin, or even a twin brother. Some others say he was my "real" father, put into my mother's bed in order to father a heir (me), and then into prison in order to hide his identity. An amusing variant of the "older brother" theory will appear in 1801 - according to this version, the prisoner conceived a son in prison who was raised by his mother in Corsica under the name of - Bonaparte !
Some other rumors pretend that the prisoner is General Vivien de Bulonde, or the son of Charles II of England, or an Italian diplomat, or an illegitimate son of Oliver Cromwell, or my friend Molire, or even Nicolas Fouquet himself. All this is of course nonsense. Or is it?
An interesting theory has been developed by a certain John Noone : Remember Saint-Mars, the governor of all the prisons where Dauger was incarcerated ? Following Noone, the whole mask thing was a publicity campaign by Saint-Mars. At Pignerol, Saint-Mars had some "prominent" prisoners like Fouquet and Lauzun which made him appear as kind of "VIP prison director". But when Fouquet died and Lauzun was released, Saint-Mars was no longer in the spotlight. So he "invented" the mysterious "man with the mask" by making an unimportant random prisoner wear a mask, and by spreading rumors about the prisoner.
There might be even another explanation. Who knows, maybe it was me who invented the whole buzz around the mask man ? But why ? Well, let me explain you something : An important part of my way of governing France is entertainment. Versailles is entertainment, to control the nobility. The cult around my persona is entertainment, to guarantee the solidarity of the people. All the promotion of Art is entertainment. Even the wars are sometimes entertainment, because glorious battles underline the greatness of the King. People want entertainment, people need it. Panem et Circenses.
But isn't the whole "Sun King" propaganda enough entertainment ? Well, yes and no. I'm a very "visible" king, like the Sun itself is visible. With an almanac and a watch, you know what I'm doing at a distance of 300 miles (dixit Saint-Simon). But as the sun needs its mysterious half-visible counterpart, the moon, a visible king needs a mysterious side to keep being fascination. And what would be a better mystery than a masked, suppodedly high-ranked man in jail - maybe, who knows, even the King's own twin brother ? So, whether or not I "created" the masked man mystery, it entertains my subjects and underlines my status as Sun-King by giving me a moon-like counterpart.
Is this the answer? Did I create the mystery of the masked man? Is it the oeuvre of Saint-Mars? Is it simply rumors born out of human curiosity? Or is there really something behind this mask, a relative of the King, a foreign politician, or a man who knows unimaginable secrets?
Good news is that I alone know the answer. The bad news is that I will keep the secret. You people have destroyed the mysteries of the moon by revealing its last secrets. I will not do the same with my own moon-like counterpart.
As a general rule, answers are boring. It's the questions which keep the human mind turning. And some questions better stay unanswered.
That's why I will not tell you who was the Man with the Mask.
Fourty years ago, on July 1, 1669, my minister Louvois sent a prisoner called Eustache Dauger to the prison of Pignerol and advised Saint-Mars, its governor, to put him into a special cell with multiple doors. The man was to be killed if he ever spoke of anything other than his immediate needs. Saint-Mars was ordered to provide him everything he needs, but he should not require much since he was "only a valet". (The following years, he served in fact as valet to Nicolas Fouquet, a former minister I had had jailed in Pignerol some years before.) Rumors say that he had to wear a mask permanently.
From this moment on, the prisoner's fate is closely linked to the career of Saint-Mars. The latter took the prisoner with him when he became governor of the prison fortress of Exiles in 1681, when he moved to Sainte-Marguerite in 1687, and even when he took the post of governor of the Bastille in 1698. Du Junca, an offficer who served at the Bastille at this time, wrote into his notebook : [Saint-Mars] "brought with him, in a litter, a longtime prisoner, whom he had in custody in Pignerol, and whom he kept always masked, and whose name has not been given to me, nor recorded." According to later comments of Du Junca, the prisonner was well threated but had to keep his face covered by a "black velvet mask." Du Junca's notebook is by the way the only reliable source which mentions the mask - a velvet mask, not an iron mask.
The prisoner died on November 19, 1703. he was buried under the name of Marchioly. His furniture was destroyed, which was the standard procedure when a prisoner died in his room. But rumors on the "Man in the Iron Mask" live on till your era.
Who was he ?
Only four persons knew the answer : The prisoner himself, Louvois, Saint-Mars and me. Louvois died in 1691, the prisoner in 1703, Saint-Mars last year (1708). As for me, I'm feeling fine, thanks. Will I reveal the truth to you? Maybe. I've not decided yet.
As simple as the real answer is, as complex and fantastic are the theories about the prisoner's identity. Numerous are the rumors which pretend that he was of royal blood. Some speculate he was an older half brother of mine, son of my mother and Mazarin, or even a twin brother. Some others say he was my "real" father, put into my mother's bed in order to father a heir (me), and then into prison in order to hide his identity. An amusing variant of the "older brother" theory will appear in 1801 - according to this version, the prisoner conceived a son in prison who was raised by his mother in Corsica under the name of - Bonaparte !
Some other rumors pretend that the prisoner is General Vivien de Bulonde, or the son of Charles II of England, or an Italian diplomat, or an illegitimate son of Oliver Cromwell, or my friend Molire, or even Nicolas Fouquet himself. All this is of course nonsense. Or is it?
An interesting theory has been developed by a certain John Noone : Remember Saint-Mars, the governor of all the prisons where Dauger was incarcerated ? Following Noone, the whole mask thing was a publicity campaign by Saint-Mars. At Pignerol, Saint-Mars had some "prominent" prisoners like Fouquet and Lauzun which made him appear as kind of "VIP prison director". But when Fouquet died and Lauzun was released, Saint-Mars was no longer in the spotlight. So he "invented" the mysterious "man with the mask" by making an unimportant random prisoner wear a mask, and by spreading rumors about the prisoner.
There might be even another explanation. Who knows, maybe it was me who invented the whole buzz around the mask man ? But why ? Well, let me explain you something : An important part of my way of governing France is entertainment. Versailles is entertainment, to control the nobility. The cult around my persona is entertainment, to guarantee the solidarity of the people. All the promotion of Art is entertainment. Even the wars are sometimes entertainment, because glorious battles underline the greatness of the King. People want entertainment, people need it. Panem et Circenses.
But isn't the whole "Sun King" propaganda enough entertainment ? Well, yes and no. I'm a very "visible" king, like the Sun itself is visible. With an almanac and a watch, you know what I'm doing at a distance of 300 miles (dixit Saint-Simon). But as the sun needs its mysterious half-visible counterpart, the moon, a visible king needs a mysterious side to keep being fascination. And what would be a better mystery than a masked, suppodedly high-ranked man in jail - maybe, who knows, even the King's own twin brother ? So, whether or not I "created" the masked man mystery, it entertains my subjects and underlines my status as Sun-King by giving me a moon-like counterpart.
Is this the answer? Did I create the mystery of the masked man? Is it the oeuvre of Saint-Mars? Is it simply rumors born out of human curiosity? Or is there really something behind this mask, a relative of the King, a foreign politician, or a man who knows unimaginable secrets?
Good news is that I alone know the answer. The bad news is that I will keep the secret. You people have destroyed the mysteries of the moon by revealing its last secrets. I will not do the same with my own moon-like counterpart.
As a general rule, answers are boring. It's the questions which keep the human mind turning. And some questions better stay unanswered.
That's why I will not tell you who was the Man with the Mask.
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Mais je n'ai pas compris votre 2e message en latin...