On November 19, 1703, the man in the iron mask died in the Bastille.
There are many versions regarding his identity. Was he the twin brother of Louis XIV? The queen’s lover? Too influential a minister?
For now, it must be said, we do not know. So I’m not going to talk to you about the hypotheses about his probable identity, but rather about what we know about him.
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The man in the iron mask did exist. We do not know his date of birth, but we do know that he was imprisoned for the first time at the fortress of Pignerol, in Piedmont, in 1669.
He was accompanied by a jailer, the former musketeer Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars.
He was a faithful of the Marquis de Louvois, Minister of War.
Monsieur de Saint-Mars was personally attached to the man in the iron mask. He never left it until the latter’s death.
An iron mask … not really metal.
The prisoner was treated much better than the other inmates.
He wore a mask during his rare public appearances, such as during prison transfers for example.
But contrary to legend, this mask was not made of iron. It was a black velvet mask that only revealed the mouth and eyes.
The myth of the iron mask was popularized by Voltaire in his work “The Century of Louis XIV”, before being taken up by Alexandre Dumas in “Le Vicomte de Bragelonne”.
From Piedmont to the Bastille.
The man in the velvet mask, as we should have called him – but it must be admitted that it sounds less good – is transferred from prison to prison, following the assignments of Monsieur de Saint-Mars.
In 1681, he was imprisoned in Exilles, still in Piedmont, then on the island of Sainte-Marguerite de Lérins, off Cannes, in 1687.
In this prison, a special cell is set up, overlooking the sea. It can only be accessed by passing through three successive doors.
When Monsieur de Saint-Mars was appointed governor of the Bastille in 1698, his prisoner came to Paris with him.
He died on November 19, 1703, leaving a mass. He is buried in the cemetery of Saint-Paul, under the name of Marchiali.
The parish register of Saint-Paul describes a man of about 45 years old.
When he died, his clothes and the linen in his cell were burnt. The walls are scraped and whitewashed. It is feared that he left a clue as to his true identity.
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