On September 8, 1698, a mysterious prisoner, known as the "Iron Mask", arrived in the Bastille.
In the summer of 1669, François-Michel Letelier, Marquis de Louvois, Minister of War for King Louis XIV, sent a letter to Benin Dovern de Saint-Maru, the governor of the Pinerol prison. In a letter he informed him of the imminent arrival of the prisoner. The head of the prison was ordered to prepare for the arrival of the prisoner a cell with several doors closing one after another - this was to separate the prisoner from the jailers and other prisoners, even at the level of sounds. The minister ordered Saint-Mar to visit the new prisoner once a day in order to fulfill his requests related to various issues of everyday life, but not to discuss other topics with him.
Masked prisoner
According to the letter, the name of the prisoner was "Estan Doje". However, the researchers note that this name was added to the document in a different handwriting. It is very likely that Estane Doje is nothing more than a fictitious name for a mysterious prisoner.
The Piñerol prison at that time was a place where state criminals were kept. For example, by the time of the arrival of the Están Doger, the former superintendent of finance of France, Nicolas Fouquet, had been in Pignerola for five years, sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzling public funds.
The difference between "Doge" and other prisoners was that he wore a velvet mask, which was supposed to ensure his complete anonymity. And so it happened - no one was able to find out exactly who was hiding under the mask.
Benigne Doverne de Saint-Mar remained the Doge's jailer until the prisoner's death. Saint-Mar was transferred from one duty station to another, and the mysterious prisoner followed after him.
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In 1698 Saint-Mar became chief of the Bastille, and the prisoner was placed in the third chamber of the Bertodière tower.
The prisoner died on November 19, 1703 and was buried under the name "Marchioly". All his belongings and in general everything connected with him was destroyed after his death.
The birth of a legend
Seven decades later, interest in the prisoner was fueled by the philosopher François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. In his opinion, the unfortunate wore an iron mask, which immediately gave additional drama and mystery to this story.
He finally turned the "Iron Mask" into a cult character by Alexandre Dumas, the father, who made the story of the prisoner one of the central lines of the novel "The Viscount de Bragelon, or Ten Years Later."
Subsequent novels, and then film adaptations, led many to think that Iron Mask was a fictional hero. But, as already mentioned, its existence is documented.
The second half of the 17th century was a time that was not distinguished by special humanism. Two decades before the appearance of a mysterious prisoner in England in Pignerola, King Charles I lost his head on the scaffold. And the heads of lesser persons who were convicted of crimes or simply fell out of favor flew from under the executioner's ax throughout Europe.
The French authorities, no doubt, considered the "Iron Mask" extremely dangerous. But, despite this, they did not execute him, preferring to keep him in prison for many years, hiding his face. Who could the prisoner be?
"Nameless Prisoner": Russian equivalent of "Iron Mask"
In December 1741, the daughter of Peter I, Elizaveta Petrovna, overthrew Emperor John VI from the throne. The monarch at that time was not even one and a half years old.
Elizaveta Petrovna did not take the sin of murdering the royal personage to her heart. The 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 named, in the documents he appeared as an "nameless prisoner" or "a well-known prisoner."
By a secret order, the jailers assigned to John were ordered to kill him in case of an attempt to free him. This is what happened in 1764, during the reign of Catherine II during an unsuccessful coup attempt undertaken by Second Lieutenant Vasily Mirovich.
If we put a virtual mask on John VI for a second, we get almost one hundred percent similarity with the French events.
This is probably why the most widespread version is considered to be that according to which the "Iron Mask" belonged to the royal family.
Illegitimate brother of King Louis XIV
Voltaire is considered to be the author of this hypothesis. The wife of Louis XIII, Anna of Austria, for many years lived under the most terrible suspicion for the queen - she was considered sterile.
Still, she did not give birth to her husband's children during the first 23 years of marriage! The future Louis XIV was born when Anne of Austria was 37 years old without two weeks. By the standards of that era, it is not just late, but very late.
Voltaire assumed 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 became an adult, he considered his brother a threat to the throne and ordered him to be imprisoned in a fortress, keeping his identity a secret.
The real father of Louis XIV
The starting point of this hypothesis is again the fact that Queen Anne of Austria had a late child. But supporters of this version believe that the illegitimate child was the "Sun King" Louis XIV.
Researchers believe that King Louis XIII suffered from infertility. The absence of an heir endangered the stability of France. As a result, with the knowledge of Louis XIII, someone was found, possibly with distant kinship with the royal family. It was from this "donor" that Anna of Austria conceived an heir.
Later, they decided to imprison the real father of the new king in order to ensure that the secret was avoided.
Twin brother of Louis XIV
Favorite plot of writers and filmmakers, starting with Alexandre Dumas. So, the queen gives birth from her legal husband, but not one, but two boys are born. Twin princes immediately turn into a big problem, in the long term threatening unrest and civil war. It was decided to get rid of an extra pretender to the throne, but no one dares to kill a person of royal blood. The unfortunate boy faces 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 Henrietta of England, the youngest daughter of the executed King Charles I of England, was in his immediate circle.
Louis XIV Henrietta was a cousin, which did not prevent at one time from considering her as a bride for the king.
The marriage did not take place, but the court claimed that the romance between the young people took place. Henrietta became the wife of Louis' younger brother, Philippe d'Orléans, but the daughter she born was considered the king's child.
According to the supporters of this hypothesis, Henrietta also had a son from Louis XIV. Despite the fact that he was illegitimate, his ancestry made it possible to apply for both the English and French crowns. Therefore, in order to avoid political complications, upon reaching the young man of age, he was imprisoned in a fortress, forever covering his face with a mask.
Peter I
Oddly enough, but the Russian tsar-reformer also landed on the list of candidates for the role of "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 the sergeant of the Preobrazhensky regiment, Peter Mikhailov.
Soon, rumors began to circulate in Russia that the tsar had been killed or kidnapped abroad, and a double sent by the Europeans took his place. Opponents of Peter I, spreading these rumors, argued that the reforms initiated 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 "Grand Embassy" (1698) coincides with the time of the appearance of the "Iron Mask" in the Bastille.
But this hypothesis is absolutely inconsistent, since, as is known from the documents, a prisoner in a mask appeared in Pignerola as early as 1669 - three years before the birth of Pyotr Alekseevich.
There are many candidates, no answer
In total, there are no less than fifty characters who are proposed for the role of the "Iron Mask" - from rather banal, such as a certain criminal who committed a particularly serious atrocity, to completely exotic, like the black son of the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire Maria Theresa, born by her from a page- Negro.
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 to shoot more and more new films about "Iron Mask".
Andrey Sidorchik