Who was the man in the iron mask? The prisoner in the iron mask: who was he really?

It’s very good that there are so many caring people on VO, and they very often suggest what to write about. For example, after the material about the IF castle, many wanted to learn more about the mythical Iron Mask and the castle on the island of Sainte-Marguerite, where he was kept based on Dumas’ novel “The Vicomte de Bragelonne or Ten Years Later.” And it turns out that it is possible (and should be told) about all this! Through various ingenious calculations, it seems that it was possible to establish that this same prisoner was born around 1640, and died on November 19, 1703. Under number 64389000, he was kept in various prisons, including (from 1698) the Bastille, and he was kept there wearing a velvet mask (and only in later legends did it turn into an iron one).

Most best option“Iron Mask” from the 1962 film of the same name with Jean Marais in the role of D’Artagnan.

This mysterious man was first written about in the book “Secret Notes on the History of the Persian Court,” published in Amsterdam in 1745–1746, and it was there that it was reported that the “Iron Mask” was the Duke of Vermandois, the son of King Louis XIV and his mistress Louise de La Vallière, who was imprisoned for slapping the Dauphin. However, this story is completely implausible, since the real Louis of Bourbon died in 1683, when he was 16 years old.

1962 film: Cardinal Mazarin instructs D'Artagnan to bring a prisoner from the island of Sainte-Marguerite to replace the seriously ill king of France.

Then the great Voltaire had a hand in the drama of The Iron Mask. In his essay “The Age of Louis XIV” (1751), he was the first to write that the “Iron Mask” was none other than the twin brother of Louis XIV, absolutely similar to him, and therefore very dangerous as a possible usurper.

Prisoner in iron mask on an anonymous engraving from the time of the French Revolution.

Dutch writers, who had no love for France and tried to cast a shadow on its kings at every opportunity, declared that the “Iron Mask” was... the chamberlain and lover of Queen Anne of Austria and therefore the real Pope of Louis XIV. Then the Jesuit Griffe, who served as confessor in the Bastille fortress for nine years, spoke about the “Iron Mask”, and in 1769 published an essay in which he cited the diary of the royal lieutenant of the Bastille, according to which on September 19, 1698, a prisoner was brought here from the island of St. Margaret in a sedan chair, whose the name was unknown, and the face was covered with a black velvet (but not iron) mask.

And here it is, the island - everything is exactly like in the movies!

He died on November 19, 1703. Well, as for Voltaire, in his “Philosophical Dictionary” in an article about Anne of Austria, he wrote that he knew more than Griffe knew, but since he was French, he was forced to remain silent.

Why in the 1929 movie “The Iron Mask” did they cover the prisoner’s entire head with this same mask? How to scratch it?

That is, he was the eldest, but illegitimate son of Anna of Austria, and that, supposedly, the confidence in her infertility by the birth of this child was refuted; but then she gave birth to Louis XIV from her legal husband, and Louis XIV, having reached adulthood, found out about all this and ordered his brother to be imprisoned in a fortress. Immediately there appeared insinuations worthy of Dumas himself: “The Iron Mask” is the son of the Duke of Buckingham, the “Iron Mask” is the fruit of the marriage of Anne of Austria with Cardinal Mazarin, the “child of love” from the captain of the cardinal’s guard Doge de Cavoye, Prince of Condé, and so on, and everything like that.

From film to film the mask became more and more terrible...

Abbot Suliavi also claimed in 1790 that the “Iron Mask” was the twin brother of Louis XIV, whom Louis XIII ordered to be raised in secret so that the misfortunes predicted for him associated with the birth of twins would not come true. Well, after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, Louis XIV found out everything, but ordered his brother to be imprisoned, and besides, because of their striking similarity, he ordered him to wear a mask. During the Great french revolution this point of view was generally accepted and it was on its basis that A. Dumas wrote his novel.

And even scarier... and stupider!

There is information that the prisoner in the black velvet mask was listed under the name Mattioli in the Bastille lists. And it seems that it was the adventurer Antonio Mattioli, who in 1678 promised Louis XIV to surrender the Casale fortress with the help of betrayal. For this dark matter, he supposedly received 100,000 crowns, but then revealed this secret to Savoy, Spain and Austria simultaneously. For this he was caught and first kept on the island of Sainte-Marguerite, and then transferred to the Bastille. This assumption was supported by most historians late XIX century.

Plan of Fort Royal from 1775.

Then the cryptanalyst Etienne Bazery deciphered a certain document, on the basis of which he concluded that the unfortunate prisoner in the mask was General Vivien de Bulonde, but there was also such a point of view that the “Iron Mask” was the nobleman Armoise, who in 1672 in the Spanish Netherlands plotted against Louis XIV, but was captured in 1673 and imprisoned in the Bastille.

Watchtower and carronade of Fort Royal.

But there were also such versions, well, simply of a clearly fantastic nature. For example, the “Iron Mask” was identified with the disgraced superintendent Nicolas Fouquet, the guilty minister of Louis XIV, who actually died in Pignerol, or the English Duke of Monmouth, who rebelled against King James II and was then executed in 1685.

View of Fort Royal from the sea.

There is also a version, quite worthy of the pen of Bushkov and some authors here at VO, that this is how the enemies of Russia hid the real Tsar Peter I, who went to Europe with the “Grand Embassy”, and was replaced, and in his place came to Russia someone sent by the Jesuits or Freemasons an impostor hostile to everything Russian.

Fort wall.

In 1963, Charles Benecroute, a French historian, “gave birth” to another version: in his opinion, the “Iron Mask” was none other than Cardinal Mazarin himself. They say it was like this: in 1614, a 12-year-old albino native was taken from Polynesia to France, who resembled Cardinal Mazarin like two peas in a pod. This similarity was noticed by the Duke de Gaulle in 1655. He decided to replace Mazarin with a native, and he did it just fine. The native took the place of the first minister (that’s how he “takes” some!) under Louis XIV, and the “iron mask” was put on Mazarin himself.

Gate to the fort.

In 1976, the Soviet researcher Yu. Tatarinov expressed his assumption that there were several “iron masks”: first it was the ex-minister Fouquet, then the loser Mattioli and the same Estache Doget. In any case, all these people were then taken to the island of Sainte-Marguerite - the largest of the Lérins Islands, which is located just a kilometer from famous city Cannes on the French Riviera. This island itself stretches from east to west for 3 km, and its width is only 900 m. It is on this piece of land that the main tourist site of the island stands - Fort Royal, a fort and at the same time a prison, where the famous “Iron Mask” and where he threw plates out the window calling for help.

Camera of the Iron Mask.

At first, that is, back in the days Ancient Rome, the island was called Lero. Then the crusaders, setting off for the Holy Land, built a chapel on it in honor of St. Margaret of Antioch. In the 14th century, a certain Raymond Feraud invented that Saint Margaret lived on this island, leading a community of virgin nuns on it.

Church of St. Margaret. Here the prisoner prayed and confessed.

But already in 1612, Claude de Laurent, Duke of Chevreuse, began to own the island. And soon Fort Royal was built on it. In 1635 the Spaniards captured the island, but two years later the French drove them away. Then, just like the Château d'If, Fort Royal became a royal prison, but during the 18th century, the local settlement of Sainte-Margaret grew and grew, as it had to serve the garrison located on the island.

Maritime Museum with the Iron Mask camera.

On the eve of World War II, two concrete pillboxes were built on the island of Sainte-Marguerite to defend the island.

Today, the entire island of Sainte-Marguerite is overgrown with a dense forest of eucalyptus and pine trees. In the village on the island there are about twenty buildings, designed primarily to serve tourists. Well, in the fort itself there is a Maritime Museum, where you can see finds discovered on sunken Roman and Arab ships, and where former chambers are open to tourists, and, of course, the Iron Mask chamber and Roman tanks in which the Romans kept freshly caught fish fish. For lovers of war memorials, there is a small cemetery for French soldiers who took part in the Crimean War, and also a cemetery for North African soldiers who fought for France during World War II. There is also a small estate there that belongs to Vijaya Mallya, an Indian millionaire and owner of the Formula 1 Force India team. Well, he’s such an eccentric fellow that he wanted to have a villa there for himself, but that’s all the attractions there are.

In the late autumn of 1703 in Paris, the body of a mysterious prisoner was buried in a cemetery. The name of the deceased was hidden under the pseudonym Iron Mask. Since the second half of the eighteenth century, scientists and researchers have been arguing about who the masked prisoner was, whose last refuge was the Bastille. The legend became the basis for gossip and the search for candidates for the role of the prisoner. The information is still kept secret, and the work “The Iron Mask” fuels readers’ interest in the events of that era.

Origin story

The real name of the Bastille prisoner, who became the reason for speculation and legends, is unknown. His second pseudonym turned out to be prison number: 64489001. Researchers suggest that the date of birth young man is close to the forties of the seventeenth century, and throughout his life the man managed to visit several prisons. It is curious that the iron mask worn by the prisoner turned out to be a fiction. In reality, the prisoner wore a velvet mask, which helped to remain unrecognized and did not cause inconvenience. His identity was unknown even to the guards.

For the first time they started talking about the prisoner of the Bastille during the reign. The widow of the king's brother, Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria, in letters to a relative sent in 1711, shared the gossip that was circulating at court. The woman wrote that they were talking at court about a mysterious prisoner, whose identity remains unknown, since his face is constantly covered with an iron mask. Charlotte insisted that Mr. X, hiding under the metal, was an English lord who participated in a conspiracy against King William of Orange III of England.

Then information about the unknown person in custody was announced in the “Secret Notes on the History of Persia,” published in 1745. In imitation of Montesquieu, the anonymous author created a research work in artistic style. An unknown writer described the story of Giaffer, the illegitimate son of Louis XIV, who was imprisoned for slapping his half-brother, the Dauphin. The illegitimate son of the king and Louise de La Vallière was allegedly placed under prison supervision at the age of 16.

Engraving "Iron Mask"

In 1751 he published a book entitled “The Age of Louis XIV.” Having been imprisoned in the Bastille twice, the writer knew first-hand what was happening in prison. Voltaire saw those who served the Iron Mask. Even though real facts he did not have it, the writer assumed that the brother of the French king was hiding under the veil of secrecy. Voltaire believed that the son and her favorite was hiding from the public eye in the Bastille.

Legends and versions

Ideas about the origin of the mysterious person were put forward by Chancel de Langrange, Cenac de Melyan, Griffet, Abbot Papon, Lenguet, Charpentier and Soulavi. Some claimed that the Bourbon secret, which consisted in the queen’s dishonesty, was to blame. While preserving the name of the prisoner, by order of the royal family, the sheet with his data was excluded from the Bastille register. It is reliably known that the information was on sheet 120 and was certified in 1698, at the time of the prisoner’s arrival.

Gossips of the eighteenth century said that there had been a palace coup, as a result of which the king's twin brother was sitting on the throne, and the true ruler was under lock and key. This assumption left a mark on the reputation of the Bourbons and the authenticity of the pedigree. At the beginning of the 19th century, this theory was propagated by supporters who claimed that Napoleon was a descendant of the true king.

Ercole Mattioli was named among the contenders for the role of the Iron Mask. The Italian adventurer was famous for the agreement concluded with the king in 1678. Mattioli sold state secrets, for which he was transported to the Bastille.

This is not the only version about a prisoner not of blue blood. General Bulond could also be hiding behind a mask. Information from the secret diaries of Louis XIV suggests that the general was imprisoned after an offense committed during the Nine Years' War.

It is known from reliable sources that the Iron Mask was kept in the company of eight other criminals in the fortress of Pignerol. The story of the fellow sufferers is not impressive. Some were transferred to other prisons and died, some were released. Disputes about who he could be mysterious man, hiding under an iron mask, do not subside even today.

Film adaptations

In the legend of the Iron Mask, there are discrepancies and inconsistencies that give rise to interesting plots that directors use in film adaptations. The legend of the mysterious prisoner of the Bastille became the basis for several full-length films. They starred recognized actors, thanks to whom you want to watch the films again and again.

The story of the mysterious prisoner was first presented on the big screen in 1962. The film was directed by Henri Decoin. Main actor became incarnate, sent to rescue the prisoner. The Musketeer does not make it in time and finds the cell empty, since the daughter of the head of the Bastille, who is in love with him, helped the Iron Mask escape.

Still from the film "Iron Mask"

In 1976, the public was offered a new interpretation, in which the main character was portrayed. The plot described the twin brother of the king, who fell in love with the daughter of a cellmate. Louis transferred the prisoner to the island of Saint-Margaret, having learned about his feelings, and shackled his face in a mask. At this time, D'Artagnan helped the head of government replace his brothers in order to carry out a palace coup.

In 1998, he played the roles of Louis XIV and his twin Philip, shackled in an iron mask, in the film of the same name. The film was remembered for its scale and big names of artists, because it starred, and. Today the film is considered the largest film adaptation of the story of the prisoner of the Bastille.

On November 19, 1703, a prisoner who went down in history as “the man in the iron mask” died in the Bastille. The mystery of the life of this man who was a life prisoner Louis XIV, has been of interest to historians and writers for many centuries. However, many people are concerned about the question: did he exist at all or is it just a fiction and legend?

The most famous legends about the Iron Mask are the works Voltaire. Back in 1751, he writes about how a certain young prisoner arrived on the island of St. Margaret with an iron mask on his face. Later, the assistant to the Minister of War came to pick him up Marquise de Louvois and transported him to the Bastille, where the prisoner was kept in luxurious conditions. They fed them delicious dishes, dressed them in the best clothes and carried out every order. Even the governor himself set his table. All this indicated that this prisoner came from a noble family.

Later, Voltaire mentioned the Iron Mask again in another of his books. He wrote that the prisoner wore this mask even in front of the doctor. And all because his facial features bore an amazing resemblance to some very famous person at court. And even later, Voltaire directly stated that the masked prisoner was the brother of Louis XIV. This version is one of the most popular, especially in cinema and literature.

Five most interesting versions:

The prisoner in the iron mask was the twin brother of Louis XIV.

Louis XIII They predicted that if he had twins, they would bring him misfortune and quick death. Therefore, when his two twin sons were born, he hid one of them away from home. When Louis XIV, already king, found out about his brother, he found him and imprisoned him forever, putting an iron mask on him so that no one would ever know their secret.

The prisoner in the iron mask was the older half-brother of Louis XIV.

According to this version, the masked man was the elder brother of the king, whom Anne of Austria gave birth to her lover, and not her legal husband, King Louis XIII. Fearing the wrath of her husband, Anna was forced to hide the baby.

The prisoner and Louis XIV are the sons of Anne of Austria, but not the king.

There is also a version according to which Louis XIV and the “man in the iron mask” were really brothers, maternal brothers. But none of them were the king's son. Consequently, neither one nor the other had legal rights to the throne. But if the father of the “man in the iron mask” was one of the many lovers of Anne of Austria, then the father of the future Louis XIV was Cardinal Mazarin. Using his influence at court, the cardinal could leave his son as the future king, and keep Anne of Austria's second child a secret.

The prisoner's Italian origin.

After his death, the mysterious prisoner was buried under the name Marchioli. In this regard, speculation arose about the possible Italian roots of the prisoner. Allegedly the prisoner's real name was Ercole Antonio Mattioli. And during burial, due to confusion in languages, they could have written it incorrectly. But the spy Mattioli really entered history. He first appeared at the French court in 1678 and posed as a Spanish minister. Later, he pulled off a series of scams, tried to reveal the king’s state secrets, and was severely punished for this. He was put in prison and always had an iron mask on his face. However, this version has many controversial nuances.

Three prisoners in velvet masks.

The version that is most supported by facts.

On the island of St. Margaret, and then in the Bastille, as many as three prisoners were kept for almost thirty years, whose faces were covered with masks. True, they were velvet, not iron. One of them is truly the adventurer Mattioli. Second - Minister Nicolas Fouquet, who was imprisoned due to a conflict with the king. Due to his duty, he knew so many royal secrets that it was impossible to allow him contact with other people. Fouquet was so smart that he took insurance: in the event of his violent death, some state secrets would emerge from the hands of people loyal to Fouquet and would destroy the king. Therefore, Louis XIV was forced to leave the disgraced minister alive.

And finally, the third masked prisoner - Eustache Doge. It is believed that this was a priest who learned about Louis XIV's affair with Madame Montespan. For which he paid with freedom.

In 1698, a prisoner was brought to the Bastille, whose face was hidden by a terrible iron mask. His name was unknown, and in prison he was numbered 64489001. The created aura of mystery gave rise to many versions of who this masked man could be.

The authorities knew absolutely nothing about the prisoner transferred from another prison. They were ordered to place the masked man in the most remote cell and not talk to him. After 5 years the prisoner died. He was buried under the name Marcialli. All the deceased’s belongings were burned, and the walls were torn apart so that no notes remained.

When in late XVII In the 1st century, under the onslaught of the Great French Revolution, the Bastille fell, the new government published documents that shed light on the fate of the prisoners. But there was not a single word about the man in the mask.

The Jesuit Griffe, who was a confessor in the Bastille at the end of the 17th century, wrote that a prisoner was brought to prison wearing a velvet (not iron) mask. In addition, the prisoner only put it on when someone appeared in the cell. From a medical point of view, if the prisoner actually wore a mask made of metal, it would invariably disfigure his face. The iron mask was “made” by writers who shared their assumptions about who this mysterious prisoner really could be.

The masked prisoner was first mentioned in the Secret Notes of the Persian Court, published in 1745 in Amsterdam. According to the Notes, prisoner No. 64489001 was none other than illegitimate son Louis XIV and his mistress Louise Françoise de La Vallière. He bore the title of Duke of Vermandois, allegedly slapped his brother the Grand Dauphin, for which he ended up in jail. In fact, this version is implausible, because the illegitimate son of the French king died at the age of 16 in 1683. And according to the records of the confessor of the Bastille, Jesuit Griffe, the unknown was imprisoned in 1698, and he died in 1703.

François Voltaire, in his work "The Age of Louis XIV", written in 1751, first pointed out that the Iron Mask could well be the twin brother of the Sun King. To avoid problems with the succession to the throne, one of the boys was raised secretly. When Louis XIV learned of his brother’s existence, he doomed him to eternal imprisonment. This hypothesis explained the presence of the prisoner’s mask so logically that it became the most popular among other versions and was subsequently filmed more than once by directors.

There is an opinion that the famous Italian adventurer Ercole Antonio Mattioli was forced to wear the mask. The Italian in 1678 entered into an agreement with Louis XIV, according to which he undertook to force his duke to surrender the fortress of Casale to the king in exchange for a reward of 10,000 crowns. The adventurer took the money, but did not fulfill the contract. Moreover, Mattioli gave out this state secret to several other countries for a separate reward. For this treason, the French government sent him to the Bastille, forcing him to wear a mask.

Some researchers have put forward completely implausible versions about the man in the iron mask. According to one of them, this prisoner could be Russian Emperor Peter I. It was during that period that Peter I was in Europe with his diplomatic mission (“Grand Embassy”). The autocrat was allegedly imprisoned in the Bastille, and a figurehead was sent home instead. Like, how else can we explain the fact that the tsar left Russia as a Christian who revered traditions, and returned back as a typical European who wanted to break the patriarchal foundations of Rus'.

In past centuries, masks were used not only to hide people’s faces, but also to turn them into real instruments of torture. One of these was

The Iron Mask (French: Le masque de fer) is a mysterious prisoner from the time of Louis XIV, who was held in various prisons, including the Bastille, and wore a velvet mask (later legends turned this mask into an iron one). Died November 19, 1703.

A mask is a symbol of transformation, change and at the same time concealment, mystery. The mask is endowed with the ability to transform what is present into what is desired, to overcome the edge of one’s own nature; This is the magical aspect of transformation, characteristic of both the masks of religious rituals and the masks of theatrical performances (derived from the former). The mask is also endowed negative meaning. So, according to belief, changing identities is characteristic of evil spirits(“The undead do not have their own appearance, they walk in disguises”). This is due to the extremely negative attitude of the church towards national holidays, including an element of carnival, “change of disguise.”

The first information about a man named “Iron Mask” appeared in the Dutch work “Mémoires secrets pour servir à l’histoire de Perse” in 1745. According to these memoirs, the "Iron Mask" is the Duke of Vermandois, the illegitimate son of King Louis XIV and Madame Lavaliere, who slapped his half-brother, the Grand Dauphin, and atoned for this guilt with eternal imprisonment. By official version, Vermandois died in his youth in 1683. Voltaire, in his “Siècle de Louis XIV” (1751), aroused general interest in this mysterious personality, regarding whom various hypotheses were expressed.

Some Dutch writers suggested that the "iron mask" was a foreigner, a young nobleman, chamberlain to Queen Anne of Austria and the real father of Louis XIV. Reliable information about the “iron mask” was first given by the Jesuit Griffay, who was confessor in the Bastille for 9 years, in his “Traité des différentes sortes de preuves qui servent à établir la vérité dans l'Histoire” (1769), where he cites the diary of the royal lieutenant in Bastille and list of the dead of St. Paul's Church. According to this diary, on September 19, 1698, a prisoner was delivered from the island of St. Margaret in a stretcher, whose name was unknown and whose face was constantly covered with a black velvet (not iron) mask.

This prisoner died, according to his diary, on November 19, 1703. In general, Griffay was inclined to the opinion expressed in “Mémoires secrets” about the identity of the “iron mask.” In the seventh edition of the Philosophical Dictionary, in the article Anne of Austria, Voltaire returned to the history of the “iron mask”, pointing out that he knows more than Griffay, but, as a Frenchman, must remain silent.
One modern interpreter of Nostradamus, a specialist in the field of esoteric numerology, suggests that between quatrains 96 and 95 of Centuria I there is - in addition to the location - a certain hidden connection that can be traced on the basis of Kabbalistic doctrines, the relationship between combinations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet and digital manipulations known as called the "Kabbalah of the Nine Chambers". Probably the religious leader mentioned in quatrain 96 of Centuria I (“destroyer of temples and sects”) should be the mysterious child about whom Nostradamus writes in quatrain 95 of the same Century

“Near the monastery they will find a child - one of two twins,
Coming from an old monastic family.
His fame, influence over sects and eloquence will be such that everyone will say:
This is the person we need."

Commentators XIX century- and some of the modern ones - traditionally associated this quatrain with the personality of the French king Louis XIV. There was a legend that he was the illegitimate son of Cardinal Mazarin and had a twin brother. To avoid problems with the succession to the throne, Louis's brother was imprisoned as an infant, where he eventually grew old and died without uttering a single word in his life. No one knew this prisoner, and he went down in history under the name Iron Mask. However, the latest research has shown that the old interpretation of quatrain 95 of Centuria I is incorrect, because although the man in the iron mask existed, he was not the twin brother of Louis XIV. Accordingly, there is no reason to deny that the character of this quatrain is a child who later became the leader of traditional Christianity (see quatrain 96). However, even if this version is finally confirmed, the words about the origin of the child from an “ancient monastic family” should not be taken in a literal sense - perhaps Nostradamus symbolically characterized the deep religious beliefs of this person.
A twin or double can act as a twin symbol, embodying the principle of duality of all phenomena. The image of the double suggests duality of elements, balanced symmetry and a dynamic balance of opposing forces. Duality can develop along two lines - this is both a bifurcation and a doubling of a being. The belief in the existence of doubles of people and animals is characteristic of many cultures. The image of a double is usually associated with tragic themes, since, like any manifestation of multiplicity, doubling has suffering and evil as its attribute. So, for example, in German folklore the image of a doppelganger appears (in literal translation“double ghost”), meeting with which promises death to a person, a similar idea is found in Scottish folklore. Another aspect of the image is associated with the figure of the double as the personification of the spiritual principle, the soul. The ancient Egyptians believed that the double, ka, is exact copy human, invisible ordinary people. Not only people have Ka, but also gods, plants and animals, even stones. The deity's double could tell the priests about the past and future. The Romans believed that every person has a double spirit - a protective genius.

favorite and mistress of King Louis XIV

Versions about the personality of the person “Iron Mask”
Illegitimate brother of Louis XIV. The publisher added a note to this article stating that the “iron mask” was the elder brother of Louis XIV, the illegitimate son of Anne of Austria, whose belief in sterility was refuted by the birth of this son; she then gave birth to Louis XIV by her husband. Louis XIV, having learned, already of age, about this brother, ordered him to be imprisoned. Linguet, in his Bastille devoilée, names the Duke of Buckingham as the father of the iron mask. St. Michel published a book in which he tried to prove the secret marriage of Queen Anne with Mazarin.
Twin brother of Louis XIV. Abbe Soulavi, who published Mémoires du Maréchal de Richelieu (London and Paris, 1790), tried to prove that the “iron mask” was the twin of Louis XIV. Louis XIII ordered the secret education of this prince, in order to prevent the misfortunes which, according to the prophecy, were to befall the royal house from this double birth. After Mazarin's death, Louis XIV learned of his brother's birth, ordered him to be imprisoned and, due to their striking resemblance, forced him to wear an iron mask. During the revolution, this opinion was considered the most correct.
Adventurer Mattioli. According to other sources, the prisoner with the black velvet mask was recorded in the Bastille lists under the name Marchioli. Cenac de Milhan expressed the opinion, on the basis of Italian documents, that the “iron mask” was none other than Mattioli, the minister of Charles Ferdinand of Mantua. Roy-Fazillac joined this opinion in his “Recherches historiques et critiques sur l’homme au masque de fer” (Paris, 1800). Mattioli promised Louis XIV in 1678 that he would persuade his duke to give France the fortress of Casale; he received 100,000 crowns and expensive gifts, but betrayed this secret to Savoy, Spain and Austria. To take revenge on him, the French government lured him into their territory and imprisoned him first on the island of St. Margaret, then in the Bastille.
Other versions. Jung (1873), together with Riese (“Die eiserne Maske”, Greifswald, 1876), claims that the “iron mask” was the Lorraine nobleman Armoise, who in 1672 stood at the head of a conspiracy against Louis XIV in the Spanish Netherlands and was captured in 1673. Others , early rejected and clearly fantastic, versions identified the Iron Mask with Nicolas Fouquet, the minister of Louis XIV, who died in the Bastille, or with the Englishman Duke of Monmouth, who rebelled against James II and was executed in 1685. Alexandre Dumas described the “iron mask” in the novel Vicomte de Bragelon, as the supposed twin brother of the Sun King Louis XIV. His personal jailer was Charles de Batz, Count D'Artagnan.

Igor Merkulov

By the way, Louise-Françoise de Labeaume-Leblanc (French: Louise-Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc, de la Vallière and de Vaujours; August 6, 1644, Tours - June 7, 1710) - Duchess de La Vallière and de Vaujour, favorite of Louis XIV.
She was a maid of honor to Princess Henrietta of Orleans. Despite the fact that she was not very beautiful and had a slight limp, she managed to charm the king with her comeliness and friendly disposition. She had four children by him, of whom two survived: Marie-Anne de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Blois (born 1666) and Louis, Count of Vermandois (born 1667), a supposed prisoner of the Iron Mask.
In dualistic mythologies, one of the twins is endowed with positive symbolism, and the other with negative symbolism, and then together they symbolize mutually balanced good and evil principles. In such cases, as a rule, the motive of rivalry between twin brothers is introduced (the Egyptian myth of Osiris and Set and Slavic myth about Belobog and Chernobog). In addition, one often encounters the motif of the marriage of twins - brother and sister, symbolizing the unity of the opposites embodied in their images (for example, the marriage of the Egyptian Osiris and Isis). Sometimes twins were assigned two fathers - ordinary person and totem, in more developed mythological traditions - god; sometimes they were considered the children of an immortal father and a mortal mother. Divine and human characteristics in this case, as a rule, remain separately expressed. So, for example, one of the twins is endowed with immortality and symbolizes the eternal spiritual principle of a person, his soul, while the other twin is mortal and personifies the bodily principle subject to destruction. For example, in Greco-Roman mythology, the Dioscuri - the mortal Castor and the immortal Pollux were the sons of Leda and, accordingly, King Tyndareus and Zeus. There is an ancient Indo-European cult of twins. Its characteristic features are the connection of the twin characters with horses (Ashvins - “possessing horses” - were depicted in the form of two horses), with the sun and with the change of day and night (Dioscuri appear in the sky in the form of the morning and evening star of the constellation Gemini, Ashvins personify the morning and evening twilight), with the alternation of life and death (Castor and Pollux alternately reside in Hades and Olympus).

Quatrains, centuries and prophecies of Nostradamus about the events of world history