motivated by speculations in a book series The three Musketeersby Alexandre Dumas, is one of the greatest mysteries of France in the 17th century. According to the author, the King of France Louis XIV kept a prisoner condemned to forever hide his face behind a cruel mask metallic.
The detainee really existed, but there is no consensus on his identity. The most accepted theory today is that it was nobody important. “The French elite at that time were very literate, so there would be some record if he was someone relevant”, explains historian Guy Rowlands, from the University of St. Andrews, in the United Kingdom.
An enigma that does not rust
Character may have been the trick of an ambitious jailer
1. Most likely he was called Eustache Danger – although it is possible that “Eustache” was his last name and “Danger” a contraction of “de Anger”, indicating his origin. On 24 August 1669, he was detained in Pignerol Prison, in a high security cell with nothing but the bare necessities of comfort (another indication that he was nobody of importance).
2. Who actually made him famous was his jailer, Saint-Mars. Seeking prestige and recognition, he spread the word that he cared for a special detainee. When he was transferred to the island of Sainte-Marguerite in 1687, Saint Mars took Danger with an iron mask over his face. An eye-catching closed litter and escort platoon reinforced the atmosphere of exaggerated mystery.
3. It was during this journey that someone noticed the mask and recorded the fact in an anonymous letter. There began the legend surrounding the figure. But it is most likely that the prisoner did not use it all the time, as it would have interfered with his diet and health – and the poor guy would never have lasted more than 30 years in prison, as indicated by the alleged records surrounding the case.
4. In 1698, Saint-Mars was transferred to the Bastille prison and asked the government to have the prisoner accompany him again. This time, the trip was made wearing only a velvet mask, in common transport, reinforcing the thesis that the figure was only important for the jailer and not for the government. Eustache continued to wear the velvet mask until he died in 1703.
5. Between 1717 and 1718, the philosopher Voltaire was also detained in the Bastille, where, according to him, he received reliable information about the appearance and age of the masked man. He concluded that if the face needed to be hidden, it was because it could be recognized. And the only recognizable figure by anyone at the time was the king – hence the theory that he was the twin of Louis XIV.
6. Voltaire never put this assumption on paper. But it was enough for another writer, Alexandre Dumas, to use the idea as a motto for the adventure. The Viscount of Bragelonnewhich concludes the series of books The three Musketeers. This story spread over the years and inspired the film The man with the Iron Mask (1998), with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Source Book The Man Behind the Iron MaskJohn Noone
Consultancy Guy Rowlands, historian at the University of St. Andrews, in the United Kingdom, and Joice Armani Galli, Master and Professor of French Literature at UFPE
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