With an iron hand, the crane was moving noticeably against the current from 10 am to 5 pm. At that moment, his movement slowed down: another danger threatened. We had to go aground on the left bank. Here the barge was flooded in advance; the crane stood over her. The pumps are working

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

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

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

The five most interesting versions:

The Prisoner in the Iron Mask was the twin brother of Louis XIV.

Louis XIII it was predicted that if twins were born to him, they would bring him misfortune and a quick death. So when he had two twin sons, 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 half-brother of Louis XIV.

According to this version, the masked man was the elder brother of the king, whom Anna of Austria gave birth to her lover, and not the legal husband of 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 indeed brothers, mother brothers. But none of them was the son of a king. Consequently, neither one nor the second had legal rights to the throne. But if the father of the "man in the iron mask" was one of the many lovers of Anna of Austria, then the father of the future Louis XIV - Cardinal Mazarin. Using his influence at court, the cardinal could leave his son as the future king, and keep the second child of Anna of Austria secret.

The Italian origin of the prisoner.

After his death, the mysterious prisoner was buried under the name Marchioli. In this regard, there were suggestions about the possible Italian roots of the prisoner. Allegedly, the prisoner was actually called Ercol Antonio Mattioli. And during the burial, due to confusion in languages, they could write incorrectly. But Mattioli's spy 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 betray the state secret of the king, and was severely punished for this. He was put in jail and always had an iron mask on his face. However, this version has a lot of controversial nuances.

Three prisoners in velvet masks.

The version that is most supported by the facts.

On the island of St. Margaret, and then in the Bastille, for almost thirty years, as many as three prisoners were kept, whose faces were covered with masks. True, they were velvet, not iron. One of them is really the adventurer Mattioli. Second - Minister Nicolas Fouquet, who was imprisoned due to a conflict with the king. On duty, he knew so many royal secrets that it was impossible to allow him to contact other people. Fouquet was so smart that he insured himself: 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 prisoner in the mask - Eustache Dauger. It is believed that this was a priest who learned about the affair of Louis XIV with Madame Montespan. For which he paid with freedom.

The events of November 20, 1703 still attract historians today. On this day, a prisoner was secretly buried in the cemetery near St. Paul's Church, who was listed under the name Iron Mask in the prison register. Until now, researchers are struggling to guess what kind of person was hiding behind the mask.

Charlotte Elisabeth of Bavaria of Orleans

Rumors about the mysterious Iron Mask began to spread during the reign of Louis XIV, and they were spread by the widow of the Duke of Orleans, Charlotte Elisabeth of Bavaria. She claimed that for a number of years a strange prisoner in an iron mask was held in the Bastille and died.

Bastille

These rumors gave impetus to many speculations about the identity of the prisoner, some suggested that this was an English lord who was involved in a conspiracy against English king William III.

Louise de Lavalier

In 1745, the book "Secret Notes on the History of Persia" by an unknown author was published, which further concentrated rumors around the identity of the mysterious prisoner. The book tells about tragic fate the hero Jiafer, who was the illegitimate son of Shah Abas, in whom the image of Louis XIV was recognized. Giafer slapped his half-brother, Sefi Mirza (Great Dauphin), and as punishment was imprisoned for life in the Bastille.

Louise de Lavaliere and her children by Louis XIV Mademoiselle de Blois and Count of Vermandois

According to the book, the prisoner was the Count of Vermandois - the great French admiral - the illegitimate son of Louis XIV and his mistress Louise de Lavaliere.

Anna of Austria, Maria Theresa and Dauphin Louis

The image of the Iron Mask troubled the minds of the great French. So, in 1751, Voltaire wrote the book "The Age of Louis XIV", in which he reveals the story of a mysterious prisoner who was forced to wear an iron mask for the rest of his life. The book immediately became a bestseller. And only twenty years later, Voltaire revealed the secret of the iron mask to readers. It turned out that the older brother of Louis XIV, the son of Anna of Austria and her favorite, was hidden under the mask. The Iron Mask became the main character in the works of J. Chancelle de Lagrange, Seneca de Millan, A. Griffe, Abbé Papon, S. Lenge and others.

Voltaire

Voltaire dealt a severe blow to prestige by revealing the secret of the Iron Mask royal family. And in 1775, by order of the Parisian minister Amelo, in order to hide the secret from the Bastille, a special 120th sheet was withdrawn and destroyed, which described the history of the prisoner's admission to prison. This fact further removed the mystery from the solution.

Cardinal Mazarin

AT late XVIII century, a new version of the Iron Mask was born. According to her, there were twin brothers - the children of the Queen of France. The real son of Louis XIII was allegedly imprisoned in the fortress, and the son of Anna of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin took the throne.

Napoleon Bonaparte

This assumption refuted the rightful throne of the Bourbons, starting with Louis XIV. This hypothesis suited the supporters of Napoleon Bonaparte, who claimed in 1801 that Napoleon was a descendant of the Iron Mask.

Storming of the Bastille

In 1789, the famous Bastille took place, and then the archive of the prison was made public. It turned out that the man in the Iron Mask had been brought to the Bastille by the governor of Saint-Mar from the island of Sainte-Marguerite, where he was in the company of eight other political criminals in the Pignerol fortress. Saint-Mar at that time was the commandant of the Pignerol fortress and served under the command of Charles de Ba Castelmore (we recognize d'Artagnan).

Louis XIV

It turned out that the Iron Mask was one of these eight. The research process was further complicated by the fact that each of the prisoners was named not by name, but by a conditional nickname. It turned out that one of the eight was Count Lozen, later released.

Queen Maria Theresa of Austria

Throughout the 19th century, the issue of establishing the identity of the Iron Mask was studied by a whole team of scientists and historians, and interest in this topic did not weaken in the 20th century. New works by A. Lang, M. Duvivier, J. Montgredien, playwright M. Pagnol. In 1970, books by P.-J. Arreza Iron Mask. Finally a solved riddle” and J.-C. Petifis "Iron Mask - the most mysterious prisoner in history." The book by P.-M. Dijola Nabo or Iron Mask" in 1978. The author is convinced that the servant of Queen Maria Theresa, the Moor Nabo, was hiding under the mask.

The secret of the Iron Mask for centuries worried different writers: N. Karamzin, A. de Vigny, A.S. Pushkin, v. Hugo, A. Dumas père, P. Moreau, A. Deco, J. Bordonev.
AT different time on the basis of the same facts, writers and historians, librarians and scientists tried to defend completely different hypotheses, which became a confirmation that the mystery of the Iron Mask has not yet been solved.

S. FLOWERS.

Science and life // Illustrations

A color etching by Paul Jacob Lamini (19th century) depicts the storming of the Bastille, where a prisoner under the name “Iron Mask” once languished.

Louis XIV. With his name, many associated the fate of the unfortunate secret prisoner of the Bastille.

The Palace of Versailles, built at the behest of the "Sun King", became the residence of Louis XIV, replacing the Louvre.

Madame de Montespan, mistress of Louis XIV.

François Marie Arouet Voltaire (1736 lithograph from a portrait of Latour) was the "father" of the hypothesis that the Iron Mask was considered the brother of Louis XIV.

English King Charles II. Miniature of 1665.

King Louis XIV opens the French Academy in Paris.

The mystery of the prisoner, who went down in history under the name "Iron Mask", worried people for more than one century. There is very little reliable information about the most unusual prisoner of the Bastille. It is known, for example, that at the beginning of 1679 a prisoner was kept in the Pignerol prison, from whom a black velvet Venetian-style mask with iron clasps was never removed (then turned into an iron one by legend). Respectful treatment of him makes you think about the noble origin of the prisoner. In prison, he retained the habits of an aristocrat, wore thin linen, loved an exquisite table, played music, playing the guitar pretty well.

A few years later, the commandant of the fortress of Pignerol Saint-Mars, having received an appointment to the islands of St. Margaret, transported a secret prisoner with him. And on September 18, 1698, again, together with Saint-Mars, who became the commandant of the Bastille, the unknown person ended up within its walls, which he did not leave until his death in 1703. In the Bastille, he was first given a separate room, but on March 6, 1701, he found himself in the same room with Dominique Francois Tirmont, accused of witchcraft and corruption of young girls; On April 30 of the same year, Jean Alexandre de Rocorville, guilty of “delivering anti-government speeches,” was placed with them - and all this by order of the king. Apparently, from the words of these people, the legend of the Iron Mask then spread. It is noteworthy that the mysterious prisoner himself did not say a word to his cellmates about who he was and for what crime he was doomed to eternal incognito.

After the death of the Iron Mask, the room in which he lived was thoroughly searched, the walls were scraped and whitewashed again, the furniture was burned, and the gold and silver utensils were melted down. Obviously, the authorities were afraid that the prisoner might have hidden some piece of paper somewhere or scrawled a few words in a secluded place about the secret of his imprisonment.

In the famous prisoner, they saw a variety of faces. In fact, any noble person who lived in the 17th century and about whose death there is no reliable information was immediately put forward by some historian as a contender for the role of the Iron Mask. Let us briefly consider the most popular versions, which at different times seemed to be the final solution to this historical riddle.

The first place, of course, belongs to a hypothesis that tries to prove (or, rather, believe) in the existence of a brother in Louis XIV, hidden behind a mask for state reasons. Voltaire can be considered her father, who in his work “The Age of Louis XIV” (1751) wrote: “The Iron Mask was the brother and, no doubt, the elder brother of Louis XIV ...” The hypothesis owes its popularity to the brilliant pen of Dumas father - on this “ nail” hangs the plot of “Vicomte de Brazhelon”. Among professional historians, the named legend has long lost all credibility - in the 19th century it was shared only by Jules Michelet, a French historian, and after him - no one else. Its shortcomings include, first of all, the lack of reliable written evidence: all existing ones, as it turned out, are apocrypha. (For example, the once famous story of the “tutor of the Iron Mask”: “The unfortunate prince, whom I brought up and protected until the end of my days, was born on September 5, 1638 at eight and a half o’clock in the evening, during the king’s dinner. His brother, now reigning (Louis XIV. - Note. auth.), was born in the morning at noon, at the time of his father's dinner”, etc.). This story is contained in the so-called notes of Marshal Richelieu, published by a certain Sulavi, but to which, however, the marshal himself had nothing to do.

The system of evidence given in favor of this version is vicious, because it violates the principle of the English philosopher William of Ockham: “Entities should not be multiplied beyond what is necessary.” In other words, no one will ever explain the mystery of the Iron Mask by the existence of Louis XIV's brother until it is proved that the latter really had a brother. In general, the words of Montesquieu are applicable to this version: “There are things that everyone talks about, because they were once said about them.”

During the period of the First Empire, a variation of this version arose, according to which Louis XIII, in addition to the legitimate heir - the future Louis XIV - had an illegitimate son, who was eliminated after the death of his father by his half-brother. On the islands of St. Margaret, where he was exiled, he allegedly met with the jailer's daughter, who bore him a son. When the masked prisoner was later transferred to the Bastille, his young son was sent to Corsica, giving him the surname Buonaparte, which means “on the good side”, “from good parents”. This story was supposed to prove that imperial crowns do not fall by themselves on the heads of artillery lieutenants.

Let's move on to the next contender - the Count of Vermandois, the natural son of Louis XIV and Mademoiselle de Lavaliere.

In 1745, “Secret notes on the history of Persia” were published in Amsterdam, in which, under fictitious (“Persian”) names, an anecdotal history of the French court was told. By the way, they said that the padishah Sha-abbas (Louis XIV) had two sons: the legitimate Sedj-Mirza (Louis, Dauphin) and the illegitimate Jiafer (Count of Vermandois). And so “Giafer once forgot himself to such an extent that he slapped Sedge-Mirza.” State Council spoke in favor of the death penalty for Giafer, who had inflicted a grave insult on the prince of the blood. Then Sha-abbas, who dearly loved Jiafer, heeded the advice of one minister: he sent the guilty son to the army and announced his sudden death on the road, but in fact he hid him in his castle. Subsequently, Zhiafer, keeping the secret of his disappearance, moved from fortress to fortress, and when he needed to see people, he put on a mask.

The anonymous author's book immediately became popular in Paris, temporarily eclipsing the rest of the Iron Mask hypotheses. However, painstaking research has shown that not a single memoirist of the era of Louis XIV said a word about the insult inflicted on the Dauphin by the Count of Vermandois. In addition, the official date of the count's death (which, according to this version, should correspond to the date of his disappearance) - November 18, 1683 - does not allow him to be in Pignerola in 1679 as the Iron Mask.

The writer Saint-Foy saw in the Iron Mask the Duke James of Monmouth, the son of the English king Charles II (he ascended the throne after the death of Cromwell in 1658) and the courtesan Lucy Walters. The king dearly loved this son. The illegitimate prince, brought up in Protestantism, lived in the palace, had pages and servants, and during his travels he was received as a member of the royal family. Growing up, he received the title of Duke of Monmouth and became the first person at court.

Charles II had no legitimate children, and therefore the Duke of York, who was extremely unpopular with the people for his commitment to Catholicism, was considered the heir to the throne. Rumors spread throughout the country that the Duke of Monmouth was no less legitimate heir than the Duke of York, since Charles II was allegedly married in secret to Lucy Walters, etc. The Duke of York began to look at Monmouth as a dangerous rival, and he had to leave for Holland. Here he met the news of the death of Charles II and the accession of the Duke of York under the name of James II.

July 11, 1685 Monmouth, accompanied by 80 people, landed near the small port of Lima, on the Dorsetshire coast. Unfurling the blue banner, he boldly entered the city. He was greeted with enthusiasm. From all sides, dissatisfied with the new king flocked to the place of his landing to greet "the good duke, the Protestant duke, the rightful heir to the throne." A few days later, at least six thousand people gathered under his command. The army was followed by a huge crowd of people who did not have weapons.

However, after the first successes, a streak of failures stretched. London did not support the applicant. Expedition to Scotland failed. The aristocracy did not join the former idol. And parliament did not proclaim him king.

Monmouth fell into complete despair. In the battle with the royal army at Sedgemoor, he fled, leaving his soldiers who shouted after him: "Shells, for God's sake, shells!" A few days later, Portman's militia detained him near Ringwood: Monmouth, dressed in rags, surrendered without a word, trembling all over.

During the investigation and trial of him, Monmouth showed unworthy cowardice: having asked the king for an audience, he lay at his feet and kissed his hands and knees, begging for mercy ... James II behaved no better either. By agreeing to meet with the prisoner, he thereby gave him hope for pardon and, according to tradition, had to save his life. But the king demanded a death sentence, and on July 16, 1685, Monmouth was executed in London in front of thousands of people. The executioner cut off his head only from the fourth blow, for which he was almost torn to pieces by the crowd, who idolized the “good Protestant duke”.

Saint-Foy tried to prove that Monmouth's royal lineage alone should have protected him from the death penalty, and therefore the duke was actually sent to France, and another person was executed in his place. But no matter how hard the writer tried, his version remained the most unconvincing of all that existed. This, of course, does not mean that it is not suitable as the basis for an action-packed novel...

The mysterious disappearance of the Duc de Beaufort gave Lagrange-Chansel and Lenglet-Dufre-od Lagrange-Chansel and Lenglet-Dufrenoy a reason to create a system of evidence in favor of his candidacy for the role of the Iron Mask.

The Duke de Beaufort was the grandson of Henry IV and Gabriele d "Estre. Athletic physique, expressive facial features, immoderate gestures, the habit of akimbo, always twisted mustache - all this gave him a very defiant look. Without having received any education, he remained completely ignorant in all sciences, including the science of secular life - the court laughed at the rudeness of his manners and language.But the army idolized him for his desperate courage.

With the beginning of the Fronde (movement in France against absolutism, represented by the government of Cardinal Mazarin), he threw himself headlong into it. But he played a rather miserable role in its events, because he himself did not know well what business he actually stood for. But with his swagger of behavior and rude soldier speech, he was extremely liked by the common people, for which he earned the nickname “king of the markets”.

As soon as Louis XIV reigned, Beaufort became the most submissive of his subjects. In 1669, he was appointed commander-in-chief of an expeditionary force sent to the shores of Candia to clear this island from the Turks. twenty two military battleships and three galleys were carrying seven thousand troops - the color of the French nobility (in a way, the Candian expedition was a new crusade). Candia was once ruled by the Venetians. By the time of the events described, only The largest city islands, which they defended against a numerically superior enemy at the cost of incredible efforts. One bastion was already taken by the Turks, and the townspeople expected the fall of the city and the inevitable massacre from day to day.

On the night of June 25, the French squadron that approached the day before landed troops on the island. Beaufort personally commanded one of the detachments. The Turks could not withstand the onslaught and fled. But at a moment when the soldiers of Beaufort were already looking forward to a complete victory, a powder warehouse with 25 thousand pounds of gunpowder exploded - it destroyed an entire battalion of French on the spot. A monstrous explosion caused panic in their ranks - it seemed to the soldiers that the entire Turkish camp was mined. In one minute, the roles changed: now the French rushed headlong to the shore, to their boats, and the perked-up Turks pressed on them, not letting them come to their senses.

During the flight, everyone somehow forgot about Beaufort. Some of the fugitives later vaguely recalled that the duke, riding a wounded horse, seemed to be trying to gather brave men around him to repel the Turkish onslaught. When the panic subsided, they missed Beaufort, but he was not among the survivors, nor among the dead, nor among the wounded, nor among the prisoners ... The commander-in-chief disappeared without a trace.

The above authors - supporters of the identification of the Duke de Beaufort with the Iron Mask - insisted that he was kidnapped during the general panic by Molevrier, the brother of Colbert, who was at enmity with the Duke. But later published correspondence between Molevrier and his brother refuted this argument. In the very first letter sent to Versailles after the unsuccessful landing, Molevrier writes: “Nothing can be more deplorable than the unfortunate fate of the admiral (Beaufort. - Note. auth.). Being obliged to rush in different directions during the entire attack in order to collect everything that was left of our troops, I positively asked everyone about Beaufort, and no one could tell me anything. Yes, and the age of Beaufort (he was born in 1616) does not correspond well to the age of the Iron Mask (Voltaire said that he heard “from Marsolan, the son-in-law of the Bastille pharmacist, that the latter, some time before the death of the disguised prisoner, heard from him that he was about sixty years").

It is impossible to even briefly dwell on all the versions explaining the identity and crimes of the Iron Mask. Let me just say that they saw him as an illegitimate son: Cromwell; Marie-Louise of Orleans, first wife of the Spanish king Charles II; Maria Anna of Neuburg, second wife of the same king; Henriette of Orleans and Louis XIV; her and the Comte de Guiche; Maria Theresa, the wife of Louis XIV, and a negro servant she brought with her from Spain; Christina, Queen of Sweden, and her great equerry Monaldesca. It was said that a woman could be hiding under the mask.

These legends so occupied secular society that even Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI were rumored to be interested in the Iron Mask and allegedly revealed an extraordinary secret to each other on their deathbed - the historian Michelet insisted on this. The Duke of Choiseul said that when he asked who was hiding under the iron mask, Louis XV replied: “If you knew his real name, you would be very disappointed, it is not interesting at all.” And Madame Pompadour assured that the king said to her similar question: “This is the minister of the Italian prince.”

Finally, Louis XVI ordered the Minister of Maurep to clarify this riddle. After conducting an investigation, Morepa reported to the king that the Iron Mask was a dangerous intriguer, a subject of the Duke of Mantua.

Basic research by French and Italian historians late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century (Tapena, F. Brentano, A. Sorel) confirm that Morepa most likely told the truth: the famous prisoner was Count Ercol Antonio Matteoli, minister of Charles IV, Duke of Mantua.

Charles IV was distinguished by wild behavior and complete indifference to the affairs of the state. He spent most of the year in Venice, and his favorites ruled in Mantua. The duke exhausted his treasury and his health very quickly, but retained an unquenchable thirst for pleasure. In search of money, he was ready to sell anything.

Abbé Estrade, then Louis XIV's ambassador to Venice, took advantage of Charles's chronic lack of money to render his government an important service. He intended to force the duke to sell the city of Casale, which was the key to Upper Italy, to Louis. The idea of ​​the enterprising abbot promised the king the opportunity at any time to interfere in Italian affairs and oppose the similar desire of Spain and Austria. However, the scandalous purchase, contrary to the norms international law and affecting the interests of many powers, had to be done in the strictest secrecy. Looking for an intermediary for this deal among the duke's favorites, Estrad settled on Matteoli, as the person with the greatest influence on Charles.

Matteoli was born into a well-born and wealthy Bologna family on December 1, 1640. Already a student, he gained some fame, having received the highest award in civil law, and after graduation - the title of professor at the University of Bologna. Having become related to a respectable senatorial family in Bologna, he moved to Mantua, where he won the favor of Charles IV, who made him a supernumerary senator - this title gave the dignity of a count. The extremely ambitious Matteoli aimed for the position of the first minister. But for this he was looking for an opportunity to render the duke some extraordinary service and gladly seized on Estrada's offer.

It was decided to arrange a secret meeting between Estrada and Karl in Venice, during the carnival - the holiday made it possible to walk in a mask without attracting attention. At midnight on March 13, 1678, when leaving the Doge's Palace, Estrad and Karl met, as if by chance, on the square and discussed the terms of the contract for an hour. The Duke agreed to cede Casale for 100,000 ecu, so that this amount would be paid to him upon the exchange of ratified treaties in two terms, three months each. So this shameful deal took place in the very center of Venice - a city that has long been famous for its spies and whose government has tried with all its might to prevent French penetration into northern Italy!

A few months later, Matteoli, who secretly arrived at Versailles, received a copy of the treaty signed by the king. Immediately after that, he had a secret audience with Louis and was received in the most favorable way: the king gave him a valuable diamond and ordered him to give 400 double louis, promising an even larger amount after the ratification of the contract by the duke.

It seemed that nothing could prevent the successful conclusion of the negotiations. However, less than two months after Matteoli's visit to Versailles, the courts of Turin, Madrid, Vienna, Milan, the Venetian Republic, that is, everyone who benefited from preventing the deal, learned in the smallest detail about the terms of the contract. Estrad notified Louis that he had undoubted evidence of Matteoli's betrayal.

It is no longer possible to say with accuracy what caused Matteoli's act: self-interest or belated patriotism. It seems that the successful outcome of the negotiations promised him, if not more benefits, then at least less trouble.

Louis had to beat the retreat at a time when a detachment of French troops, led by a new commandant, was already ready to enter Casale. In addition to the understandable annoyance of the king, he was tormented by the thought of a possible international scandal, since Matteoli still had ratification documents with Louis's personal signature in his hands. To bring them back, Estrad offered to capture Matteoli. The king replied in a dispatch dated April 28, 1679: “His Majesty would like you to carry out your idea and order him to be taken secretly to Pignerol. An order is sent there to receive and contain him so that no one knows about it ... There is no need to notify the Duchess of Savoy of this order of His Majesty, but it is necessary that no one knows what will become of this person. In these words, full of cold hatred for the one who almost made the “sun king” the laughing stock of the whole world, lies the entire fate of Matteoli - the Iron Mask. On May 2, he was seized “without noise” during a meeting with Estrad in a village near Turin and taken to Pignerol.

He did not have any papers compromising the French government, but under the threat of torture, Matteoli admitted that he had given them to his father. He was forced to write a letter with his own hand, according to which Agent Estrada freely received these important documents from Matteoli Sr., which were immediately forwarded to Versailles.

Even earlier, Louis secretly withdrew troops from the border with Italy, and thus all traces of the scandalous deal with the Duke of Mantua disappeared. Matteoli remained, but, as we have seen, the king saw to it that he also disappeared.

Estrad spread the word that Matteoli had been the victim of a traffic accident. Charles IV pretended to believe this explanation, since he himself wanted to quickly hush up the shameful story. The Matteoli family was silent: his wife went to the monastery, his father died soon after. None of them made the slightest attempt to find out more about his fate, as if sensing the danger of such a search.

All concerns about maintaining Matteoli's incognito were entrusted to the commandant of the prison, Pignerol Saint-Mars: from that time on, they became, as it were, prisoners of each other.

As the historian Tapen aptly remarked, prisoners have no history. We only know that Matteoli, after two unsuccessful attempts to announce himself, completely resigned himself to his fate. Tapin in his book did not ignore the question of where the notorious mask came from and why the prisoner of Saint-Mars was hidden under it.

In the 16th-17th centuries, the custom of wearing masks was widespread among the nobility, and there are many historical examples of this. Gerard's memoirs describe how Louis XIII, who came on a date with Maria Mancini, "kissed her through a mask." The Duchess of Montespan allowed her ladies-in-waiting to wear masks - she writes about this in her memoirs. Saint-Simon testifies that Marshal Clerambault "always wore a black velvet mask on the roads and in the galleries." Police reports from the chief of the Parisian police Rainey indicate that in 1683 the wives of bankers and merchants dared to come in masks even to church, despite the strict prohibition of the authorities.

Thus, the unusual case of the Iron Mask is only that the mask was put on the prisoner, which is really not a single example in the history of French prisons. However, says Tapen, in relation to the Italian Matteoli, the use of a mask was completely natural. In Italy, masks were often worn on prisoners. Thus, in Venice, persons arrested by the Inquisition were escorted to prison in masks. Matteoli, the companion of the Duke of Mantua's amusements, undoubtedly had a mask with him, under which he hid even during negotiations with Estrad. “Of course,” writes Tapin, “she was among his things seized in 1678...”

The question of why Matteoli was masked when he was transported to the Bastille is solved quite simply: Matteoli lived in Paris for several months during his secret visit to France in 1678 and, therefore, could be recognized. In addition, in 1698, that is, when Saint-Mars brought him with him to the Bastille, an Italian, Count Baselli, was sitting in the fortress, who was familiar with many noble families of Mantua and Bologna and, no doubt, knew Matteoli by sight. In order to keep the secret of the kidnapping of the Mantua senator, Saint-Mars used a means exclusive to everyone except the Italian Matteoli. That is why the latter calmly wore a mask, while everyone who saw him burned with excitement and curiosity.

There are two entries in the Bastille garrison log relating to the Iron Mask. The first reads: “The governor of the islands of St. Marguerite Saint-Mars, on September 18, 1698, assumed the office of commandant of the Bastille and brought with him an unknown prisoner in a black velvet mask, who, even before arriving on the islands, was kept under supervision in the fortress of Pignerol.” The second entry, dated November 19, 1703, says that on this day “an unknown prisoner in a velvet mask, whom Saint-Mars always carried with him, died unexpectedly.”

Saint-Mars listed the deceased in the lists of the Church of St. Paul under the name Marteoli (as, by the way, Matteoli Louvois often called in his dispatches to Saint-Mars). It is likely that over the years the commandant forgot the name of his prisoner or made a mistake - at that time names were often written incorrectly, especially foreign ones.

Literature

Ladoucette E. iron mask(novel). - M., 1992.

Petifis J.-C. Iron mask. - M., 2006.

Topen M. The Man in the Iron Mask. - Paris, 1870 (there is a pre-revolutionary translation into Russian).

It is very good that there are so many people who are not indifferent at 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, in which he was kept based on Dumas's novel “The Vicomte de Bragelon or Ten Years Later”. And this is what, it turns out, can (and should be told!) About all this, it seems, by means of various ingenious calculations, it was possible to establish that this very prisoner was born around 1640, and died on November 19, 1703. Under the number 64389000, he was kept in various prisons, including (since 1698) and the Bastille, and he was kept there in a velvet mask (and only in later legends did it turn into an iron one).

The best version of the "iron mask" from the 1962 film of the same name with Jean Marais as D'Artagnan.

For the first time, this mysterious man was 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 Dauphine. However, this story is absolutely implausible, since the real Louis of Bourbon died in 1683, when he was 16 years old.

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

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 ... a chamberlain and lover of Queen Anne of Austria and therefore the real Pope Louis XIV. Then the Jesuit Griffe, who served as confessor in the Bastille fortress for nine years, spoke about the Iron Mask, in 1769 he 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 in a sedan chair from the island of St. Margaret, whose his name was unknown, and his face was covered by a black velvet (but by no means iron) mask.

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

That is, it was the eldest, but illegitimate son of Anna of Austria, and that, they say, the confidence in her barrenness by the birth of this child was refuted; but then Louis XIV was born to her from her lawful spouse, well, and Louis XIV, having reached the age of majority, found out about all this and ordered to imprison his brother in a fortress. Insinuations worthy of Dumas himself immediately appeared: “The Iron Mask” is the son of the Duke of Buckingham, the “Iron Mask” is the fruit of the marriage of Anna of Austria with Cardinal Mazarin, the “child of love” from the captain of the Cardinal Guard Doge de Cavua, Prince Conde, and so on, and all in the same way.

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

Abbot Sulyavi in ​​1790 also claimed that the “Iron Mask” was the twin brother of Louis XIV, whom Louis XIII ordered to be brought up 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 resemblance, he ordered to wear a mask. During the years of the French Revolution, this point of view was generally accepted, and it was on its basis that A. Dumas wrote his novel.

There is evidence that a prisoner in a black velvet mask was listed under the name of Mattioli in the Bastille lists. And it seems that it was the adventurer Antonio Mattioli, who in 1678 promised Louis XIV to surrender the fortress of Casale with the help of betrayal. For this dark deed, he allegedly received 100,000 skudos, but then betrayed this secret at the same time to Savoy, Spain and Austria. 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 of the late 19th century.

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

But there were also such versions, well, they were just obviously fantastic. For example, the "Iron Mask" was identified with the disgraced superintendent Nicolas Fouquet, the frivolous 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.

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

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

In 1976, the Soviet researcher Y. Tatarinov suggested that there were several "iron masks": first it was the ex-minister Fouquet, then the loser Mattioli and the same Eustache Dauger. In any case, all these people were then taken to the island of Sainte-Marguerite - the largest of the Lerins Islands, which is located just a kilometer from the famous city of 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 attraction of the island stands - Fort Royal, a fort and at the same time a prison, where they kept the famous "Iron Mask" and where he threw plates out the window calling for help.

At first, that is, back in the days of Ancient Rome, the island was called Lero. Then the crusaders who went to the Holy Land built a chapel on it in honor of St. Margaret of Antioch. In the XIV century, a certain Raymond Feraud invented that Saint Margaret lived on this island, who led the community of virgin nuns on it.

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 Chateau d'If, Fort Royal became a royal prison, but during the 18th century, the settlement of St. Margaret grew and grew there, as it had to serve the garrison located on the island.

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