So that’s why many experts agree that Dauger is a more likely candidate.Īs for Dauger, he was reportedly a valet arrested for unclear reasons in 1669. However, Matthiole died in 1694, which was years before the Man in the Iron Mask passed away. Wikimedia Commons To this day, no one knows what the Man in the Iron Mask’s face actually looked like. His last name was so similar to an alias that was often used for the Man in the Iron Mask - “Marchioly.” On top of that, Louis XIV’s descendants Louis XV and Louis XVI had both claimed that the famous prisoner was an Italian nobleman. The former was an Italian count who had betrayed Louis XIV politically in the 1670s. Historians point to two men as the most often suspected identities behind the iron mask: Ercole Matthiole and Eustache Dauger. So, who was the Man in the Iron Mask? The guesses have numbered in the hundreds over the centuries, from the plausible to the far-fetched. But it didn’t take long for theories to emerge. The French bureaucratic system worked very hard to ensure no one ever knew the real story behind the Man in the Iron Mask.

His clothes were promptly burned at dawn, and his cell was scraped and whitewashed to hide any trace of his identity that he may have left behind. Wikimedia Commons The eyes of history have always been on this mysterious prisoner.Įven after his death in 1703, the very memory of the Man in the Iron Mask was subject to erasure. One of the most infamous prisoners was the Man in the Iron Mask, who was said to be held there sometime during the 1680s. It was first constructed in 1617, but it didn’t become a state prison until 1685. While we may never know the true identity of the Man in the Iron Mask, we can make a few guesses based on what we do know.īefore taking up residence at the dreaded Bastille, he was held in a small prison off the coast of Cannes called Sainte-Marguerite. Who was the Man in the Iron Mask, and why was he in prison? The Man Behind The Mask Was he a nobleman, a prince, a political rival, or just a valet in the wrong place at the wrong time?

But his anonymous face obviously led to questions about his identity later on. His unforgiving mask and threadbare cell were perhaps even more infamous than the man himself. Held captive from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 18th century, the enigmatic prisoner still conjures up images of political intrigue, deadly betrayal, and historical enigmas. Wikimedia Commons An illustration of the Man in the Iron Mask in his cell.ĭuring the reign of King Louis XIV, a mysterious man was locked away in the notorious Bastille and other French prisons: the Man in the Iron Mask.

The true story of fman part 10