1703: A Highlight of French History!

On November 19, 1703, a prisoner whose identity and reason for incarceration were unknown died in the Bastille after a long captivity. The mysterious detainee, who had worn a steel mask on his face for 34 years, was buried in Saint-Paul cemetery under the alias Marchiali and a false age.

The Man in the Iron Mask: one of the most famous prisoners in French history

The Man in the Iron Mask arrived at the Pignerol fortress in Piedmont on August 24, 1669, during the reign of Louis XIV. Imprisoned by Royal Order, he was placed under the personal supervision of a trusted officer, Bénigne de Saint-Mars, a former musketeer under Captain d'Artagnan. The prisoner was held in the strictest isolation, with no permission to speak to anyone, yet he received preferential treatment in his detention conditions. He followed his jailer through all his assignments: from Pignerol to the Exiles prison, reserved for important prisoners, then to the fort on the island of Sainte-Marguerite in Provence in 1687, where a special cell was built for him, overlooking the sea, accessible only by passing through three successive doors. In 1698, when Saint-Mars was appointed governor of the Bastille, the Man in the Iron Mask, still kept in secret, accompanied him to the Parisian prison, which became his final resting place.

After his death, numerous hypotheses emerged regarding the identity of this illustrious prisoner. According to Voltaire, he was Louis XIV's twin brother, removed from the throne and then hidden to prevent any challenge to royal legitimacy. Other theories suggested he was an illegitimate son of Anne of Austria, Louis XIV, or even his wife, Queen Maria Theresa. For several historians, he was the Superintendent of Finances, Nicolas Fouquet, dismissed by the king and arrested for embezzlement by d'Artagnan in 1661, before being sentenced to life imprisonment in Pignerol. Louis XV, the last king of France to know the truth, reportedly stated he was the minister of an Italian prince, later identified as Count Ercole Mattioli, who had played a dubious intermediary role between the Duke of Mantua and Louis XIV. Although the enigma was never solved, the iron mask retrospectively became a symbol of French monarchical absolutism, capable of sustaining arbitrary detention for several decades.

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