• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

The Historical / Actual 'Man In The Iron Mask'

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Jul 19, 2004
Messages
29,622
Location
Out of Bounds
I couldn't locate any thread focused on, or containing, discussion of the historical basis for the story of this famed mystery prisoner, so I'm starting one here in the Conspiracy section.

Mysterious 'Man in the Iron Mask' Revealed, 350 Years Later

A 350-year-old French mystery has been unmasked: In his new book, Paul Sonnino, a professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, claims he has uncovered the real identity of the mysterious Man in the Iron Mask. ...

"They [historians] are pretty much in agreement that his name was Eustache Dauger, that he only occasionally wore the mask and that when he did wear a mask, it was velvet, not iron," Sonnino said in a statement. "They are also quite sure that he was a valet. What they have not been able to figure out is whose valet he was, and for what possible reason he was held under tight security for over 30 years." ...

Through his research, Sonnino determined that Dauger was a valet for the treasurer of Cardinal Mazarin, who was principal minister of France during Louis XIV's early life. Mazarin accumulated a large fortune, and Sonnino believes the valet thought that some of the money was stolen.

"What I was able to determine was that Mazarin had ripped off some of his huge fortune from the previous king and queen of England …" Sonnino said. ...

Full Article: http://www.livescience.com/54669-man-in-the-iron-mask-identified.html
 
According to Colin Wilson, (among others) the identity of the man in the mask seems to have been fairly well-established. It was Eustache Dauger. The mystery is why Louis XIV kept him imprisoned for so long and his identity hidden.
 
I always wondered if it was some form of extreme sexual fetishism between Louis, the male dominatrix and Dauger as the sub.

(Actually I haven't it just occurred to me).
 
A Page from the life of a modern Dominator.

Probably NSFW, unless you are in the same trade!

"[Mum] is disabled and uses a mobility scooter to get around, so she’s the perfect ruse to catch the target unprepared. She’ll stop, pretend that the scooter has broken down, and ask the client to help her stand up and hold her arm to steady her so she can adjust the battery. Then she whacks them in the legs with her walking stick as I pull up beside with a van, jump out and bundle them in. She hops back on her scooter, drives round to the dungeon, and sits down for a cup of tea until I’m done working. She’s a f*cking legend." :rofl:

I just hope they have the right target!
 
Voltaire & the Man in the Mask.

It has been suggested that Voltaire’s interest in the legend of the Man in the Iron Mask had been stimulated as early as 1714, when he began attending the salon of Louis-Urbain Lefebvre de Caumartin.

He first conceived the idea of writing a history of the age of Louis XIV in 1732, although he anticipated that the work would take a long time to accomplish.

Six years later, in October 1738, Voltaire wrote to a friend, the abbé Jean-Baptiste Du Bos, noting that he had been well informed about the prisoner he called l’homme au masque de fer, who had died at the Bastille, claiming that he had spoken to men who had served this person. In fact, Voltaire had himself been imprisoned at the Bastille: in May 1717, April 1718, and again at some point in 1726. It was during these stays that he presumably gathered his information; however, his claim to be privy to firsthand testimony is doubtful at best. As has been seen, every person who had been in personal contact with the ancien prisonnier was dead by the time of Voltaire’s first imprisonment. One possible exception was the abbé Giraut, but he had left his post by that time. ...

https://crimereads.com/voltaire-man-in-the-iron-mask/
 
Back
Top