It is very good that there are so many people on VO who are not indifferent, 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 Saint-Marguerite, in which it was kept based on Dumas's novel “The Viscount de Bragelon or Ten Years Later”. And here's what about all this, it turns out, it is possible (and should be told!) Through various clever calculations, it seems, 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 held in various prisons, including (from 1698) and the Bastille, and he was kept there in a velvet mask (and only in later legends it turned into an iron mask).
The best version of the "iron mask" from the 1962 movie of the same name with Jean Mare as D'Artagnan.
For the first time about this mysterious person was written 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" is the Duke of Vermandois, the son of King Louis XIV. and his mistress Louise de Lavaliere, who was imprisoned for slapping the Dauphin in the face. However, this story is absolutely implausible, since the real Louis of Bourbon died in 1683, when he was 16 years old.
1962 film: Cardinal Mazarin orders D'Artagnan to bring a prisoner from the island of Sainte-Marguerite to replace the seriously ill King of France.
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.
A prisoner in an iron mask in an anonymous engraving from the time of the Great French Revolution.
Dutch writers, who had no love for France and tried to cast a shadow on her kings at every opportunity, declared that the "Iron Mask" is … the chamberlain and lover of Queen Anne of Austria and therefore the real Pope of Louis XIV. Then Jesuit Griffe, who served as a 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 Saint Margaret. the name was unknown, and the face was covered by a black velvet (but not iron) mask.
And here he is and the island - everything is exactly the same as in the movies!
He died on November 19, 1703. Well, as for Voltaire, in his "Philosophical Dictionary" in an article about Anna of Austria he wrote that he knew more than Griffet knew, but since he was French, he was forced to remain silent.
Why in the movie "The Iron Mask" in 1929 this very mask covered the prisoner's entire head? How to scratch yourself?
That is, it was the eldest, but illegitimate son of Anna of Austria, and that, they say, confidence in her sterility by the birth of this child was refuted; but then Louis XIV was born to her from his lawful spouse, well, and Louis XIV, having reached adulthood, found out about all this and ordered to imprison his brother in a fortress. Insinuations worthy of Dumas himself immediately appeared: "The Iron Mask" - the son of the Duke of Buckinegham, "The Iron Mask" is the fruit of the marriage of Anne of Austria with Cardinal Mazarin, "the child of love" from the captain of the Cardinal Guard, Doge de Cavois, Prince of Condé, and so on, and everything like that.
From movie to movie, the mask got worse …
Abbot Sulyavi in 1790 also claimed that the "Iron Mask" was the twin brother of Louis XIV, whom Louis XIII had ordered to be brought up in secret, so that the misfortunes predicted to 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 to imprison his brother, and besides, because of their striking similarity, 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.
And even worse … and stupider!
There is information that a prisoner in a black velvet mask was listed under the name Mattioli on the lists of the Bastille. And it seems that it was the adventurer Antonio Mattioli, who in 1678 promised Louis XIV with the help of betrayal to surrender the fortress of Casale. For this dark affair, he seems to have received 100,000 scant, but then he gave this secret to Savoy, Spain and Austria at the same time. For this he was caught and first held on the island of Saint-Marguerite, and then transferred to the Bastille. This assumption was supported by most historians of the late 19th century.
Fort Royal plan of 1775.
Then the cryptanalyst Etienne Bazeri deciphered a document, on the basis of which he concluded that the unfortunate prisoner in the mask was General Vivienne de Boulond, but there was also such a point of view that the "Iron Mask" was the nobleman Armuise, who in 1672 in the Spanish Netherlands arranged a conspiracy against Louis XIV, but was captured in 1673 and imprisoned in the Bastille.
Watchtower and carronade of Fort Royal.
But there were also such versions, well, just obviously of a fantastic nature. For example, the "Iron Mask" was identified with the disgraced Superintendent Nicolas Fouquet, the fined minister of Louis XIV, who actually died in Pignerola, or the English Duke of Monmouth, who revolted against King James II and was then executed in 1685.
View of Fort Royal from the sea.
There is also a version, quite worthy of the pen of Bushkov and some authors here on 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 instead of him arrived in Russia sent by Jesuits or Freemasons an impostor hostile to everything Russian.
Fort wall.
In 1963, Charles Benecrut, 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, like two drops of water resembling Cardinal Mazarin. This similarity was noticed by the Duke de Gaulle in 1655. He decided to replace Mazarin with a native, and he did it just fine. The native took the place of the first minister (this is how he “takes away” some!) Under Louis XIV, and Mazarin himself was put on an “iron mask”.
The gate to the fort.
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 Estache Dauge. 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 is located - Fort Royal, a fort and at the same time a prison, where the famous "Iron Mask" and where he threw plates out the window calling for help.
The Iron Mask camera.
At first, that is, back in the days of Ancient Rome, the island was called Lero. Then the crusaders, going to the Holy Land, built a chapel on it in honor of Saint Margaret of Antioch. In the XIV century, a certain Raymond Fero, invented that Saint Margaret lived on this island, who led a community of virgin nuns on it.
Church of St. Margaret. Here the prisoner prayed and confessed.
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 island was captured by the Spaniards, 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 local settlement of St. Margaret grew and grew, as he had to serve the garrison located on the island.
Maritime Museum with the Iron Mask camera.
It housed many famous people of their time and in addition to the "Iron Mask". For example, Abd al-Qadir (the leader of the Algerian rebels) and Marshal Bazin languished here. But he was the only one who managed to escape from this island.
On the eve of World War II, two concrete pillboxes were built on the island of Sainte-Marguerite to defend 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 for serving tourists. Well, in the fort itself, the Maritime Museum is open, where you can see the finds discovered on sunken Roman and Arab ships, and where former chambers are open for tourists, and, of course, the Iron Mask chamber and Roman cisterns in which the Romans kept freshly caught fish. For lovers of war memorials, there is a small cemetery of French soldiers who participated in the Crimean War, as well as a cemetery of North African soldiers who fought for France during World War II. There is also a small estate owned by Vijaya Malli, an Indian millionaire and owner of the Formula 1 Force India team. Well, he is such an eccentric person that he wished to have a villa there for himself, but this is the only sight there.
