There is a legend that the famous prisoner of the Bastille, whose person was carefully hidden, was a relative of the king, and concluded him because of the fear of Louis XIV to lose the throne. We examined the arguments for and against this version.

Thanks to numerous literary works and films all over the world, the plot is known about the secret prisoner whose face was hidden from all iron mask. Thanks to "Viscount de Brazhelon" Alexandra Dumas and the film "Man in an iron mask" With Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, the hypothesis was especially popular that in conclusion, the twin brother of the king of Louis XIV was pleased. He was afraid to lose the throne and thus decided to eliminate a possible competitor.

Voltaire mentioned the prisoner in an iron mask several times. In the "Age of Louis XIV" (1751) in the chapter "Anecdotes of the times of the reign of Louis XIV" author Writesthat in 1661, shortly after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, “an event occurred that has no example; It is no less strange that all historians ignored him. ” An unknown prisoner in a mask, who was ordered to kill, was sent to the castle on the island of St. Margritus if he reveals his personality. In 1690, he was transported to the Bastille - surprisingly, in prison he was not refused anything but freedom: they were supplied with clothes from expensive fabrics, they were given to play musical instruments and provided a doctor. The prisoner died in 1703 and was buried under the cover of the night in the parish of Saint-Paul. According to Voltaire, several contemporaries confirmed him: the personality of the prisoner was a state secret.

Voltaire again turned to this story after two decades. In "questions to the encyclopedia" (1770–1772) he clarifiesthat wearing a mask was mandatory only in the presence of other people (for example, a doctor) and that at the time of death the prisoner was about 60 years old. ApprovedWhat the editor decided for Voltaire, who was afraid of punishment for a direct presentation of his assumptions, to indicate that we are talking about the illegitimate brother of Louis XIV, the son of Anna of Austrian and her lover. Subsequently, it was this hypothesis that Alexander Dumas developed and hypertrophied in Viscount de Brazelone, Writing Not just about a brother, but about a twin.

Despite the popularity of this hypothesis among writers and directors, exists Several dozen candidates for the role of a prisoner in an iron mask. Among them there are rather extravagant. For example, in an anonymous Dutch pamphlet of the late XVII century It was said The fact that the prisoner was not a brother, but the real father of Louis XIV, who seemed to be born out of marriage. “Iron Mask” called different French and British nobles, illegitimate children from several ruling families in Europe, Cardinal Mazarini, Moliere and even Louis XIV himself, whom the twin brother allegedly removed from the throne.

Bastille at the beginning of the 18th century

At the same time, in any authoritative source we were not able to find confirmation of the version that the prisoner was a relative of the king, who could potentially take his place. For example, the authoritative encyclopedia "British" claimsthat only two versions “turned out to be true”, subsequently united. The first prisoner in an iron mask, which was actually made not at all from iron, but from velvet, could be Errol Matthioli, Minister of the Duke of Mantuansky. He concluded an agreement by which the Duke was supposed to transfer France to Fortress Kazal in exchange for a large amount of money, but he deceived the French. Louis XIV, stated, secretly abducted Matthioli and in 1679 imprisoned him in the northwest of Italy. True, Mattioli did not get to Bastille-the prisoner died in 1694 on the islands of St. Marger. A prisoner in a mask could be an Estash Priest, a servant of finance Minister Nicolas Fouquet - he allegedly knew the secrets disclosed by his own master. However, this version has opponents.

In 2016, historian Paul Sonnino Published The Search for the Man in the Iron Mask, which summarizes the documents preserved to this day and made in many decades assumptions. According to Sonnino’s study, in 1669, a prisoner was delivered to the Pinnerol castle in northern Italy, who was placed in a single camera. Subsequently, he moved from prison to prison after the overseer named Saint-Mar, who in 1698 was appointed commandant of the Bastille, where the prisoner died in 1703. As you can see, not all dates coincide with the data given by Voltaire.

Talking about the real personality of the prisoner, the historian immediately denies the version with the secret brother of Louis XIV: it was simply impossible, because Anna Austrian was closely followed by every step and the queen’s pregnancy simply could not go unnoticed. Of the possible candidates, Sonnino prefers already mentioned, the servant of Nicolas Fouke. The latter was arrested shortly after the death of Cardinal Mazarini and accused of conspiracy against the king. If you believe the investigation carried out then, Fouquet kept the money and jewelry of the English Queen Henrietta, and in the light of negotiations on the Union against the Dutch, the British side should not have known about this fact. Sonnino assumes that it was precisely the best of English money, who actually could serve as a valet not with Fouquet, but with Antoine-Erkul Picon, the former treasurer of Mazarini. However, the scientist could not find any direct evidence.

Thus, at the moment, there is no consensus among professional historians regarding whose personality was actually hiding behind an iron mask. Nevertheless, the vast majority of experts consider the version of the brother (or any other close relative) Louis XIV, incognito enclosed in a basastilia, far -fetched and not confirming in archival documents. However, to discover such confirmation regarding the raster or other candidates, who are considered more likely, so far has not yet been able to. Perhaps this will never work out-then, if a prisoner, unexpectedly for historians, turned out to be a representative of the royal family, the operation to maintain anonymity was carried out extremely successfully.