# The man in the iron mask **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2001, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-man-in-the-iron-mask/95351 "2001-11-26T20:28:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dragongirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@dragongirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragongirl)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-man-in-the-iron-mask/95351/1 "2001-11-26T20:28:02Z")
I just saw this movie and I was wondering, was there really a man in an iron mask ? If yes, does anyone know who that was ? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-man-in-the-iron-mask/95351/2 "2001-11-26T20:49:10Z")
_I just saw this movie and I was wondering, was there really a man in an iron mask?_ Yep. _If yes, does anyone know who that was?_ Nope. _Thanks._ You’re welcome. For a fun and fairly informative treatment of this subject, may I suggest: [http://www.royalty.nu/legends/IronMask.html](http://www.royalty.nu/legends/IronMask.html) RR ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-man-in-the-iron-mask/95351/3 "2001-11-26T20:54:41Z")
There was a “man in the iron mask”, but nobody knows for sure who he was. Here’s what we do know. In 1696, Bénigne d’Auvergne de St.-Mars, at that time governor of two islands in the Gulf of Cannes, reported on the status of a prisoner forced to wear a mask to the Interior Minister. This prisoner is referred to again in 1768, in a letter from St. Mars’ grandnephew, to the editor of a literary digest, explaining that, when St. Mars was put in charge of the Bastile, in 1698, he took with him to Paris a prisoner, who “carried the black mask on his face; the peasants could see his teeth and his lips, and also that he was tall and had white hair.” In the Bastille, we know that the government provided the prisoner with furniture and meals (Most prisoners who could pay were required to buy their own furniture and meals. There’s also a report that he was allowed to attend Mass on Sundays and holidays, but when he was at mass, had to keep his face covered by a velvet mask. He died on November 19, 1703, and his name on the burial certificate was listed as M. de Marchiel. The death certificate also lists him as being about 45 years old at death, and that he was interred at the Cemetary of St. Paul. As to who he was, that’s an open question, and speculation has run rampant. In 1923, Theodore von Keller wrote an essay suggesting that the man was Antonio Ercole Matthioli, an advisor to the Duke of Mantua, who sold copies of a secret treaty between France and Mantua to various European goverments. I don’t know if he’s right or not, but it’s as good an answer as any. We really don’t know who the prisoner was. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-man-in-the-iron-mask/95351/4 "2001-11-27T10:31:16Z")
The best of the recent books on the subject is John Noone’s _The Man behind the Iron Mask_ (Sutton, 1988). He first demolishes each of the earlier theories, including both Matthioli and the ever-popular twin-of-Louis XIV, and then produces the ultimate debunking alternative - his view is that the whole thing was a publicity stunt by St. Mars who embarassed about being demoted to an obscure provincial posting. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-man-in-the-iron-mask/95351/5 "2001-11-27T16:00:58Z")
If it was a publicity stunt by St. Mars, why’d he keep it up when he was posted to the Bastile? That was prestigious enough.