Man in the Iron Mask: Encyclopedia II - Man in the Iron Mask - The prisoner

Man in the Iron Mask - The prisoner

The first surviving records of the masked prisoner are from July 1, 1669, when Louis XIV's minister Louvois sent a masked prisoner to the care of governor Marquis de Saint-Mars of the Pignerol prison. Saint-Mars was ordered to take a special care of this prisoner. He was to be kept incommunicado and Saint-Mars was told to threaten him with death if he ever tried to talk about anything else than his own personal affairs. The prisoner was to be treated well but he had been ordered to remain silent and masked at all times. Saint-Mars himself had been ordered to feed him. The first rumors of the prisoner's identity (as a Marshal of France) began to circulate at this point.

Although the legend states that the prisoner wore the mask at all times, it is more probable that he was masked only during transport—such as when he was transported from prison to prison—and when there were outside guests in the prison.

Saint-Mars took the prisoner with him to his subsequent postings in l'Exiles prison and in May 1687 to the island of Sainte Marguerite, one of the Isles of Lérins.

On September 18, 1698, Saint-Mars came to take his new post as a governor of the Bastille prison, bringing the masked prisoner with him. The prisoner was placed in a solitary cell in the pre-furnished third chamber of the Bertaudiere tower. The prison's second-in-command, de Rosarges, was to feed him. Most of the details of the masked man (continuous wearing of a mask and preferential treatment) come from Lieutenant du Junca of Bastille.

The prisoner died on November 19, 1703, and was buried the next day under the name of Marchioly. All his furniture and clothing were reportedly destroyed afterwards.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The prisoner", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki