The Man in the Iron Mask Read online

  28 Courtilz de Sandras, Memoires de M.L.C.D.R. (Le Comte de Rochefort) (Cologne: Chez P. Marteau, 1687), 221–222; Saint-Simon (Wormeley), volume 1, 106–107.

  29 Petitfils, Masque, 47.

  30 Courtilz de Sandras published his Mémoire de M.L.C.D.R. in 1687, with other editions following. It is, therefore, an earlier source than Saint-Simon’s. While neither author is entirely trustworthy, the question must be asked, why would Courtilz de Sandras mention Eustache, even if not by name, if he had not been present at the encounter between Foucquet and Lauzun? He clearly had no idea of the significance of this revelation, but what was his source? It can be speculated, but not more, that he was given this information by Lauzun or someone whom Lauzun had told and who then passed on the information to Courtilz de Sandras.

  31 Montpensier (Chéruel), volume IV, 379–380, 401; Ravaisson, volume III, 182, 184–185; Sandars, volume 2, 394–397.

  32 Delort (1829), volume I, 242.

  33 Ravaisson, volume III, 186–187.

  34 Delort (1829), volume I, 246.

  35 Delort (1829), volume I, 248.

  36 Delort (1829), volume I, 242–243. Even before this, a telescope Lauzun had somehow managed to get hold of had been confiscated (Sandars, volume 2, 393).

  37 Petitfils, Masque, 43–44.

  38 Ravaisson, volume III, 188.

  39 Ibid., 189.

  40 Ibid., 189.

  41 Ibid., 190.

  42 Noone, 163.

  43 Ravaisson, volume III, 191.

  44 Delort (1829), volume I, 247–248.

  45 Ibid., 250.

  46 Ibid., 252.

  47 Ibid., 254–255.

  CHAPTER FIVE: MYSTERY

  1 Barail was a former lieutenant at the Bastille. A great friend and confidant to Lauzun, he frequently assisted him in his intrigues. Rollinde acted as a secretary to Mademoiselle de Montpensier. In 1673, he would serve the king in the same capacity.

  2 Montpensier (Chéruel), volume IV, 387–388; Sandars, volume 2, 401.

  3 Delort (1829), volume I, 260–264.

  4 Isarn wrote an account of the proceedings, which can be read in Ravaisson, volume III, 197–204.

  5 A third death occurred a few months after this when, in May 1678, Mme de Monaco, Lauzun’s old flame, died. As Sanders says in her biography (volume 2, 413), Lauzun was probably not made aware of this at the time.

  6 Delort (1829), volume I, 265–267.

  7 Ibid., 271–272.

  8 Foucquet was also to be allowed to receive copies of the Mercure Galant, an illustrated magazine dedicated to fashion, the arts, etiquette, society news, gossip, and, perhaps most importantly, life at the court, all of which Foucquet would have taken part in were he not in prison (Delort [1829], volume I, 270). Foucquet was also to be allowed to hear news of promotions at court and the king’s progress in the Dutch War: see, for example, Ravaisson, volume III, 205–206.

  9 Paul Sonnino, The Search for the Man in the Iron Mask: A Historical Detective Story (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), 148–149.

  10 Sévigné (1754), volume IV, 79–80; Lair, volume II, 457–458.

  11 Delort (1829), volume I, 279.

  12 Ravaisson, volume III, 208.

  13 Petitfils, Masque, 124; Bernard Caire, “Eustache et son secret,” in Il y a trois siècles le masque de fer (Cannes: Office Municipal de l’Action Culturelle et de la Comunication de la Ville de Cannes, 1989), 46–47. Caire suggests that Foucquet may have been forced, or volunteered, to swear an oath not to disclose Eustache’s secret. There is nothing, however, to support this suggestion.

  14 Petitfils, Masque, 124.

  15 Pagnol, 29.

  16 Petitfils, Masque, 153.

  17 This Mémoire is printed in Delort (1829), volume I, 280–285.

  18 Ravaisson, volume III, 209.

  19 Delort (1829), volume I, 286–288.

  20 Ibid., 290.

  21 Delort (1829), volume I, 292. Curiously, although the order to remove the screens had been issued in March, the windows were still covered in April. Saint-Mars was told he could open the screens during the day provided security could be assured.

  CHAPTER SIX: MATTHIOLI

  1 Casale is known today as Casale Monferrato.

  2 Isabella Clara was the daughter of Archduke Leopold of Austria and Claude de Médicis.

  3 George Agar Ellis, The True History of the State Prisoner Commonly Called The Iron Mask (London: John Murray, 1826), 90. Casale was also coveted by the Spanish for the same reason it appealed to Louis.

  4 Ibid., 91.

  5 Matthioli married Camilla Piatesi, widow of Alessandro Paleotti, January 13, 1661. The couple had two sons.

  6 Ellis, 91.

  7 Charles II of Spain.

  8 Ellis, 92–93.

  9 Ibid., 94.

  10 Ibid., 97.

  11 Ibid.

  12 Ibid., 101–102.

  13 Ibid., 116–117.

  14 Ibid., 117.

  15 Ibid., 123–124.

  16 Ibid., 148–149.

  17 Ibid., 189.

  18 Ibid., 23; Petitfils, Masque, 86.

  19 Ellis, 23–24.

  20 Ibid., 246; Delort (1825), 209.

  21 Ellis, 221; Delort (1825), 189.

  22 Ellis, 251.

  23 Indeed, as it transpired, Matthioli had also spoken to President Turki, the duchesse de Savoie’s minister, who was known to act in the interests of Spain, and who had later paid Matthioli for his valuable information (Ellis, 32, 261–262, 281, 297–298; Delort (1825), 221, 225, 237, 249–250, 252–253).

  24 Topin, 267.

  25 Ellis, 227.

  26 Ibid. 29; Delort (1825), 195.

  27 Ellis, 343–335; Roux-Fazillac, 19–20.

  28 Ellis, 35–36; Delort (1825), 35.

  29 Ellis, 271.

  30 Ibid., 248–249.

  31 This secrecy contradicts the assertion that all Europe knew what happened to Matthioli. However, as will be seen, the secrecy had nothing to do with Matthioli’s arrest, but the manner of it.

  32 Furneaux, 83–84.

  33 Ellis, 37–40; Roux-Fazillac, 27–28.

  34 Ellis, 250–251; Delort (1825), 212–213; Roux-Fazillac, 62–63.

  35 Ellis, 251; Delort (1825), 214; Roux-Fazillac, 64.

  36 Ellis, 251–252; Delort (1825), 213–214; Roux-Fazillac, 63–64.

  37 Ellis, 253; Delort (1825), 215; Roux-Fazillac, 66.

  38 Ellis, 255; Delort (1825), 216; Roux-Fazillac, 66.

  39 Ellis, 267–268; Delort (1825), 225–226; Roux-Fazillac, 76–77.

  40 Ellis, 255–256; Delort (1825), 217; Roux-Fazillac, 67.

  41 Ellis, 275; Delort (1825), 232–233.

  42 Ellis, 298; Delort (1825), 246.

  43 Ellis, 302–303; Delort (1825), 254.

  44 Ellis, 309; Delort (1825), 259.

  45 Ellis, 310–311.

  46 Ellis, 311–312

  CHAPTER SEVEN: STAT SPES

  1 G. Lioret, Le Surintendant Foucquet et ses compagnons d’infortune au Château de Moret (Moret-sur-Loing: Librairie E. Sauvé, 1897), 25.

  2 Delort (1829), volume I, 294. Foucquet was by this time aware that plans were being made to allow his wife and children to visit him at Pignerol. See the letter dated April 23, 1679, in Ravaisson, volume III, 211.

  3 Delort (1829), 295–296. Foucquet had been made aware of the impending visit even before Saint-Mars had been told of it, see Ravaisson, volume III, 211.

  4 Delort (1829), volume I, 297.

  5 Ravaisson, volume III, 211; Delort (1829), volume I, 297–298, 299.

  6 Life imprisonment meant that the prisoner was judicially dead, hence the vicomte’s holding his father’s title.

  7 Saint-Simon (Wormeley, volume 1, 107). Saint-Simon added that he “never knew what it was that displeased Lauzun, but he came out of Pignerol Foucquet’s enemy, and then did all the harm he could to him, and after his death to his family.”

  8 Delort (1829), volume I, 306.

 
9 Ibid., 314–315.

  10 Ibid., 296.

  11 Ibid., 295.

  12 Ibid., 296–297.

  13 Montpensier (Chéruel), volume IV, 401.

  14 As it happened, Le Nôtre would begin work on Louvois’s estate at Meudon at about this time, a project that would last for several years.

  15 Delort (1829), volume I, 311.

  16 Ravaisson, volume III, 211–212.

  17 Ibid., 212–213.

  18 Delort (1829), volume I, 303.

  19 Ibid., 305.

  20 Ibid.

  21 Delort (1829), volume I, 310.

  22 Ibid., 312–313.

  23 Delort (1829), volume I, 300; Ravaisson, volume III, 212. Where Foucquet’s youngest son, Louis, was at this point, is not known. Since he is not mentioned again in the correspondence, it is probable that he also accompanied his mother.

  24 Delort (1829), volume I, 309.

  25 Ibid.

  26 Ibid., 310.

  27 Ibid., 300–301.

  28 Ibid., 302.

  29 Ibid., 305–307.

  30 Ibid., 316.

  31 Ibid., 303.

  32 Ibid.

  33 Ibid., 312.

  34 Ibid., 316–317.

  35 Ibid., 306.

  36 Ibid., 313–314.

  37 Saint-Simon (1858), volume XX, 48–49.

  38 Montpensier (Chéruel), volume IV, 401.

  39 Delort (1829), volume I, 307.

  40 Ibid., 308, 310. Of course, security remained of paramount concern, and when Lauzun asked for a new servant to help him to care for the horses, this was denied, probably for reasons of security. Instead, he was obliged to make use of one of Saint-Mars’s grooms or an officer of the compagnie-franche whenever he wanted help to look after the horses.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: LA TOUR D’EN BAS

  1 Petitfils, Masque, 129.

  2 Caire, 47; Petitfils, Masque, 129.

  3 Sévigné (1818), volume VI, 217. Mme de Sévigné’s letter is dated April 3, 1680.

  4 Ravaisson, volume III, 213; see also Delort (1829), volume I, 321.

  5 Delort (1829), volume I, 317–320. Louvois’s letter is dated April 8, 1680.

  6 Noone, 255.

  7 Delort (1829), volume I, 321–322.

  8 Ibid., 323–324.

  9 Ibid., 326.

  10 Foucquet’s translation of Psalm 118 is accompanied by annotations explaining his choice of words, various repetitions and paraphrases (Urbain-Victor Chatelain, Le Surintendant Nicolas Foucquet, protecteur des lettres, des arts et des sciences [Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1971], 544).

  11 Delort (1829), volume I, 318.

  12 Ibid., 323.

  13 Ibid., 325.

  14 Ibid., 326.

  15 See also Furneaux, 161, who wonders if Foucquet had written information about Eustache that was previously unknown to Louis and Louvois.

  16 This letter appears in many studies of the Iron Mask. The original is printed in Delort (1825), volume I, 261–262; Ellis, 312–313; and others, and it is reproduced in facsimile in Duvivier, 251.

  17 The theory that Foucquet had been poisoned originates with Maurice Duvivier and is continued by Marcel Pagnol.

  18 Bussy-Rabutin, Lettres, volume IV, 83.

  19 Gazette, Théophraste Renaudot, contributor (Paris: Bureau d’adresse, 1631–1761), 1680, 168.

  20 Sévigné (1818), volume VI, 221.

  21 Ibid., volume I, 481.

  22 Gui Patin, Lettres volume III (Paris: Chez J.-B. Baillière, 1846), 505.

  23 Delort (1829), volume I, 271.

  24 Ravaisson, volume III, 165.

  25 Bussy-Rabutin, Lettres, volume IV, 83.

  26 Lair, Foucquet, volume II, 446.

  27 Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondance, volume V, 80.

  28 Ibid., 84.

  29 Lair, Fouquet, volume I, 457.

  30 Duvivier, 260–274; cf. Pagnol, 197–196, 201–202.

  31 Duvivier, 119–120; Petitfils, Masque, 167–168.

  32 Ravaisson, volume III, 175.

  33 Pagnol, 196–197; Ravaisson, volume III, 165.

  34 Ravaisson, volume III, 118.

  35 Petitfils, Fouquet, 504.

  36 Caire, 47.

  37 Foucquet’s remains were returned to Paris the following year. He was interred in the family vault of the convent of the Dames de Sainte-Marie, on the rue Saint-Antoine in Paris, on March 28, 1681. His mother had died shortly before, and mother and son were buried together. The nuns of the convent, five of whom were Foucquet’s sisters, registered a memorial listing Foucquet’s achievements (reproduced in Ravaisson, volume III, 213–214).

  38 Grand Larousse de la langue française, tome deuxième: CIR-ERY, 1385.

  39 Ravaisson, volume III, 157–158. Foucquet was a skilled apothecary, an art he learned from his mother, Marie de Maupeou. She had collected the recipes for her remedies into a book, but she had always refused to publish it. Following her death, her son, the bishop of Agde, printed and published her book. She worked hard assisting the poor and the sick under the auspices of Vincent de Paul.

  40 Ravaisson, volume III, 212.

  CHAPTER NINE: EXILLES

  1 Delort (1829), volume I, 327.

  2 Lisa Hilton, The Real Queen of France: Athénaïs & Louis XIV (London: Abacus, 2003), 284.

  3 Anne-Marie-Louise d’Orléans Montpensier, Memoires of Mademoiselle de Montpensier, granddaughter of Henri IV and niece of Queen Henrietta-Maria (London: H. Colburn, 1848), 187.

  4 Ibid., volume III, 187.

  5 Ibid., 194–195.

  6 Ibid., 200.

  7 Ibid., 200–201.

  8 Delort (1829), volume I, 327–328.

  9 Ibid., 330.

  10 Hilton, 287.

  11 The comte de Lauzun has no further part to play in this narrative. He returned briefly to court, where he had an interview with the king, another with Louvois and a third with Colbert. He did see Mademoiselle again on several occasions, but it was clear that their love story was destined never to have a happy ending. Lauzun was permitted to withdraw to his estates, but he would win back royal favor in the service of King James II of England. He eventually married, at the age of sixty-three, the sister-in-law of the duc de Saint-Simon, a young lady only fourteen years of age.

  12 Ellis, 313; Delort (1825), 262; Jules Loiseleur, Trois énigmes historiques. La Saint-Barthélemy, l’affaire des Poisons et Mme de Montespan, le Masque de fer devant la critique moderne (Paris: Plon, 1883), 241.

  13 Saint-Mars’s letter is printed in Ellis, 314–315.

  14 Ellis, 316–317; Delort (1825), 264–265.

  15 Ellis, 315–317; Delort (1825), 264–265.

  16 Ellis, 318; Delort (1825), 266.

  17 Ellis, 317–18; Delort (1825), 165–166.

  18 Ellis, 318–319; Delort (1825), 266–267.

  19 Ellis, 319–320; Delort (1825), 267.

  20 Although dating no earlier than the medieval period, the Tour Grosse was also known as the Tour César; see Petitfils, Masque de fer, 61.

  21 Ellis, 320–322; Delort (1825), 268–269.

  22 Ellis, 321; Delort (1825), 269.

  23 Ellis, 323; Delort (1825), 270.

  24 Ellis, 324; Delort (1825), 271.

  25 Ellis, 324; Delort (1825), 271.

  26 Ravaisson, volume III, 214.

  27 Ellis, 323–324; Delort (1825), 270.

  28 Ellis, 325–326; Delort (1825), 271–272.

  29 Ellis, 326; Delort (1825), 272.

  30 Ellis, 327–328; Delort (1825), 273–274; Roux-Fazillac, 110.

  31 Ellis, 328–329; Delort (1825), 274–275.

  32 Ellis, 330–331; Delort (1825), 276–277.

  33 Ellis, 61.

  34 Barnes, 281.

  35 See Petitfils, Masque de fer, 61.

  36 The fortress known to Saint-Mars was demolished in the early 19th century following Napoleon’s conquest of Italy. The building now standing on the site dates from 1818–1829.

  37 Ellis, 333; Barnes, 281.

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sp; 38 Barnes, 281.

  39 Barnes, 282.

  40 Ellis, 334–336; Roux-Fazillac, 111–113.

  41 Barnes, 283.

  42 Petitfils, Masque de fer, 57.

  43 Ellis, 333–334.

  44 Barnes, 283.

  45 Ibid.

  46 Petitfils, Masque de fer, 54.

  47 Ravaisson, volume III, 218; Barnes, 289.

  48 Barnes, 284.

  49 Ibid.

  50 Ibid., 284–285.

  51 Ibid., 285.

  52 See above, p. 23.

  53 Furneaux, 98, suggests that Eustache would not have been allowed to write a will, as it would have revealed his whereabouts and his fate—but the same applies to La Rivière.

  54 Ellis, 336; Roux-Fazillac, 113; Delort (1825), 281.

  55 Ibid.

  56 Barnes, 285.

  57 Iung, 405. Videl can be ruled out as the prisoner who died because he is mentioned in the royal treasury accounts after Saint-Mars’s departure from Exilles; see Petitfils, Masque de fer, 61.

  CHAPTER TEN: THE ÎLE SAINTE-MARGUERITE

  1 Iung, 405.

  2 Ibid.

  3 Ibid.

  4 Ellis, 387–388; Iung, 405–406; Roux-Fazillac, 114–115; Barnes, 286.

  5 Barnes, 287.

  6 The fishing village of Cannes was situated in the area now known as the Pointe Croisette.

  7 Petitfils, Masque de fer, 63.

  8 Ibid.

  9 Iung, 170.

  10 Barnes, 287.

  11 Ellis, 339; Delort (1825), 283–288; Roux-Fazillac, 115.

  12 Iung, 408.

  13 The prisons and the governor’s residence built by Saint-Mars are now a maritime museum, the Musée de la Mer.

  14 Ellis, 340; Barnes, 288; Delort (1825), 284; Roux-Fazillac, 116.

  15 Ibid.

  16 L.-G. Pélissier, “Un voyage en felouque de Saint-Tropez à Gènes,” Revue des études historiques (1907), 232–233. The article also mentions a man who committed suicide at Pignerol. This probably refers to Jean Herse, who attempted suicide but survived.

  17 This gazette was the forerunner of the Nouvelles ecclésiastiques, which began to appear as a printed newssheet in the 18th century.

  18 Azema, 150.

  19 Barnes, 288.

  20 Ibid., 289.

  21 Ibid.

  22 Josephine Wilkinson, Louis XIV: The Power and the Glory (New York: Pegasus Books Ltd., 2019), 232–235.