The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-12-21
IDENTITY OF TIVE MAN
IN THE IRON MASK
BY A. E. cAFFEE.

de Bulonde, who raised the seige of
Ounce and compromised the success OF
the campaign and Louis XIV. shut him
up in Pignerel castle instead of DOOM
ing him to the fate of a traitor. Opinions
still differ as to the identity of the IA
nous state-prisoner of France known for
two hundred years as THE Man in the
Iron Mask"
It is passing strange that the learned
men who constructed our dictionaries OF
celebrated names In history and ency-
clopoedic authorities should have failed,
even to this day, to learn that in 1898
the Revue Historique of Paris fixed the
Identity of the Man In the Iron Mask
beyond dispute For two centuries extra
ordinary interest has surrounded the
memory of this nameless man who pass
ed lonely life in the most famous or
infamous prison-castle in the world-the
Bastie. He is known the world over as
The Man in the Iron Mask. Volume after
volume has been written about him. Vol
taire, the ripest scholar of his day and
age. searched in vain; Victor Hugo, a
veritable monk of letters, made man of
his own pattern to fit the lonely figure in
the rock-ribbed fortress-prison; the elder
Dumas actually kidnapped Louis XIV.
from his throne and placed him in the
Bastile and the Man in the Mask ON the
throne of the mighty Bourbons for one
day in one of his famous novels, claim
ing that he was the elder brother of Louis
XIV; and a hundred others, more or
less plausible. have been constructed by
the stupendous imagination of gossiping
Frenchmen. But, that which appears
strangest of all to me is the fact that the
three persons who ought to have known
more about this mysterious man than
any one else in the world have never
uttered one word on the subject Those
persons were the Duke of Saint Simon,
Madame de Maintenen (wife of Louis
XIV) and Madame de Sevigne: all of
them being intlmates and members of the
most brilliant court the world ever saw,
and all of them wrote secret and private
memoirs of that time, which have since
been given to the world. Madame Sevigne
and Saint Simon fairly revealed in just
such court gossip as tn.s, yet they as
silent as the royal tomb of Louis lie
Grande.
After Two Centuries the Light Peers
Through the Dust.
1t now comes to light that indisputable
proof of the Identity Of the Man in the
Mask has long been in existence, and
1t might have been given to an anxious
world a hundred years ago-when the
Bastile was RACED by the fiery revolution
ists-had not many of the archives of
the castle been lost when the prison was
destroyed. Among those which have late
ly been recovered by the French govern
ment NM. Revaisson and Funck- Bren-
tame found records by which they estab
lished beyond contradiction that the iron
mask was none other than Count Enrico
Mattioli, secretary of state to Charles
Nv. Of Gonzaga, doomed to end his life
in prison with his face masked, for be-
traying matters of state, conf1ded to his
keeping by his own sovereign. and Louis
XIV of France. 1t has taken just two
hundred years to unravel one of these
fearful despotic secrets. How we'll they
were guarded For the first time the
millions of people who have read with
eager interest every line of history or
fiction they could find may know how
the man so terribly doomed looked and
acted and played his part in life's game
before the dread destiny obscured him.
they may now recall how their feelings
were wrought up over the play in which
this mysterious man was the central fig
ure This discovery, interesting as 1t is
largely destroys the interest of future
generations in the mysterious man, and
his singularly unfortunate experience
with two kings whom he had probably
served with the same loyalty that pro-
voked Cardinal Wolsey to say in his
waning hours, deep within the shadow Of
death:
zeal
1 served my king, he would not in mine
Have left me naked to mine enemies"
In the report of this important discov-
cry, find the following: 1T is likely that
the mystery would have remained forever
unsolved had 1t not been for M. Funck-
Brentane's discovery in the national ar
chives. He found journal or day book
raT4t 6rv 1lRAw1 y anti
governor of the Bastle. in which were
carefully noted the particulars of the ar
rival of all prisoners. He tells of the
arrival Of NJ de Saint-Mars q suppose
he means Cinq- Mars) with a prisoner"
The record continues: This prisoner
whom he kept constantly masked, and
wose name was not given, he ordered me
to place on the first floor of the Boz
taudiere tower and keep there until 8
o'clock at night, when I was directed to
take him, and accompanied by M. de
Rosarges, who had come with the gov
ernor from Marguerite. put him
in solitary confinement on the third floor
of the above mentioned tower in a room
which l had in accordance with orders
which I previously received from M. de
Saint-Mars, caused to be well furnished.
The prisoner will be looked after by M.
de Rosarges in whose discretion the gov
ernor has entire confidence" NJ. de
Junca also kept a record OF the death
or discharge of prisoners, and that Of
the masked man appears under date Of
November 10. 1903 and refers to a death
registry. This M. Funch- Brentano found
In the archives of the municipality of
Paris. This is literal translation: ION
the 18th there died In the Bastile Marchi-
oily. aged forty-five or whereabouts, whoEe
body was buried in this cemetery on the
Goth inst, in the presence of NJ Roserge,
majeur of the Bastile, and of M Regthe,
who have signed.
"ROSARGES,
"REILHE."
In the correspondence In the French
archives Mattioli is spelled Matthioly and
Marchioly. Saint-Mars in his letters spells
it Mathiioly. M. Funck- Brentano said
that the death certificate was written by
hurried and ignorant clerk as the SPELL
ing of "Rosarges'' and Major" show.
He holds that this certificate is conclus-
i've proof that The Man in the Iron Mask
was Count Enrico Mattioi, of Mantua,
formerly secretary of state to Charles ".
of Gonzaga, who betrayed secrets of i'm
portance. He was, by order of Louis XIV.
seized secretly in the environs of Turin
on May 2, 1879, and taken masked to the
fortress of Pignerolo, in Savoy and there
confided to the care OF Saint-Mars, its
commandant, with these instructions from
the French secretary or war: mo man
must know what has become of this
man." M Funck- Brentano has traced the