James Whale takes the task of telling Alexandre Dumas père's legendary story The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)!And it gives Louis Hayward one of his biggest challenges of his career, playing dual roles as the king(s). When François and his two eldest sons were killed in battle, Eustache became the nominal head of the family. These documents had been sought in vain for more than a century and were thought to have been lost. The man in the iron mask, French l’homme au masque de fer, (born c. 1658?—died November 19, 1703, Paris, France), political prisoner, famous in French history and legend, who died in the Bastille in 1703, during the reign of Louis XIV. In 2016, the historian Paul Sonnino provided additional circumstantial evidence to support the idea that the valet Eustache d'Auger was the man in the mask.[15][16]. Louis XIV was furious and in another of the letters specifically ordered him "to be conducted to the fortress at Pignerol where he will be locked in a cell and under guard at night, and permitted to walk the battlements during the day with a 330 309." The best the king would do, however, was to send a letter to the head of Saint-Lazare telling him that "M. de Cavoye should have communication with no one at all, not even with his sister, unless in your presence or in the presence of one of the priests of the mission". A section of his novel The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, the final installment of his D'Artagnan saga, features the Man in the Iron Mask. Lieutenant du Junca, another officer of the Bastille, noted that the prisoner wore "a mask of black velvet". The Man in the Iron Mask is the name given to a prisoner arrested in France in about 1670 who was held in a number of jails, including the Bastille. He spent 34 years incarcerated, under the watch of Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars. In it, the prisoner is forced to wear an iron mask, and is portrayed as Louis XIV's identical twin. “The Man In The Iron Mask” is the third part in a epic novel by the French author Alexander Dumas called “The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later” (or as it is called in the original French: “Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard”). Despite his years in prison, he harbors no ill will and tries to act out of the goodness of his heart (even when doing so will endanger his life). His full name was Eustache Dauger de Cavoye.[5]. At the Siege of Cuneo in 1691, Bulonde was concerned about enemy troops arriving from Austria and ordered a hasty withdrawal, leaving behind his munitions and wounded men. The Man behind the "Iron Mask" started as a local prison story more than 300 years ago but has since turned into a legend, forever keeping the attention of writers, scientists, historians, and movie directors on edge. Covers the years 1661-1673. After his master's execution in 1669, the valet was taken to France, possibly by abduction. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The idea of keeping d'Auger in a velvet mask was Saint-Mars' own, to increase his self-importance. Some have theorized that the Man in the What d'Auger had seen or done is still a mystery. Because of the size of the book, English publishers have divided into three books, The Vicomte de Bragelonne (Oxford World's Classics), Louise de la Vallière (Oxford World's Classics), and The Man in the Iron Mask. Some believe that the evidence of the letters means that there is now little need of an alternative explanation for the man in the mask. A Protestant, he led a rebellion against his uncle, the Catholic King James II. The masked prisoner died on 19 November 1703 and was buried the next day under the name of Marchioly. https://legends.fandom.com/wiki/The_Mask_of_the_Man_in_the_Iron_Mask The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1998 American action drama film directed, produced and written by Randall Wallace, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio in a dual role as the title character and villain, Jeremy Irons as Aramis, John Malkovich as Athos, Gérard Depardieu as Porthos and Gabriel Byrne as D'Artagnan. Among the leading theories is one proposed by the writer and philosopher Voltaire, who claimed in the second edition of his Questions sur l'Encyclopédie (1771) that the prisoner wore a mask made of iron rather than of cloth, and that he was the older, illegitimate brother of Louis XIV. It has been suggested that the 330 stood for masque and the 309 for full stop. Fouquet was never expected to be released; thus, meeting Dauger was no great matter, but Lauzun was expected to be set free eventually, and it would have been important not to have him spread rumours of Dauger's existence or of secrets he might have known. So who was he? During the reign of King Louis XIV, an enigmatic man spent several decades confined to the Bastille and other French prisons. While Dauger is a popular candidate for being the Mask, historians still don’t know who he was or if his name was a pseudonym. He was sure that they had communicated through this hole without detection by him or his guards and thus that Lauzun must have been made aware of Dauger's existence. The Man in the Iron Mask (French L'Homme au Masque de Fer; c. 1640 – 19 November 1703) was an unidentified prisoner who was arrested in 1669 or 1670 and subsequently held in a number of French prisons, including the Bastille and the Fortress of Pignerol (modern Pinerolo, Italy). According to this theory, the "miraculous" birth of Louis XIV in 1638 would have come after Louis XIII had been estranged from his wife Anne of Austria for 14 years. Mattioli was kidnapped by the French and thrown into nearby Pignerol in April 1679. He died on 19 November 1703, during the rule of Louis XVI. Dauger was to be told that if he, Dauger, spoke of anything other than his immediate needs he would be killed, but, according to Louvois, the prisoner should not require much since he was "only a valet". Still later commentators have presented their own theories, possibly based on embellished versions of the original tale. The Man in the Iron Mask (French L'Homme au Masque de Fer; c. 1640 – 19 November 1703) was an unidentified prisoner who was arrested in 1669 or 1670 and subsequently held in a number of French prisons, including the Bastille and the Fortress of Pignerol (modern Pinerolo, Italy). Known for remaining unidentified due to the veil worn over his face throughout his time in prison, he was held in the custody of the same jailer, Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars, for a period of 34 years. Voltaire claimed that the prisoner was a son of Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin, and therefore an illegitimate half-brother of King Louis XIV. These documents confirm the reputed avarice of Saint-Mars, who appears to have diverted the funds paid by the king for the prisoner. German historian Wilhelm Broecking came to the same conclusion independently seventy years later. The Man In The Iron Mask (1977) (387) IMDb 6.7 1 h 41 min 1977 7+ Dumas' classic about good and evil twin brothers: the imprisoned man in the hideous iron mask and his foppish, elegant twin brother, King Louis XIV of France. In a letter sent by Louvois to Saint-Mars shortly after Fouquet's death while in prison (with Dauger acting as his valet), the minister adds a note in his own handwriting, asking how Dauger performed certain acts that Saint-Mars had mentioned in a previous correspondence (now lost) and "how he got the drugs necessary to do so". At the time, the heir presumptive was Louis XIII's brother Gaston, Duke of Orléans, who was Richelieu's enemy. Louis XIV instructed Saint-Mars to prepare a cell with multiple doors, one closing upon the other, which were to prevent anyone from the outside listening in. One theory holds that he was a lowly valet implicated in a political scandal, but he’s also been identified as a debauched nobleman, a failed assassin and even the twin brother of Louis XIV. A French occupation would be unpopular, so discretion was essential, but Mattioli leaked the details to France's Spanish enemies, after pocketing his commission once the sale had been concluded, and they made a bid of their own before the French forces could occupy the town. The National Archives of France has made the original data available online relating to the inventories of the goods and papers of Saint-Mars (one inventory, of 64 pages, was drawn up at the Bastille in 1708; the other, of 68 pages, at the citadel of Sainte-Marguerite in 1691). The rebellion failed and Monmouth was executed in 1685. He would supposedly later conspire with Roux de Marcilly against King Louis XIV, and be arrested in Calais in 1669. [citation needed], In the 1930s, historian Maurice Duvivier linked Eustache Dauger de Cavoye to the Affair of the Poisons, a notorious scandal of 1677–1682 in which people in high places were accused of being involved in black mass and poisonings. 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