Other Theories
The theories behind the man in the iron mask’s identity range from slightly plausible to complete fantasy. Evidence suggests that only one other man, Ercole Mattioli, was in prison during the timeframe of the masked prisoner. Mattioli was an Italian count who was kidnapped and imprisoned after attempting to double-cross the king during political negotiations. His surname is similar to Maricholy, the pseudonym the masked man was buried under when he died in 1703. While he was certainly in prison for a long time, Mattioli was arrested in 1679, over a decade after the prisoner’s arrival at Pignerol. Also, he died in 1694 which was nine years before the recorded death of the masked man.
In 1893, Etienne Bazeries, a French military cryptanalyst, broke The Great Cipher which was a series of encrypted letters and documents. In one of the letters, Louis XIV wrote to his minister of war regarding a military commander named Vivien de Bulonde. He was guilty of desertion after an attack by the Austrians and left injured comrades behind. Bazeries broke most of the code which said the cowardly soldier was imprisoned at Savoy and permitted to walk the battlements during the day with a ‘330 309′.
Bazeries did not crack the last piece of code but assumed ‘330′ meant ‘masque’ and ‘309′ was a full stop. As there is no other mention of the word masque in the entire Cipher, it is impossible to verify this claim.
Was Eustache Dauger the Man in the Iron Mask?
To this day, Dauger remains the most likely candidate. He was a real historical person imprisoned for a long time, and most modern historians believe he occasionally wore a velvet mask. Apparently, Dauger was Cardinal Mazarin’s valet. Mazarin was France’s main minister during the reign of Louis XIV and accumulated a vast fortune. It seems likely that Mazarin stole from various European monarchs; Dauger found out about it and was threatened into silence.
Pignerol prison was used to house men deemed ‘an embarrassment to the state’ so it only held a handful of inmates at any one time. Dauger was not always kept away from the other prisoners during his time there and even worked as a servant for another prisoner, the Marquis of Belle-Ile, Nicholas Fouquet. Generally, wealthy prisoners in Pignerol had manservants but since these men almost became inmates themselves such was their role, it was hard to find anyone willing to take on the job.
When Fouquet’s servant became ill on a regular basis, Saint-Mars asked for permission to hire Dauger as Fouquet’s new servant. When Saint-Mars found a role at a new prison, he took Dauger with him. The unfortunate man ended up in several prisons before dying on November 19, 1703, in the Bastille. Even if Dauger was the man in the iron mask, the reason for his imprisonment is harder to ascertain. There are rumors that he murdered a page boy in 1665 for example. If nothing else, it makes for a fantastic historical tale even if the man’s identity has probably been revealed.