Le secret du Masque de Fer (The secret of the Iron Mask) is a historical essay by French novelist Marcel Pagnol, who identified the famous prisoner in the iron mask as the twin brother of Louis XIV, born after him and imprisoned for life in 1669 for having conspired against the King. The essay was published for the first time in 1965 under the title Le Masque de fer (The Iron Mask), and updated in 1973, completed in particular with research on James de la Cloche, identified as the twin bearing this name in his youth.
Raised by the midwife Lady Perronette, the twin was taken to the island of Jersey at the age of six, where he was brought up by Marguerite Carteret, daughter of the island's noblest family. Having converted to Catholicism in 1667, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Rome in April 1668. He then returned to London at the end of 1668 where he is thought to have conspired against Louis XIV alongside a certain Roux de Marcilly, who was denounced and executed in June 1669.
The accomplice of Roux, passing for his valet, Martin, and whom Marcel Pagnol in turn identified as the twin brother of Louis XIV, was also arrested and taken to Calais in July 1669, then brought to Pignerol prison under the custody of the governor Saint-Mars, where he remained until 1681. He was given the name of "Eustache Dauger", designating him as a simple valet. Still under the custody of Saint Mars, he was transferred to the fort of Exilles then to the island of Sainte-Marguerite in 1687, and finally to the Bastille in 1698, where he died in 1703 after 34 years in captivity.
Marcel Pagnol also provides information intended to demonstrate that the prisoner cannot be identified as a valet or as Count Matthioli. He thus contradicts other historians' theories which, in his view, resulted from false information deliberately disseminated by the authorities of the period who, foreseeing later examination of the correspondence, supposedly laid false trails to try to conceal the prisoner's real identity.
Chronology 5 September 1638 – Louis XIV born in Saint-Germain en Laye. Queen Anne of Austria secretly gave birth to a second child, who was brought up in the countryside by the midwife Lady Perronette.
1644 – The Carteret family, residing on the island of Jersey, adopt a 6-year-old child brought to them by Lady Perronette, who is then raised by their daughter Marguerite. In 1657, Marguerite Carteret married Jean de la Cloche, who gives his name to James.
1668 – James de la Cloche takes his novitiate at the Jesuit Institute of Rome, introducing himself as "Prince Stuart", son of King Charles II.
June 1669 - Trial and execution of Roux De Marcilly for a plot against King Louis XIV.
July 1669 - The "valet Martin", presumed accomplice of Roux De Marcilly, is arrested and taken to Calais.
24 August 1669 – Eustache Dauger arrives in Pignerol where he is imprisoned under the custody of governor Saint-Mars.
1671 – Imprisonment of Lauzun in Pignerol
1679 – Imprisonment of Count Matthioli in Pignerol
1680 – Death in Pignerol of Nicolas Fouquet, who had been imprisoned since 1664. Announcement of the release of the prisoner "Eustache Dauger" and La Rivière, Fouquet's valet.
1681 – Saint-Mars is appointed governor of the Fort of Exilles in the Alps, and leaves for there with all his general staff and his company, and just two prisoners: Dauger and La Rivière, a valet by profession. Lauzun is released.
1687 - Saint Mars is appointed governor of the islands of Sainte-Marguerite and Saint-Honorat de Lérins. He travels to his new post with his free company and Dauger, his sole prisoner, transported in a completely covered carriage. La Rivière dies in Exilles.
1691 - Death of the minister Louvois. His son Barbezieux succeeds him.
1694 - The prison of Pignerol, threatened by a concentration of Italian troops, is evacuated. The prisoners, Matthioli among them, are sent to Sainte-Marguerite. One of the prisoners dies, most probably Matthioli, according to Pagnol.
1698 – Saint-Mars is appointed governor of the Bastille where he arrives, notably, with his masked prisoner.
19 November 1703 - Death of the masked prisoner, who is buried on 20 November at the cemetery of Saint-Paul under the name of Marchialy. Major Rosarges signs the death certificate.
Prisoner's movements Pignerol (July 1669 – 1681), Exilles (1681-1687), Sainte-Marguerite (1687-1698) then the Bastille (1698-1703).
Names and identifications 1638-1644: Marcel Pagnol does not mention any first name given to him at birth. Nor does he refer to any baptism, or even membership of the Protestant religion before his conversion to Catholicism in 1667, when he would have been 29 years old; James: on the island of Jersey (1644-1657), raised by Marguerite Carteret. Pagnol does not mention any surname prior to "de la Cloche". He does not seem to have borne the name of Carteret. James de la Cloche: on Jersey Island (1657-1668). He was given this surname following Marguerite Carteret's marriage to Jean de La Cloche. Prince Stuart: name used when he introduced himself at the Jesuit Institute of Rome as the son of Charles II. The Valet Martin: accomplice of the conspirator Roux de Marcilly. He is mentioned in some correspondence following the trial of Roux. Eustache Dauger: he was introduced under this name by Louvois who announced to Saint-Mars the arrival of the prisoner in Pignerol in July 1669, explaining that "he is only a valet"; "La Tour" (the tower): this name was suggested by Louvois at the time of his transfer to Exilles in 1681, shortly after the false announcement of the release of "Dauger". Marchialy: on the death certificate dated 20 November 1703. It could be a distorted spelling of Count Matthioli's name.
Protagonists Louis XIV – King of France (1661-1715)
Charles II – King of England (1660-1685), Louis XIV's first cousin
François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois – French Secretary of State for War (1662-1691)
Louis-François-Marie Le Tellier de Barbezieux (Louvois's son) – Secretary of State for War under the reign of Louis XIV (1681-1701)
Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars, known as Saint-Mars - Marshall of Lodgings of the Musketeers, he was the assistant of D’Artagnan for the arrest of Fouquet in 1661. He was then appointed governor of the state prison of Pignerol in 1664, where he commanded a free company, that is, he took orders only from the King. He was the governor of the prisons of Pignerol (1665-1681), Exilles (1681-1687), the Lérins Islands, and finally the Bastille (1698 until his death in 1708).
Nicolas Fouquet, superintendent of finances (1653-1661), arrested for embezzlement in 1661, found guilty of misappropriation of public funds in 1664, then imprisoned in Pignerol, where he died in 1680;
Count Ercole Antonio Matthioli - deputy to the Duke of Mantoue, imprisoned in Pignerol in 1679 after having negotiated the sale of the stronghold of Casal to Louis XIV. He is thought to have died on the island of Sainte-Marguerite in 1694.
Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Duke of Lauzun - serviceman and French courtier, appointed Lieutenant General of the Armies in 1670. He was imprisoned as he was about to marry the Duchess of Montpensier, first cousin of Louis XIV.
Roux de Marcilly - Leader and coordinator, in 1668, of a Europe-wide plot intended to topple King Louis XIV. He was denounced, kidnapped, and executed in Paris on 21 June 1669.
Eustache Dauger de Cavoye - Brother of Louis Oger de Cavoye, Chief Marshall of Lodgings of King Louis XIV. He was interned around 1668 and is thought to have died in detention in 1679.
Birth When Cardinal Richelieu was informed by Louis XIII of the Queen's twin pregnancy, he claimed that the second birth would have to be hidden, as the coexistence of two dauphins would inevitably lead to civil war.
The King and the cardinal thus planned the birth to ensure that the Queen's bedroom would be "evacuated" after the first birth. According to custom, the main figures of the Court attended the birth of the first child, who was quickly baptized, then the King took the Court to the Chapel of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where a Te Deum was sung in front of about forty people. However, according to Marcel Pagnol, the Te Deum was normally celebrated in a cathedral, in front of a thousand people from all social classes.
Meanwhile, the Queen gave birth to the second child, whom the midwife Lady Perronette immediately hid in her bedroom before taking him to the countryside where she would bring him up as the illegitimate child of a daughter of the nobility.
James de La Cloche Concerning the prisoner's past, specifically his early years prior to his arrest, Marcel Pagnol identifies the masked prisoner as a certain James de la Cloche, mentioned by some historians, including Lord Acton,In 1862, the historian Lord Acton merged his monthly publications under the title Home and Foreign Review Andrew Lang, Miss Carey,Pagnol refers to The Channel Islands (London, 1904) by Miss Carey, a study of the History of the Channel Islands.] Mgr BarnesIn his book The Man Behind the Mask, Mgr Barnes asserts that James was really the illegitimate child of Charles II. and Emile Laloy.
Growing up on the Island of Jersey In 1644, when Queen Henrietta Maria of France, sister of Louis XIII, is about to give birth to Henrietta of England, the midwife Lady Perronette was sent to England by Cardinal Mazarin to assist, taking the twin with her in order to hide him abroad, which was the actual purpose of her journey. After giving birth, Henrietta of France sent Lady Perronette to the Carteret's, the noblest family on the Jersey island,A little coastal area in Cotentin still bears this name today, the commune of Barneville-Carteret. so their daughter Marguerite could raise the child, being introduced as the son of a young noblewoman. It is to the same Carteret family that Henrietta of England sent her son (the future Charles II) during the civil war in 1646.
In 1657 Marguerite married Jean de la Cloche who gave his name to James.The origin of the name "de la Cloche" is then established, but not of the first name James, the English equivalent of Jacobus. The English sounding name suggests that this first name was given after the arrival on the Island of Jersey, which was French-speaking. Later, finding a striking resemblance between himself and Charles II when seeing his portrait,Pagnol sees in it a striking resemblance between Charles II and Louis XIV (first cousins), referring to a portrait of Charles II painted by Peter Lely, offered to Sir Carteret by Henrietta of England. he was convinced of being the King's son and wished to be legally recognised, like two other illegitimate sons who hence got the dukedom.Pagnol cites the Duke of Monmouth, son of Lucy Walter, who obtained this title in 1663. He also mentions the Duke of Saint-Albans, son of Nell Gwyn, but he was only made a duke in 1684, whereas "Dauger" had already been imprisoned for fifteen years. Marguerite (or probably her father Sir Carteret) approached the King on his behalf, but the latter did not acknowledge him.
Jesuit in Rome Afterwards, James did not give up just yet. Knowing via the Carteret family that Charles II was secretly preparing for his conversion to Catholicism,Charles's true intentions regarding his conversion to Catholicism remain unknown: he secretly commits to this later, in one of the clauses of the Treaty of Dover, and only converts on his deathbed in 1685. It is known, however, that his mother Henrietta Maria and his wife Catherine of Braganza were catholic. he decided to become a Catholic priest in order to be able to convert Charles II. In 1667,Pagnol does not give any precise date as to when James approached King Charles II, doubtless through the Carterets.