"The Man in the Iron Mask was anything but an ordinary character"

• For centuries, the mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask has spawned many theories, making the most eminent specialists lose themselves in conjecture.

• Christophe Roustan Delatour, art historian, deputy director of the museums of Cannes, including that of the sea, which houses the former cell of this illustrious prisoner, facing the Croisette, has taken over the business from scratch and is releasing a book investigation.

• He publishes 45 revelations there, "sometimes small details but also stronger things, which can help to fill the puzzle", he says, in particular on the story of this man whose life was, according to him, intimately linked to that of Louis XIV.

“No one knows who he is.

It is forbidden to say his name and an order to kill him if he pronounces it”.

Published in 1687, the year of his incarceration in the royal fort on Île Sainte-Marguerite, a Jansenist gazette already set the tone for a mystery that has persisted for centuries.

Who was the Man in the Iron Mask and why did he have to undergo this treatment?

Specialists are lost in guesswork.

And many theories have emerged.

Christophe Roustan Delatour, art historian, deputy director of the Cannes museums, including that of the sea which houses the former cell of this illustrious prisoner opposite the Croisette, has taken over the business from scratch.

And he gives his version.

This former member of the Ecole du Louvre has just published

(ed. Favre, 552 p., €27), an impressive book investigating the traces of this man whose links with the Roi Soleil are, according to him, no longer in doubt.

There were a whole bunch of stories, films… Everything seemed to have been said.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​writing a new book on the subject?

Because of my job, I have been going to the former state prison for several years, which was built especially for the Iron Mask on Sainte-Marguerite Island, off Cannes.

I spent a lot of time in his cell.

It allowed me to understand things, to immerse myself in places.

And then, I had a revelation while preparing an exhibition on the subject ["The Man in the Iron Mask, a State Secret", in 2019].

According to the dominant thesis that has been circulating for thirty years among historians, and even for the general public, that of Jean-Christian Petitfils, the Iron Mask was in fact an ordinary prisoner.

A valet, no doubt imprisoned by what he had known a secret, who was instrumentalized, transformed into a fairground beast by his jailer, Monsieur de Saint-Mars.

It would ultimately be the personal delirium of someone who wanted to attract attention by building a legendary character.

That was the theory, a pretense.

So move on, there's nothing to see.

Everyone tries to understand and no one finds the key.

So, in the 20th century, in the midst of postmodernism, we said to ourselves: "well, well, in fact, if we don't understand, it's because there's nothing to understand".

But all that did not fit with what I observed on the site.

A prison was nevertheless built at the king's expense.

Creating a royal fortress for an average character didn't make sense.

He was quite the opposite.

And by immersing myself in the documents of the time, I had confirmation: none supported Petitfils' thesis.

So I decided to start all the sources from scratch.

I knew we wouldn't have a written document formally attesting to anything at the end of the story.

If it existed, it was eliminated long ago.

But as in a criminal trial, what we want is an intimate conviction.

And by immersing myself in the documents of the time, I had confirmation: none supported Petitfils' thesis.

So I decided to start all the sources from zero.

I knew we wouldn't have a written document formally attesting to anything at the end of the story.

If it existed, it was eliminated long ago.

But as in a criminal trial, what we want is an intimate conviction.

And by immersing myself in the documents of the time, I had confirmation: none supported Petitfils' thesis.

So I decided to start all the sources from zero.

I knew we wouldn't have a written document formally attesting to anything at the end of the story.

If it existed, it was eliminated long ago.

But as in a criminal trial, what we want is an intimate conviction.

So you envisioned the book as an investigation…

Yes, and it is built in three parts.

In the first, we set things.

We redo the entire career of a prisoner from the beginning until his death in the Bastille.

All the facts, all the documents are mentioned and referenced.

The second part is a treatment by theme: the jailer, the tailor-made prison, the mask as an object.

And in the third, I invite the reader to dive deeply, like Alice in the burrow, into the thesis that I am developing.

And I warn that I begin to build a story.

Who was the iron mask?

Who could he be before being arrested?

You bring new information.

How is this possible after so many years and books on the subject?

Because we continue to find new sources, new archival documents.

In the book, I bring 45 revelations, sometimes small details but also stronger things, which can help fill the puzzle, by providing essential information such as connections between people for example.

One of them concerns an iron mask discovered in Langres…

Yes, and who could well be THE iron mask.

It is in my opinion a unique piece, a true masterpiece in terms of its finesse and quality of execution.

We were lucky enough to have it on loan during the 2019 exhibition and when I spoke about it with metallurgists from a professional high school in Cannes, they told me: "we don't know how to do that. ".

It had been found with a small inscription, which no longer exists, but which pointed directly in the direction of the Iron Mask.

What I also discovered was a direct lead between this mask and the prisoner's jailer, Monsieur de Saint-Mars.

On his death, the latter bequeathed his property to the stepfather of one of his sons who were both deceased.

And it turns out that this man and all his descendants lived in Langres.

You are investigating connections with Louis XIV…

We realize that the one pulling the strings is the Sun King.

Everything comes from him.

And, where I'm very proud of the book, is because I think I'm the first to really reveal the false leads, the decoys that the latter sent to divert attention, to make the Iron Mask look like someone another, to confuse.

All for a good reason, because the Iron Mask was actually exceptional?

Yes, for me it's a personal affair, a family affair.

I write from the start that the Iron Mask is called Eustache Dauger.

A document tells us so.

I evacuate all other possible candidates.

But who was he?

The question is whether this man could be the same person as another Eustache Dauger, Eustache Dauger de Cavoye.

We have two namesakes and finally a whole bundle of clues that confirm it.

And here we are not dealing with just any provincial squire.

He is a childhood friend of Louis XIV, brought up with Louis XIV, whose own brother was a close friend of Louis XIV throughout his life.

Finally, Eustache Dauger could be the king's half-brother, who would therefore not be the son of Louis XIII and that would justify a lot of things.

The mask ?

There might be an awkward resemblance.

And above all, why was it not simply deleted?

It would have been easy.

All you had to do was put it on hard bread for a while, and it was over.

Why are we taking the risk of keeping this man?

Why was it not removed from the outset and why this preferential treatment?

This plot would have finally been mounted to hide the bastardy of Louis XIV.

Can we imagine, one day, being able to obtain a formal proof of this theory?

We could scientifically confirm it by DNA.

But for that, it would take resources.

And above all find DNA.

We know where the remains of the Iron Mask lie.

But it's not easy.

She's somewhere in the catacombs, along with 6 million other corpses.

Today, it seems complicated.

But in twenty years, we don't know.

Nice

VIDEO.

Cannes: The Iron Mask recounts its mystery in its cell at the Fort Royal, off the Croisette

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