Man in The Iron Mask
Another prisoner at Pignerol was Eustache Dauger, the so-called Man in the Iron Mask, which was in fact made of black velvet cloth. Dauger was in the custody of a man named Saint-Mars and was held in the prisons of which Saint-Mars was governor.
It has been suggested that Mattioli himself was the masked prisoner and this was a popular theory during much of the 19th-century. Since the prisoner is known to have been buried under the name "Marchioly", many believe that this is proof enough that he was the man in the mask. But letters sent by Saint-Mars indicate that he was only held at Pignerol and Sainte-Marguerite. He was never at the Bastille and can therefore be discounted.
Read more about this topic: Ercole Antonio Mattioli
Famous quotes containing the words man, iron and/or mask:
“A man who has no office to go to—I don’t care who he is—is a trial of which you can have no conception.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Good iron is not hammered into nails, and good men should not be made into soldiers.”
—Chinese proverb.
“But today I set the bed afire
and smoke is filling the room,
it is getting hot enough for the walls to melt,
and the icebox, a gluey white tooth.
I have on a mask in order to write my last words,
and they are just for you....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)