Not available to order
Publication date:
07 January 2016Length of book:
286 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442253643
The Search for the Man in the Iron Mask triumphantly solves an enduring puzzle that has stumped historians for centuries and seduced novelists and filmmakers to this day. Who was the man who was rumored to have been kept in prison and treated royally during much of the reign of Louis XIV while being forced to wear an iron mask? Could he possibly have been the twin brother of the Sun King? Like every other serious scholar, intrepid historian Paul Sonnino discounts this theory, instead taking the reader along on his adventures to uncover the truth behind this ancient enigma. Exploring the hidden, squalid side of the lavish court of France, the author uncovers the full spectrum of French society, from humble servants to wealthy merchants to kings and queens. All had self-interested reasons to hold their secrets close until one humble valet named Eustache Dauger was arrested and jailed for decades, simply because he knew too much and opened his mouth at the wrong time. Presenting his dramatic solution to the mystery, Sonnino convincingly shows that no one will be able to tell the story of the man in the iron mask without taking into account the staggering array of evidence he has uncovered over the course of decades.
Sonnino is allergic to unsubstantiated assertions and trusts only the historical record. From an impressive range of published and, particularly, archival sources he unearths and marshals facts which point to a lesser personage, someone who moved in high society but was not of it, who would not be missed, probably a valet. He is left with Eustache Dauger, who served Cardinal Mazarin, Fouquet and other notables who had roles in political life and fingers in secret pies. Dauger has been named before, but Sonnino gives the most convincing answer yet to the obvious question: why would Louis take so much trouble to lock up a menial? His answer is that Dauger knew that much of the fortune left by Mazarin which passed to Louis consisted of jewels and paintings acquired at loan-shark prices from Henrietta Maria, Charles I’s widow. If that, together with what he had overheard of the King’s lust to acquire the Spanish Netherlands, were to be revealed, Louis’s policies abroad and good name at home would be in ruins. Sonnino commends his theory because it is backed by the best available evidence. But he also concedes with wry good humour that his man Dauger could be eliminated at any time by the discovery of a vital new piece of information. But until that diary entry or letter turns up, his careful detective work has delivered a most seductive solution to the historical mystery of the man behind the mask.